Network scanner

Orogogus

My company needs a scanner that can saves files over the network, and send to email, but most of the ones that don't cost $400+ seem to not play well with Windows Server 2003. Can anyone recommend a machine that we can use? Low cost is more important than resolution for us.

amateurhour

If you want to go dirt cheap, you should just have the scanner hooked up to an older pc in the copy room and have the pc on the windows network.

Then just have the user go there, scan, and save the file to a networked drive so all users can access it.

That's the cheap route, or you could also use a usb print server.

Beyond that, you're going to pay big money for network scanning with e-mail. Every office I've worked for has used a piece of hardware at least 500 dollars, if not much more, but once I set up a local networked pc with a scanner for a small office and it did the job well enough.

Ruckus

The cheapest stand alone units are going to be around $600-800 for what you want to do.

Stuff like the Lexmark X342n or HP LaserJet M2727.

deke55555

It might be worth checking to see if your photocopier can do this, quite a few of them hook right up to the network and can scan to email.

Buying the module for it would be pricy, but you may be lucky and find that the guy that bought the thing 5 years ago bought the network module.

Djeet

I've installed an HP M2727FP at our office and it does its job well, but only a few people need the functionality to scan to pdf to email or scan to jpg to email. We've had 3 or 4 cheaper ($200-300) multifunction printers that advertised the scan to email ability but their software was utter shit (did not work). The m2727fp can be had for $300-400 after rebate if you hunt around.

Basically you configure a button on the scanner that lets you select several "scan to" options. This button, in conjunction with a suite of drivers/services installed on the users workstation, allow you to use the button to scan a document to a filetype and then send it to a particular email address.

So right now we have 3 users who can scan to either pdf or jpg and then send it to their emailbox. This takes up 6 "slots" on the "scan to" button (not sure where it maxes out). If the workstation of the user who uses the "scan to" button cannot be contacted by the networked multi-function printer/scanner, then the operation will fail. It's not a genuine network scanner, more of a hack that uses both the printer as well as some software residing on workstation(s).

You can also configure the "scan to" button to scan to other filetypes, or to send the scan to an application on a workstation for editting.

If you think this might work for you, post your usage model and I'll try to weigh in. Max, we need 2-3 users to scan to email 40-50 pages of docs, but usually it's just 1 user who scans 5-10 pages.

amateurhour

Also, if you're just looking to convert typed stuff to scan, get pdf converter. It's freeware, and most business use it behind the scenes. It converts any document file that's all digital to pdf quick and easy.

For anything signed though, you'd still need the scanner. As to what deke said, yes. If your company already has a large copier, especially on lease, you might be able to get them to add a network jack and scan module for e-mailing and pdf for a monthly fee.

Daenris

amateurhour wrote: »

That's the cheap route, or you could also use a usb print server.

Most (possibly all?) USB print servers will not work with multifunction printers or other devices like this. If you have an all-in-one printer, they'll let you print remotely, but they will most likely not work with any of the other functions of the printer, such as scanning.

I'd say if you're absolutely needing to do this for a very low budget, take amateurhour's suggestion and set up a spare computer with the scanner and have it save to a network drive or shared folder.

The copier suggestion is also good, but at least in my past experiences the network add-on cards usually ended up being more expensive than getting a standalone network scanner would be.

amateurhour

Daenris wrote: »

amateurhour wrote: »

That's the cheap route, or you could also use a usb print server.

Most (possibly all?) USB print servers will not work with multifunction printers or other devices like this. If you have an all-in-one printer, they'll let you print remotely, but they will most likely not work with any of the other functions of the printer, such as scanning.

I'd say if you're absolutely needing to do this for a very low budget, take amateurhour's suggestion and set up a spare computer with the scanner and have it save to a network drive or shared folder.

The copier suggestion is also good, but at least in my past experiences the network add-on cards usually ended up being more expensive than getting a standalone network scanner would be.

I could be way off base here, but you should be able to use a networked usb print server with an xp network to load just a scanner, since xp puts it's printers and scanners in the same infrastructure.

You'd just have to get a scanner that has memory, firmware, and software so it knows where to send the files once their scanned.

bowen

amateurhour wrote: »

Daenris wrote: »

amateurhour wrote: »

That's the cheap route, or you could also use a usb print server.

Most (possibly all?) USB print servers will not work with multifunction printers or other devices like this. If you have an all-in-one printer, they'll let you print remotely, but they will most likely not work with any of the other functions of the printer, such as scanning.

I'd say if you're absolutely needing to do this for a very low budget, take amateurhour's suggestion and set up a spare computer with the scanner and have it save to a network drive or shared folder.

The copier suggestion is also good, but at least in my past experiences the network add-on cards usually ended up being more expensive than getting a standalone network scanner would be.

I could be way off base here, but you should be able to use a networked usb print server with an xp network to load just a scanner, since xp puts it's printers and scanners in the same infrastructure.

You'd just have to get a scanner that has memory, firmware, and software so it knows where to send the files once their scanned.

IP Printing is one thing that's built into the OS. I'm almost certainly there's no IP-esque ports for scanners. I'm fairly surprised no one's done that yet. I'm almost certain he'd have to buy one specifically for network scanning, which is a $600 investment at the best.

Daenris

amateurhour wrote: »

I could be way off base here, but you should be able to use a networked usb print server with an xp network to load just a scanner, since xp puts it's printers and scanners in the same infrastructure.

You'd just have to get a scanner that has memory, firmware, and software so it knows where to send the files once their scanned.

If this were true, and it was that easy I should be able to share a scanner over the network in the same way that I can share a printer. Unfortunately that doesn't work. There are some software solutions for doing it, but they operate as server/client software so you would need the scanner to be hooked up to a computer with the server software installed.

exoplasm

You can get a Brother networked multi-function that lets you scan directly to the user's desktop. This requires installing the brother software on everyone's PC, but it seems kinda like what you'd need. I don't know if it has e-mail functionality.

Barrakketh

exoplasm wrote: »

You can get a Brother networked multi-function that lets you scan directly to the user's desktop. This requires installing the brother software on everyone's PC, but it seems kinda like what you'd need. I don't know if it has e-mail functionality.

My Brother (MFC-685CW) can do that. There's also a "Scan to E-mail" option after you press the scan mode button.