Copy program from scanner to printer. Free software for scanning documents. Comparison of iCopy with its paid analogue Scanitto Pro

Greetings to all SoftHardWare readers! Document scanning has become a common practice in our life. Everyone knows very well that this way you can complete certain tasks efficiently and quickly. It is unlikely that there is a person who, instead of a convenient and simple scanner, would prefer a typewriter. Sometimes we are faced with the need to scan documents, at paperwork, at work, if necessary, send a document by mail and in a lot of other situations.
Free software for scanning documents allow us to easily carry out exactly the work that we need.

Such programs are called OCR applications. OCR is a program that translates images of different documents into text that can be processed and then edited in editors. The following are known programs for scanning documents like: RiDoc, ABBYY Finereader, Scanitto, BlindScanner, OCRUNEIFORM, VueScan and many others.

UPD: This article was written back in 2013, so the article contains irrelevant information about the freeness of some programs. I have compiled a new selection of completely free applications, which is available in the article - The best free programs for scanning documents.

Ridoc

RiDoc makes it possible to scan documents. Using the scanner, you can get a document in electronic version and reduce the file size without losing its information quality.

RiDoc allows you to conveniently organize documents, get galleries of scanned files, and then print the splicing results on a printer.

ABBYY Finereader

ABBYY Finereader can recognize high quality texts and save the sources. There are three versions of the program: Profesional, Home and Corporate Edition. Each of the programs differs in appearance, technical capabilities and price.

You can recognize text from a book and edit it using the Home version. Corporate supports accessibility and network scanners for multiple users simultaneously. All versions of this program can recognize texts from 200 languages! Later versions of the program can recognize images taken from digital cameras.

Scanitto

Free software for scanning documents Scanitto is suitable for reading images and text and saving this result in a convenient format. The program has a useful function of direct printing to a connected printer. Scanitoo is fast and lightweight, not overloaded with unnecessary functions. An improved version of this program is called Scanitto Pro.

It supports almost all scanner models. If you have a scanner, Scanitto Pro can make a copy with one click. Also, there is a convenient image cropping function.

BlindScanner

BlindScanner is specially designed for scanning documents over the network. It allows you to open access to a device that is not nearby, but for example, in the next office.

With this program, the scanner is available to multiple users at the same time. BlindScanner supports autosampler, compresses and saves images in different formats.

CuneiForm

CuneiForm fast free document scanning software... This program provides high-quality reading of information from 20 languages and recognizes mixed text.

VueScan

VueScan software works with slide scanners from Nikon, HP, Canon. Supports both manual and automatic parameter setting. The program has many different filters, automatically removes defects and uses a multi-pass readout option to reduce scanner noise.

I think now you have a clear picture regarding free software for scanning documents, and when choosing a program for this task, you will not have any problems.

Do you know what utilities for checking a hard disk can provide 100% health to your hard drive?

Free software for combining scanner and printer into a convenient copier.

Nowadays, various organizations are increasingly beginning to talk about the introduction of electronic document management. However, in reality, it rarely comes to this and as a result you have to tinker with a whole heap of papers over and over again. At the same time, documents often need to be copied in several copies, and there can be only one copier for the entire floor! Familiar situation?

Employees of various government agencies, I think, have faced a similar problem more than once and fully understand its scale. However, you can help "grieve" if you have at least some scanner, printer and program at hand. iCopy which allows you to "link" these two devices into a convenient copier!

Comparison of iCopy with its paid analogue Scanitto Pro

ICopy most closely resembles the commercial scanning software Scanitto Pro in its functionality:

Peculiarities	iCopy	Scanitto Pro
Price	is free	from 499 rub.
Scan driver	WIA	TWAIN
One-button copy	+	+
Multi-page copying (including from the automatic document feeder)	+	+
Saving to PDF	+	+
Saving as images	JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF	JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF
Text recognising	-	+

The only significant drawback of iCopy, as we can see from the comparison, is the lack of a text recognition function. This, of course, is a significant minus, but we are faced with the task of simply quickly replicating copies of the document, and the program does an excellent job with this.

Installation and pre-configuration

iCopy comes in two versions: installation and portable, which does not require installation. The portable version, as you know, leaves no traces in the system and can work directly from a USB flash drive. However, the installer also has an advantage. With it, you can "bind" the scan button on your scanner to the activation of the iCopy copy function! All that is needed for this is to check the box on one of the screens during installation. "Register iCopy to scanner button":

It is worth noting that your antivirus can "swear" at the iCopy installer, so you may have to either add it to the "White List", or just disable protection during installation.

If at least one scanner is connected to the computer, at the first start iCopy will detect it and offer to select it as the default scanning device:

The first time the program can boot with an English interface. If you have this problem, click the small button "Settings" in the right part of the working window and in the window that opens in the tab "General" in the dropdown list "Language" indicate the item "Russian (Russia)"... Click the button to apply the changes. "Ok" and restart the program:

In fairness, it should be said that the Russification of iCopy leaves much to be desired ... In the interface here and there there are always untranslated from English inscriptions, and in some windows (for example, in "Options") only the title of the window is translated!

Since we are talking about the settings, we will consider them a little at the same time. There are only two tabs. On the already mentioned "General" tab, apart from the choice of the language, in fact, nothing else needs to be changed. Unless you can activate the option to automatically rotate pages with printing on both sides in the ADF (if any) - "Flip duplexed pages".

On the second tab - "File Settings"- you can set the default folders in which the scan results will be saved in PDF format and as images (by default, iCopy asks for a save path before each scan):

ICopy interface

Now let's take a closer look working window appearance iCopy:

On its left side there is a large main button for starting copying, and below it there are three smaller ones:

Multi-page scanning- allows you to first scan all pages of the document and then print all at once or save as a multi-page PDF file.
Save as image- activation of this button makes it possible to save each of the scanned sheets as a separate picture in JPG, PNG, GIF or BMP format of your choice.
Saving to PDF- saves scan results page by page or into a single multi-page (if the first button is active) PDF file.

The central part of the iCopy window is reserved for various scanning and printing options. The top section is shifted slightly to the right. Here you can select the scan and print mode, specify the paper size and the desired number of copies. By default, the scanning mode is "Color", but in older scanners the lamp is often very "set", as a result of which the copy will be very light and difficult to read. Therefore, I recommend in such cases to set the "Text" mode for the scanner and, accordingly, "Black and white" for the printer.

There are only three checkboxes in the lower section of the central part of the iCopy window. Of these, the last two will be inactive if your scanner is not equipped with an automatic paper feeder, since the second allows you to use it, and the third activates two-sided scanning of the sheet (if this function is supported).

The first option is "Preview"... It is always available and allows you to activate scanning through the standard Windows WIA interface with the ability to view the captured image. However, if you activate this mode of operation, then the system scan settings will "interrupt" the parameters set in iCopy, so in the preview window you will need to re-select the type of image capture to "Black and white picture or text":

Finally, on the right side of the iCopy window are the settings buttons. Button "Select Scanner" calls the window already familiar to us, which appeared at the first start. A similar window will appear when you click on the button "Printer settings":

In fact, the standard interface for pre-printing a printer is called and setting its parameters, which may be different (depending on your specific printer).

Finally, the third button is "Image settings"- calls a window in which you can adjust the brightness of the scan, its contrast, scale, resolution and quality using the sliders. By default, the option is also active here. "Center image", which allows you to automatically align the captured image to the center of an A4 sheet (or other specified in the settings):

Working with iCopy

We talked about the interface and its main parameters, and now let's try to work with iCopy in practice. First, we need to set the scan and print options. As I said, it is best to set them in the "Text" (for a scanner) and "Black and white" (for a printer) modes. We will leave the paper size A4, and below in the window we will indicate how many copies of each of the scanned pages we need to print. All you have to do is click on the big blue button on the left and the copying process will start:

Please note that in the screenshot above, I have the multi-page copy button activated. It is optional to enable it, however, if it is enabled, then we have the option of deferred printing. That is, first we scan all the necessary pages of the document, and then we press the button and their automatic printing begins. And we, while everything is being printed, are going to drink tea :)

Seriously though, the multi-page scan mode can also be useful if we want to save all scans into a single PDF file. To do this, activate the button "Export to PDF" keeping the delayed print active. Please note that in the status line in this mode, instead of a printer, we will have the export function. Add all the necessary pages to the future PDF document, and then press the button "Print Pages"... The finished multi-page PDF file will be saved in the default folder (if you specified it in the settings) or in the directory you specified before starting scanning:

If you need to scan single sheets and save them as image files (formats are available to choose from: JPG, BMP, PNG and GIF), it is better to disable the multi-page scanning function. Instead, we activate the second button and specify the folder for saving the pictures (again, if you have not specified the default path in the settings).

Advantages and disadvantages of the program

works with almost all scanners and printers;
ADF and duplex scanning support;
the ability to "bind" the copy function to a button on the scanner (only for the installer);
simple interface and program control;
scan quality presets;
function of multipage scanning and delayed printing;
the ability to save scan results in PDF (including multi-page) and in the form of graphic files (JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF).

clumsy russification of the interface;
there is no own mechanism for previewing scan results (the standard Windows WIA interface is used);
there is no possibility of text recognition.

conclusions

When I was thinking about what to write down to the disadvantages of iCopy, I realized that it has no particular disadvantages. For a program that "weighs" less than a megabyte, it can do a lot and there is no point in complaining about the sloppy translation, since even in English everything is intuitive. Naturally, a preview of the scan would not hurt. But, on the other hand, if you use iCopy only as a software copier, then it is not needed at all!

Well, as regards text recognition, for the Russian language so far, alas, there is nothing better than the paid ABBYY FineReader. And it would be silly to hope that a full-fledged utility like iCopy would be crammed into it. The program performs its task quite successfully, therefore, I think that iCopy is not for nothing that it bears the title of one of the best solutions for copying documents.

P.S. It is allowed to freely copy and cite this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.

Photocopier is a program, unique in its simplicity and functionality, that allows one-click copying of various documents, having only a scanner and a printer at hand.

But, as they say, let's look at everything in order and start with goals and objectives, and finish with solutions and results.

Targets and goals.

In everyday life, we are often faced with the need to make copies of various documents. This can be done in two main ways: having a copier at home (or a multifunctional device, preferably a laser one) or go to the nearest “service”, where they will provide us with a similar service for our hard-earned money.

So on one of the beautiful spring evenings I urgently needed to copy several documents of different sizes, or rather, the number of 36 pieces ... But what to do ?! It's dark outside, the “services” have been closed for a long time, and running to someone you know is not an option either ...

Solutions.

The solution was found! After all, I have an inkjet multifunctional device at my disposal. Canon MP140(scanner, inkjet color printer / copier) and laser printer HP P1006... Joyful to this state of affairs, I started scanning and printing ... But it was not there - the resulting image did not match the original, and the utilities included in the kit could not make friends with two opposite devices.

Of course, you can load a graphics editor, remove the margins and resize the image, but this option, acceptable for a small amount of copying, was clearly not suitable in my case. Putting aside the documents, I began to recall that somewhere I had once seen something similar to "Software copier", which allows you to make friends between a scanner and a printer ... Turning to the Internet for help, I, to my great joy, almost immediately came across a wonderful program Photocopier.

The installation of the program is extremely simple, as is its interface. It is enough to look at the screenshot and it immediately becomes clear that this is a real copier!

Despite its simplicity, the program allows you to make black and white copies, grayscale copies (black and white photos) and color copies. You can also set the size of the resulting copy to 100% or 70% of the original, set the brightness and number of copies.

It is important that the program is distributed absolutely free!!!

Result.

Having started copying, I was surprised - the very first copy fully corresponded to the original, while the program did not ask for any additional parameters! The only thing to remember in my case is to use the “default” laser printer, since the program automatically prints to the “default” printer, and there is a possibility that an inkjet printer is installed in the system. If you are using an ordinary scanner and printer, then everything is set up automatically.

Output which can be done: Photocopier- a wonderful program, both simple and functional, in some cases even irreplaceable - one click of the mouse and a copy of the document is already printed on the printer! For those to whom the functionality of this version seems a little, there is a more "advanced" version - Photocopier Pro, which has a number of additional, more subtle settings. But this program is already paid - after installation it will work for 30 days, after which you will need to enter the registration key.

You don't need to use Canon's proprietary scanning software to get quality scans.

Although they give a very positive result, among the software products presented to users, there are many good analogs that deserve attention.

Some of them are distributed free of charge, and some require some costs, depending on the functionality they provide.

Variety of assortment and special requirements for it

Recognition of documents of various types has recently become a real necessity due to the fact that they have become more in demand than paper originals.

This is due to the fact that they are much more convenient to store, transfer, and sometimes process.

That is why the quality of the resulting digital copies becomes the main criterion for the selection of software tools used, including with the popular Canon brand technology.

Unfortunately, not all software manufacturers can please users.

One of the most common problems among products is the lack of regional settings, like the Russian-language interface, which is a special criterion in the domestic space.

And there are many such criteria.

Some products are better at processing graphic information, others are more suitable for working with texts, including those containing several different ones.

In parallel with them, there are other programs and utilities, including those that perfectly cope with information presented in tabular form.

We have already identified a number of full-fledged software systems and quite simple utilities that satisfy a number of user requirements and, as a result, this list includes:

Canon MF Toolbox

To start the review of the models it is worth with a proprietary application of the Canon trademark, namely MF Toolbox. Its main drawback is that there is no Russian-language version of it.

The entire interface through which the user interacts with data is in English.

However, this drawback is more than compensated by the advantages of the software product, and it has a lot of them.

Firstly, this is the low weight of the application, which is only 9.5 MB, which is reflected in a good way in its download and speed of work.

Secondly, the application is free and comes with the manufacturer's hardware, which guarantees a compatibility check.

The application works in conjunction with Windows, which will be noted by the lion's share of office equipment users.

Despite this, work with it takes place quite quickly, and a couple of clicks are enough to scan.

An additional advantage of the program is the ability to save.

Such functionality gives an advantage, first of all, not even in convenience, but in saving time spent on converting from one file format to another.

The set of formats consists of the most popular, so MF Toolbox allows you to cover a large number of basic user needs.

In case the document needs to be corrected, you can use the configured set of editors, and for fast transfer of scans, you can use the fast send option.

It allows you to digitize data, edit and print directly without launching third-party applications, which makes it simply indispensable in emergency conditions.

The program quickly connects to the scanner and has a couple of versions, depending on what the user needs.

Each of them has its own advantages.

The PaperScan Free version has a free license, but a somewhat limited basic set of supported functions, but the PaperScan Scanner Professional Edition will please with more extensive tools, but the user will have to pay for it.

Both versions provide high compression rates up to the JBIG2 level, which makes it easier to transfer and does not affect the quality of the final image.

At the same time, both versions have a common drawback - the absence of Russian-language menu commands. However, this will not be a tangible problem if you speak English at a basic level.

A bonus for any user will be the function of auto-rotation and alignment of documents without the need to re-scan them, as well as support for operating systems of the family.

Rice. 7 - PaperScan Professional Edition

RiDoc

Some utilities designed for digitization have one drawback - they, in the presence of a Russian-language interface, are not capable of high-quality recognition of Russian-language texts, RiDoc is not one of them.

She perceives the text in both Russian and other languages with sufficient quality.

It is also worth noting that the utility can leave watermarks on digitized copies and can be used for free during a one-month trial period.

After that, you will need to pay for a license, but as a result, the user will receive even wider functionality.

The advantages include data compression after digitization without loss of quality, as well as the possibility of batch processing of documents.

After scanning, the data can be converted, and then saved or sent to the recipient by e-mail. ABBYY FineReader, providing the widest possible set of functions and operations with digitized data.

In it, users will find software tools for high-quality digitization of photos, and for quick recognition of text in any language.

At the same time, it is not necessary to pay for such software products.

Some of them are distributed with a free license, which is especially important for users who digitize in a non-professional manner.