For efficiency and convenience almost all of us prefer a soft copy over a hard bound book. If you are looking for a scanner to scan books your search might end here. Our team researched top 45 models for good 70 hours to get to the list of best book scanners. Fujitsu Scan Snap SV600 is the top pick and alternative would be PKB World Shape .
Our Top Choice
Best Book Scanner
1. Fujitsu Scansnap SV600 – Best For Large Books And Prints
This is one of the top model that has totally redefined the work of a professional book document scanner. It has everything from high quality CCD optics and advanced LED illumination to change every document in to a soft copy. It is the good for books, journals, and other papers. While testing we found that it can scan efficiently without folding or damaging the delicate papers.
When scanning the other common problem you face are the scanned finger tips but its avoid this issues with its advanced software. Overall, it’s a versatile book scanner to generate clear, clean, smooth images of your document or any soft/hard bound book.
- Versatile
- Can scan up to A3
- Can scan books and several other documents
- Fast scanning speed
- Auto Page detection when scanning a book
- Automated page correction to remove curves, finger prints, etc.
- Software plays up when scanning a book with more than hundred pages.
Bottom Line
Fujitsu scansnap sv600 is a versatile overhead professional book document scanner especially meant to scan books of large to small size with in minutes. A good addition to maintain a record of the old and new documents.
2. PKB World Shape – Best For Book Pages
This is one of the most innovative book scanner of this year. It uses the innovative technology to give you a mirror image of your hard bound book. It comes in our list because of its amazing features, technology, and fast speed.
In addition to all this, the dedicated book scanner can scan anything that is up to A4 size. You can also edit the scanned pages which is again a plus point and a user-friendly feature. You can search a word on the scanned page and can even translate it to some other English, German, Japanese, and Chinese.
- Perfect for books
- Can scan documents of size up to A4
- Fast scanning speed
- Generates an ultra clear and clean image
- Scanned pages can be edited
- Excellent OCR quality
- Can translate words in to four different languages
- Expensive
Bottom Line
A high end book scanner to get the an ultra clean soft copy of the book pages. Not only this, you can even edit the scanned pages which is again a plus point
3. CZUR ET16 Plus – Best For Editing Document
CZUR ET16 is yet another luxurious overhead book scanner in the market. It is known for its quality scans and its dual lam feature. And for the same reason it took a place in our list.
Having the OCR is a common trait among quality book scanners but this one goes beyond it. Its OCR along with ABBYY technology can recognize characters of 187 languages and covert them in to editable major formats like Word, PDF, TIFF effortlessly. Lastly, you can scan up to a maximum A3 size. So, no matter how small or large your document is this professional book document scanner will do the job.
- Versatile
- Can scan up to A3
- Scanned pages can be editted
- Come with supplementary lighting
- Great OCR to recognize different languages
- Easy to use
- Requires frequent cleaning
Bottom Line
Czur ET16 is a sleek design fast, powerful overhead document scanner for up to A3 size. We recommend it for its auto-correction ability, OCR, and fast scanning speed.
4. Plustek OS1180 – Best For Mac
Plustek is another best flatbed scanner for books and other documents. It has a tabloid size to make your scanning much easier then you can ever imagine. We recommend this book document scanner for its compact size and ability to scan different large to small scale formats.
Moving on to its software, it has decent accuracy OCR, with ABBYY fine reader for character recognization, and a Doc action for sharing the files from one device to another. The glitch here is that you can edit the scanned documents in spite of the fact that you get the scans in the most popular formats like PDF, DOC, TIFF etc.
- Great for art work, paintings
- Compatible with Mac, and other Windows operating systems
- Scan quality is good
- Compact size
- Book scanning speed is less
Bottom Line
A good scanner compatible with all the latest device to manage documents, process image, and create a PDF.
5. IPEVO – Best For Budget Conscious User
This one is the best portable scanner in the market. It comes in our list because of its portability, affordable pricing, and good resolution.
Last but not the least, for making out the most of this portable scanner you can also plug it into an LCD projector for showing your students/colleagues your gathered information.
- Flexible versatile features
- Can capture, video record, and project
- Good resolution
- Good for pages up to A4 size
- Compatible with laptop, PC, Mac, Tablets, etc.
- OCR is not very get
- Scanned images have shadow marks and finger tips marks
Bottom Line
A fantastic product in an affordable pricing. We like this portable scanner’s verstaile features like video recording, projection, and image capturing.
6. Aibecy – Best For Documents
If you are looking for a portable book scanner your search might end here. Aibecy is a portable document scanner with all the standard features you need for book scanning or any other document.
Last but not the least, the unique feature of it is real-time image capturing and projection via a projector. This means you can connect it to your computer and your projector to show the book pages on the screen for a more interactive teaching experience.
- Cana capture and project
- Can scan up to A3 size papers
- Can enahnce the scanned image quality
- Portable
- You can’t edit the images</li
- No auto-detection feature
Bottom Line
In the end, its the best portable book scanner for making the teaching sessions more interactive and engaging.
7. Plustek Optic Slim 2610 – Best For Windows
If you are looking for a compact slim book scanner then this can be a good option. It is a good option for a crowded desk/workstation because of its sleek design. You can easily store it any drawer as it occupies more of horizontal space.
In addition to all this, we were also satisfied with its OCR software. It does a goo job to remove errors, removing distortions, and retyping post scan. It is actually a good device if you are someone who deal with lot of PDF book scanning work.
- Supports both windows and mac
- Lightweight and sleek design
- Can scan up to A4 size papers
- Can enahnce the scanned image quality and edit
- Auto-crop and edit function
- Not meant for very high resolutions
- OCR software has few glitches
Bottom Line
A slim scanner for scanning A4 size documents. Good for people who have have to scan few pages of the books and are not looking for ultra high resolution images.
8. IRISCan – Best Handheld Unit
This is the only quality handheld scanner in the market. It is a good choice for people especially the sales representative, product marketers, press article, flyer, and for product specification. It is not the perfect book scanner but a good device to scan a few book pages or documents or pamphlets on spot.
Lastly, the device is compatible with smartphone, android, iOS, PC, and laptop via its Wi-Fi connectivity. You just need to contact it your phone via your app to view the scanned copy on your phone. The device has a USB rechargeable battery which means it ha son-spot charging. But the glitch is that the charging time is pretty high. It takes good 2hours to charge fully.
- Flexible compatibility to phone, laptop, and PC
- Can scan up to A4 size
- Rechargeable battery
- Three resolution settings
- Handheld
- Can’t be used to make a e-book
- Charging time is long
Bottom Line
A handheld scanner with Wi-fi compatibility to instantly transfer the scanned images on your laptop/wi-fi/PC. We recommend it for scanning cards, single page documents, articles, product specifications, etc.
Buying Guide – Things To Consider
Buying the book scanner sounds can sound like an easy task but it is not. Let’s disclose the truth, with such an huge variety in the market buying the best product that meets different requirements can sure be a daunting experience. Different models have different features and they fit well to different kind of works. For this, its important that you should know about the considerations that these units should have. If you are unsure how to figure it out we have a guide for you. The guide will help you to jot down your requirements and then choose a product that suits your need. Here it is:
1. Type Of Scanner: Flatbed Or Overhead?
All the good models use high resolution cameras and a moving light coming from a powerful LEDs.They are few scanner that just use a one shot camera mounted on a frame for, make sure you don’t buy them. It is because a digital camera is made fro clicking photos and can not replace a scanner.
A flatbed scanner scans a book when you press it flat out on the scanner’s glass plate. This scans the page but not very efficiently you might see the sentences on the inner end going inside(because of the inner middle curve in the book) and you might also find some fingertips mark. Further, there is also a risk of damaging the book’s spine and the results may not be as good as required. They just scan the book from above and the scanning image looks like as if you are reading the book from above. The traditional flatbed scanners are not recommended if you will strictly use them for book scanning. They are preferred for scanning flat documents or other papers. We don’t recommend them for book as the page curve near the book binding cause problem. The edge text is distorted in the scan, thus making the scan difficult to read.
On the contrary to it the overhead book scanners are solely meant for book scanning. They have an overhead lamp, a camera, and an OCR. They tend to recognize each word of the book and thereby take a clear picture of the book page. They also correct the page indentation, format, disregard the finger tips while scanning. Further, in the best ones there is no issue of inner page curves or distortion of the page. You just get a mirror image of the book. So, they are great for scanning books. In this category you can go for Fujitsu Scan Snap SV600, PKB World Shape , and CZUR ET16 Plus.
2. Speed
This is another important requisite. It refers to the number of pages the scanner can handle in the shortest possible time. For office purposes and for commercial purposes high speed scanner are the most preferred products. It is because they can handle greater workload to serve all the customers. Even for personal use high speed book scanners are the most preferred book scanners. In a general scenario, it takes 1-5 seconds to scan one page. The top ones take around 1 seconds and the low quality ones might take 4-5 seconds. As per our testing, we tried to include only the ones that take less than 4 seconds to scan a page. The book scanners that are good for speed is Fujitsu Scan Snap SV600, PKB World Shape , Plustek OS1180 , IPEVO USB, and CZUR ET16
3. Quality And Image Resolution
This is another important point to consider for getting a clear picture of the page. It might change with technology. A high resolution camera combined with OCR technology gives an unbeatable performance. The recommended range of resolution is 300dpi for black and white documents and 600-1200 for colored glossy documents. Make sure whichever product you are choosing has a good resolution and clarity.
4. OCR
OCR stands for optical character recognition or optical character reader. With this technology, the handwritten, or typed or printed text are converted to machine-encoded text. It is must feature for book scanners. This electronic conversion is done to make sure that every word on the paper is scanned accurately. So, for scanning books a good OCR is a must. A few OCRs are of such high quality that they can even identify the words from different languages like English, Japenese, Chinese, and few other major languages. This way they ensure the entire text is scanned exactly the way it is written on the page.
The other advantages of OCR includes editing of the page. You can edit the images coming with OCR technology. This way you have the ease to crop them, add or remove some characters to get a more polished outcome. Moreover, you can even adjust the brightness and sharpness of the image for a user-friendly experience. Lastly, the documents scanned using OCR can be converted in to PDF, Doc, Office, TIFF, or other Microsoft office tools,
5. Software Compatibility
Once the document is scanned it has to go to its required storage area.You might need to copy it to your PC, laptop, or send it as an attachment in email. So, it is important for the scanner to be compatible to a range of software for easy process of sharing and convenience. If your device is not compatible to a range of software then you might face problem in sharing or viewing it on different devices.
6. Type Of Documents
The book scanner are those ones that can handle different type of documents varying in size, shape, and thickness. Choosing a scanner that can handle multiple type of documents from books to magazines to cards to art works to paintings is always advisable. Your scanner should definitely know how to scan the type of documents used frequently buy you. You can always buy one scanner for document and one for books but that is just a wastage of money and space. We recommend to go for a multipurpose versatile device that can handle multiple documents well. This will not only save money but also time.
7. Price
Price is a personal choice. The market has book scanners that start from $100 and go up to $1000. You should be considerate in choosing a product that suffice your need irrespective of the price it has. The high-end costly ones have some add-on user-friendly features and the moderate ones just do the basic scanning job. Choose one that fits your budget. Our list has only the quality products irrespective of their amount. Our testing and other reviews suggest Fujitsu Scan Snap SV600 is among the budget and the second choice is PKB World Shape and IPEVO USB Book as the budget pick.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why Should You Scan A Book?
Scanning a 500 page book sound like a lot of work but why do you think you should do it. There are many publication and books that you want to access regularly. Its not in-convenient to carry them daily to your class, library, or to place them on your table. But making them in a digitized form can solve this issue very well as you just have to take your laptop/storage drive to read or refer to them anytime anywhere. Further, it also cuts the cost of buying the book you can ask your friend to buy one book and you buy the other one. Both of you scan it up and share the scanned copy with each other.
A few other advantages of scanned book is that you can read quickly and search for a phrase or word instantly without flipping over hundreds of pages. Lastly, you can also store these books in a PDF format in your smart phone and read while you travel.
2. What Resolution Should I Look For?
For the books and documents, you really don’t have to may much attention to the resolution. A device with 200pi is good to scan plain black and white pages and a device with around 600dpi is considered good for glossy colored pages, magazines, paintings, or posters. A higher pixel gives a more finished clear scan.
3. What Size Of Scanner Do I Need?
Picking the right one relates to the document size you will scan. Most of the good models can scan up to A3 size paper. With this you can even scan the small size postcards, IDs, documents, and even A4 size paper documents. This size sounds to be versatile as it can handle different kind of load pretty easily. With most of the flatbed scanners, the size is a constraint they mostly can scan documents that are up to A4 size. For large size books and prints they don’t fit. Nevertheless, look at your requirement choose which one suits your budget and requirement before purchasing.
4. Do I Need To Buy Any Software?
Most of the new models comes with in built software. These software are capable of doing all the work from scanning to editing to transferring of files. This way you don’t have to pay extra to purchase an addition scan related software. Nevertheless, it also relates to what you plan to scan. If you need features like OCR, photo editing, text indexing, formatting, PDF document search, adjusting the picture brightness and sharing your files then you don’t need and additional software. But if your work demands to do something more than this you might need to buy an additional software.
Final Talk
The goal is to save money and get the best book scanner that is versatile in nature and excellent in quality. For this, we recommend you to assess your present and future needs and as well do a proper research to make an informed decision. Our post has an detailed buying guide to help you sort your needs and a list of the most worthy products from the market prefer reading it before choosing any one.
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