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Exactscan on M1 Mac/Macbook ?

P

paulCC

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 2, 2012
100
59
Hello,
does anyone have the Exactscan scanning and OCR app running on an M1 based Mac/Macbook ?

Here is my issue - I am a licensed used of this app, bought it many years ago when it was still on Apple Store. The maker pulled this from App Store, so I bought an update in 2019 to the version they are selling directly.
few weeks ago I switched to a new MacBook 14 M1. Since the license allows even use on multiple computers owned by the licensee, I tried to install it with my key. I got an error message that my license is too old to update to this version. Very confusing, since it was the same version I was using on my Intel based Macbook.
Emails to support went unanswered for several weeks. So I yesterday got their phone number in Berlin, and called them. They do not even list the phone numbers on their WEB site, I had to go to some German phonebook sites....
The person on the phone was obviously someone from the development team. He told me how the app does not yet work with the latest OS, how Apple keeps changing APIs ( which is a little strange, as I am running the same MacOS as I was running on the Intel machine, and the app worked fine ), how it does not work on M1.....
So this is why I am looking for anyone that does have it running on M1.
If you wonder why I bother - the app was not cheap. It runs week, the OCR is pretty reliable. Documents are piling up on my desk, waiting to be scanned...I might even purchase a new license, I am a sw developer myself, and understand the cost involved in making sw.

Thanks for any info. Paul.
 
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paulCC said:
Emails to support went unanswered for several weeks. So I yesterday got their phone number in Berlin, and called them. They do not even list the phone numbers on their WEB site, I had to go to some German phonebook sites....
Click to expand...

If it were me I'd dump it. When a product website clearly tries to avoid providing you support by not responding to emails and not providing a phone number I wouldn't give them my business. Very unlikely that they will change their ways so likely just more pain in the future.

I use a Snapscan with Devonthink and it works perfectly. Tough bullet to swallow if you have to replace your scanner as well. Tradeoff between the increasing time costs of keeping it running vs expense.
 
paulCC said:
Hello,
does anyone have the Exactscan scanning and OCR app running on an M1 based Mac/Macbook ?

Here is my issue - I am a licensed used of this app, bought it many years ago when it was still on Apple Store. The maker pulled this from App Store, so I bought an update in 2019 to the version they are selling directly.
few weeks ago I switched to a new MacBook 14 M1. Since the license allows even use on multiple computers owned by the licensee, I tried to install it with my key. I got an error message that my license is too old to update to this version. Very confusing, since it was the same version I was using on my Intel based Macbook.
Emails to support went unanswered for several weeks. So I yesterday got their phone number in Berlin, and called them. They do not even list the phone numbers on their WEB site, I had to go to some German phonebook sites....
The person on the phone was obviously someone from the development team. He told me how the app does not yet work with the latest OS, how Apple keeps changing APIs ( which is a little strange, as I am running the same MacOS as I was running on the Intel machine, and the app worked fine ), how it does not work on M1.....
So this is why I am looking for anyone that does have it running on M1.
If you wonder why I bother - the app was not cheap. It runs week, the OCR is pretty reliable. Documents are piling up on my desk, waiting to be scanned...I might even purchase a new license, I am a sw developer myself, and understand the cost involved in making sw.

Thanks for any info. Paul.
Click to expand...
paulCC, what did you decide to do? I had exactly the same experience: Installed ExactScan on an M1 MacBook but received the "License is too old for this version" error message on registering/activating, even though it is working fine on my Intel-based Mac. Did you buy a new license and did it work?

VueScan is the only alternative I can see other than buying a new scanner.
 
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i'm a fan of vuescan as well.

but if you're doing lightweight scanning of docs + OCR, i found PDFScanner (in the apple app store) to be a bit more focused.

(i'm currently using it to scan all printed manuals, receipts, etc for any new items i've received over the last two years.)
 
valance-hack said:
paulCC, what did you decide to do? I had exactly the same experience: Installed ExactScan on an M1 MacBook but received the "License is too old for this version" error message on registering/activating, even though it is working fine on my Intel-based Mac. Did you buy a new license and did it work?

VueScan is the only alternative I can see other than buying a new scanner.
Click to expand...
Hello, I did not resolve this yet. I have a license to the OCRkit app from the vendor, so maybe I will get a besic scanner, and automate the OCR step through OCRkit.

The behaviour of the vendor is really user unfriendly. I cannot even download an eval copy, as my Mac contains somewhere the info from the previous trial, and refuses to run.
 
valance-hack said:
paulCC, what did you decide to do? I had exactly the same experience: Installed ExactScan on an M1 MacBook but received the "License is too old for this version" error message on registering/activating, even though it is working fine on my Intel-based Mac. Did you buy a new license and did it work?

VueScan is the only alternative I can see other than buying a new scanner.
Click to expand...
An update from today - i asked a friend with a Macbook 13 M1 to try the trial version of Exactscan Pro.
It installed fine, found the scanner ( a Brother multifunction laser printer/scanner, connected via WIFI ), scanned a PDF with PCR.

So it seems the basic funtionality is all there. I am afraind the vendor is just trying to get us all buy a new version. I would not even mind paying some 50$ update to some new version, but with the support line being pretty much dead, and this unethical treament of paying licensees, I will not do that :-(

Update - I have found a reply from Frank ( owner ) to my review on Google maps. he claims that the company promised only 2 years of updates.
So I downloaded the version 19.11.6 from the link in the upgrade purchase email from ExactCode, and the activation of this OLD version fails with the same error - that the license is too old for this version ! This is clearly a bug in their activation system, as I am trying to activate the OLD version, not the latest, which is 22.6.

www.google.com

ExactCODE GmbH · Lietzenburger Str. 42, 10789 Berlin, Germany

âââââ · Software company
www.google.com www.google.com
 
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I just upgraded to the new M2 Air last week, from Intel. ExactScan moved over just fine and working well. I have ExactScan Pro Version 22.6, and I'm connected to a Fuji ScanSnap S1500M. Also, a few months ago, I contacted the company about plans to support Apple Silicon. I got a prompt reply, and something to the effect that its under consideration, but things like this can be difficult for a small company.
 
MacRail said:
I just upgraded to the new M2 Air last week, from Intel. ExactScan moved over just fine and working well. I have ExactScan Pro Version 22.6, and I'm connected to a Fuji ScanSnap S1500M. Also, a few months ago, I contacted the company about plans to support Apple Silicon. I got a prompt reply, and something to the effect that its under consideration, but things like this can be difficult for a small company.
Click to expand...
I have the same scanner that you do, and was wondering if you switched from ScanSnap Manager to ExactScan, did you notice a speed difference. Additionally, did you investigate/demo VueScan or any other software to use with this scanner?

Many thanks!
Greg
 
gregmac19 said:
I have the same scanner that you do, and was wondering if you switched from ScanSnap Manager to ExactScan, did you notice a speed difference. Additionally, did you investigate/demo VueScan or any other software to use with this scanner?
Click to expand...
@gregmac19 - if my memory is correct, I had to abandon ScanSnap s/w because of OS X Catalina stopped supporting 32-bit apps. But really - have never looked back. ExactScan works as fast and equally well as ScanSnap. They both have their UI quirks. But at least I get software updates from time to time on ExactScan, whereas ScanSnap rarely ever got updates. I actually already owned VueScan, because of a flatbed scanner I own. But that s/w would be a terrible option with the ScanSnap scanner.
 
HDFan said:
Skipped Catalina, but have had no problems with ScanSnap from Mohave to Monterey on either Intel or, most recently, M1.
Click to expand...
Now I remember what happened. Fujitsu made a very controversial decision to drop support for some of its older ScanSnap scanners by not updating the ScanSnap Manager software to 64-bit so it could run in macOS 10.15 Catalina and later. In essence - they were saying, upgrade to one of our newer scanners; your old scanner can no longer be used. That's when I made the jump. The whole story is summarized in this TidBits article from mid-2020.
 
MacRail said:
Fujitsu made a very controversial decision to drop support for some of its older ScanSnap scanners by not updating the ScanSnap Manager software
Click to expand...

Brother does the same thing. Just had to toss a perfectly good P-Touch printer because they won't update the drivers for M1. But their hardware is excellent ...
 
I use ExactScan Pro on my M1 Max with no issues. It's honestly the best Mac software for page-feed scanners on the market, and lets me continue to use my 14-year old $2500 Fujitsu scanner. If I had to guess, porting all of those drivers to Apple Silicon is no joke (though I think they are just using the drivers from the open source SANE project), and might not be worth the effort for a piece of software that probably doesn't move many licenses.
 
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paulCC said:
Hello,
does anyone have the Exactscan scanning and OCR app running on an M1 based Mac/Macbook ?

Here is my issue - I am a licensed used of this app, bought it many years ago when it was still on Apple Store. The maker pulled this from App Store, so I bought an update in 2019 to the version they are selling directly.
few weeks ago I switched to a new MacBook 14 M1. Since the license allows even use on multiple computers owned by the licensee, I tried to install it with my key. I got an error message that my license is too old to update to this version. Very confusing, since it was the same version I was using on my Intel based Macbook.
Emails to support went unanswered for several weeks. So I yesterday got their phone number in Berlin, and called them. They do not even list the phone numbers on their WEB site, I had to go to some German phonebook sites....
The person on the phone was obviously someone from the development team. He told me how the app does not yet work with the latest OS, how Apple keeps changing APIs ( which is a little strange, as I am running the same MacOS as I was running on the Intel machine, and the app worked fine ), how it does not work on M1.....
So this is why I am looking for anyone that does have it running on M1.
If you wonder why I bother - the app was not cheap. It runs week, the OCR is pretty reliable. Documents are piling up on my desk, waiting to be scanned...I might even purchase a new license, I am a sw developer myself, and understand the cost involved in making sw.

Thanks for any info. Paul.
Click to expand...
Update - since Frank ( the owner of ExactCode ??? ) started to reply to Google review and on support emails, I did another update to resolve my issue.
I still bothers me that there really is AFAIK no way to transfer the sw to another computer, after your 2 years of support are over, even if the latest version eligible for update is only 8 months old, and would probably work just fine.
The pile of documents on my desk has shrunk. :)
 
Found this thread after exactly the same error message migrating to an M1 Mac mini, and no response from ExactCode.

I first considered the advice to use DevonThink. Their documentation specifies that they don't have native support for ScanSnap, they leverage existing support. I don't want to ever touch an OEM ScanSnap driver again.

I then realized I already had a copy of VueScan. I'd bought it for another location with a Canon flatbed scanner that had fallen out of OEM support. They supported it. Somehow, out of habit, I didn't think to have it replace ExactScan for me. I'd pegged it as "legacy support" when in fact it has finer controls than any other scanner software I know for coaxing the most out of a scanner image.

I tried my VueScan Standard Edition copy today on both my Canon flatbed and my ScanSnap iX1500 at this location, and I decided that I liked it a lot. So I bought a VueScan Professional upgrade.

Then René from ExactCode wrote me back. He explained the difficulties of a small company addressing the transition to Apple Silicon, and expressed his belief that their software is superior. I figured out that my earlier consternation at being busked for an upgrade was miscommunication. Their licenses are for updates over time, not version number; their website clearly states that an ExactScan Pro license is good for two years of free updates. So of course it didn't matter that my correspondence from 2019 didn't spell out what version I had bought. I didn't see this upgrade request on a different machine because that machine was already set up. I had misread a gesture intended as a kindness.

In any case, I immediately upgraded for 60 EUR, as ExactScan Pro is worth far more to me than they ask.

ExactScan Pro has a "just get it done" orientation with great preset support. VueScan Professional has more detailed under the hood support, including exotica such as the ability to color calibrate scanners and printers. Default PDF compression is similar, but ExactScan Pro offers finer control if one wants to adjust this. Default levels aren't the same, but both can be adjusted.

If one can set and forget ExactScan Pro presets, then they take the win for just getting work done. I sometimes tweak an ExactScan Pro preset for a variant job, then forget to set it back. VueScan Professional shows all settings in one place, without presets, better if one's work is mostly one-off.

I'm happy supporting both products.
 
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thomasjpr said:
I use ExactScan Pro on my M1 Max with no issues. It's honestly the best Mac software for page-feed scanners on the market, and lets me continue to use my 14-year old $2500 Fujitsu scanner. If I had to guess, porting all of those drivers to Apple Silicon is no joke (though I think they are just using the drivers from the open source SANE project), and might not be worth the effort for a piece of software that probably doesn't move many licenses.
Click to expand...

René from ExactCode made it clear to me that ExactScan drivers are written from scratch in C++ with a proper image processing pipeline, not possible with SANE. They have succeeded in their transition to Apple Silicon and will be rolling out "ARM" builds to the public after resolving compatibility issues with vendor scanner drivers.

If one takes a deep dive into both ExactScan and VueScan, they both have a deeper understanding of drivers than I'd wish on anybody. If ExactScan does a better job of hiding this detail, it's their "Just get it done" orientation. Don't mistake this for a lack of depth.

ScanTango is another credible option, now Apple Silicon native with Tier 1 support for my ScanSnap iX1500. Impressively, they're honoring my license from 2009.
 
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paulCC said:
Update - since Frank ( the owner of ExactCode ??? ) started to reply to Google review and on support emails, I did another update to resolve my issue.
I still bothers me that there really is AFAIK no way to transfer the sw to another computer, after your 2 years of support are over, even if the latest version eligible for update is only 8 months old, and would probably work just fine.
The pile of documents on my desk has shrunk. :)
Click to expand...
When you said you did another update to resolve your issue, did that mean you ended up buying a new license? I had the exact same problem. Thanks.
 
JordanMacRumors said:
When you said you did another update to resolve your issue, did that mean you ended up buying a new license? I had the exact same problem. Thanks.
Click to expand...
yes, I paid for an update, to be able to get the latest-greatest.
 
Syzygies said:
Found this thread after exactly the same error message migrating to an M1 Mac mini, and no response from ExactCode.

I first considered the advice to use DevonThink. Their documentation specifies that they don't have native support for ScanSnap, they leverage existing support. I don't want to ever touch an OEM ScanSnap driver again.

I then realized I already had a copy of VueScan. I'd bought it for another location with a Canon flatbed scanner that had fallen out of OEM support. They supported it. Somehow, out of habit, I didn't think to have it replace ExactScan for me. I'd pegged it as "legacy support" when in fact it has finer controls than any other scanner software I know for coaxing the most out of a scanner image.

I tried my VueScan Standard Edition copy today on both my Canon flatbed and my ScanSnap iX1500 at this location, and I decided that I liked it a lot. So I bought a VueScan Professional upgrade.

Then René from ExactCode wrote me back. He explained the difficulties of a small company addressing the transition to Apple Silicon, and expressed his belief that their software is superior. I figured out that my earlier consternation at being busked for an upgrade was miscommunication. Their licenses are for updates over time, not version number; their website clearly states that an ExactScan Pro license is good for two years of free updates. So of course it didn't matter that my correspondence from 2019 didn't spell out what version I had bought. I didn't see this upgrade request on a different machine because that machine was already set up. I had misread a gesture intended as a kindness.

In any case, I immediately upgraded for 60 EUR, as ExactScan Pro is worth far more to me than they ask.

ExactScan Pro has a "just get it done" orientation with great preset support. VueScan Professional has more detailed under the hood support, including exotica such as the ability to color calibrate scanners and printers. Default PDF compression is similar, but ExactScan Pro offers finer control if one wants to adjust this. Default levels aren't the same, but both can be adjusted.

If one can set and forget ExactScan Pro presets, then they take the win for just getting work done. I sometimes tweak an ExactScan Pro preset for a variant job, then forget to set it back. VueScan Professional shows all settings in one place, without presets, better if one's work is mostly one-off.

I'm happy supporting both products.
Click to expand...
The ExactScan Website does not include Sonoma as one of the supported macOS versions. Do you have experience/problems with this?
 
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