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Readdle Scanner Pro Alternative for Mac

A

autoshot

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 11, 2015
44
7
Hello everyone!

In recent years I started converting all of the important documents I receive by mail to (searchable) PDFs. To do so, I've been using my Brother scanner to create JPGs, which I then transfer to my iPhone via AirDrop, import them into Scanner Pro by Readdle and let the app do its thing including OCR. The final PDF is then transferred back to my Mac via AirDrop again.

As you can probably imagine, this entire process is quite cumbersome and time consuming, which is why I would like to streamline it a little. The question just is: are you guys aware of any Mac app that is comparable to Scanner Pro in terms of functionality and ideally can communicate directly with the Brother scanner?

Cheers,
Daniel
 
Trying to get rid of multiple feet of piled up paper I purchased a Scansnap scanner along with Devonthink. Works like a charm. The snapscan software often can extract the date and title of the document and make that the file name. When it goes into DevonThink as a PDF the file is scanned and made searchable.

Doesn't answer your question though since it requires some investments.
 
autoshot said:
Hello everyone!

In recent years I started converting all of the important documents I receive by mail to (searchable) PDFs. To do so, I've been using my Brother scanner to create JPGs, which I then transfer to my iPhone via AirDrop, import them into Scanner Pro by Readdle and let the app do its thing including OCR. The final PDF is then transferred back to my Mac via AirDrop again.

As you can probably imagine, this entire process is quite cumbersome and time consuming, which is why I would like to streamline it a little. The question just is: are you guys aware of any Mac app that is comparable to Scanner Pro in terms of functionality and ideally can communicate directly with the Brother scanner?

Cheers,
Daniel
Click to expand...
Is there a reason why you do not use Brother iPrint&Scan software which concidentally includes OCR on your Mac?
 
I purchased PDFscanner on the App Store for a reasonable one-time price at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pdfscanner-scanning-and-ocr/id410968114?mt=12. It connects directly to the scanner, creates a PDF, and then performs OCR. It can also OCR .jpeg files you may have on your Mac.

I've found it works simply and reliably. I ran some difficult documents through Adobe Acrobat on my work PC and PDFScanner was roughly as accurate in OCRing.
 
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Slartibart said:
I recommend following the link I included before. Click more to expand the information section to read it. Then download and maybe have a look in the manual to learn about the OCR and Scan to PDF-functionality provided.
Click to expand...
You're right, Brother iPrint&Scan does offer OCR functionality and it's not even bad! There's really just one problem: rearranging pages. For whatever reason Brother did not consider this a function worth implementing, I even asked since I couldn't believe it:
Bildschirmfoto 2022-03-14 um 15.08.30.png
Of course I could use Preview or PDF Expert after the fact, but that means performing yet another step which I'd like to avoid for efficiency reasons. Therefore, I decided to get a handy little App called "PDFify", which is currently on sale at bundlehunt.com (The "Award-Winning Mac Bundle") for $5 + unlock price.
 
Another vote for PDFscanner on the App Store. I like it much better than Brother iPrint&Scan. It seems a little slower than older Brother ControlCenter but the results are great!
 
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