Acrobat for Legal Professionals

My sister Sue is seven years older than me and— as she occasionally will point out— seven years wiser.

Sue is a family therapist and works with a number of clients. She’s been in practice for well over twenty years and consequently has a a large number of paper files. The state where she works mandates that she must keep these files for seven years.

Thus, it wasn’t surprising when I received an e-mail from her asking if I could suggest ways for her to go paperless.

It immediately occurred to me that Sue’s needs might not be unlike those of the typical solo attorney or small firm.

My suggestion was to use an inexpensive Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner to scan in her client files. Fortunately, I just happened to have a ScanSnap S510 sitting in my office. This would be the perfect test environment to develop a workflow and best practices for scanning in client records..

At about $400, the S510 comes with a full version of Acrobat Standard (that’s worth $299 right there) and has a rated scanning speed of 20 double-sided pages per minute.

Perhaps this is not the most elegant way to describe this device, but it is sort of a beginner’s scanner. Unlike more expensive devices, you cannot control the S510 directly from Acrobat or other applications because it lacks a TWAIN or ISIS driver.

The lack of TWAIN doesn’t mean that this isn’t a useful device. The ScanSnap S510 is a great scanner, but you do need to understand how to use it to best advantage.

Read on to learn how to set-up and use the scanner. I’ve even included a downloadable PDF version of this article.

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One of the nice things about working for Adobe is that occasionally nice things show up on my doorstep.

That was the case a few months ago when a Fujitsu fi-6140 scanner arrived. My test of this scanner was delayed as I waited for my new laptop to arrive . . . apologies!

Fujitsu fi-6140 scanner on my messy desk.

Fujitsu offers an entire line of scanners from inexpensive personal scanners to heavy-duty departmental scanners. Many of their scanner offerings include Adobe Acrobat, too!

The Fujitsu fi-6140 is department-level scanner that is rated to scan 60, double-sided black and white pages per minute at 200 dpi and 40, double-sided color pages at 300 dpi. This kind of performance is about three times what you’ll find in a personal scanner.

The price is also about three times more:

• The Fujitsu fi-6140 is about $1580 (CDW)
• ScanSnap S1500 is a bit under $500 (CDW)

For a small firm that doesn’t do a lot of scanning, the Fujitsu fi-6140 might be overkill. However, if you have a lot of documents to scan, or difficult document types, this scanner has many benefits:

1. TWAIN Interface
   Unlike the ScanSnap personal scanners, Fujitsu’s business
   scanners can interface to any software such as Acrobat. (You can’t scan inside of Acrobat using the ScanSnap, which is an annoyance).
2. Scanning Options
   The fi-6140 TWAIN driver offers sophisticated imaging tools
   such as edge cleanup, hole removal, document numbering, etc. You can even have the scanner automatically scan the front of pages at one resolution and the back in another.
3. Paper Handling
   The fi-6140 capably handles thick card stock and other tough to scan documents. I scanned a stack of credit cards and it worked fine!
4. Speed
   The fi-6140 is fast, really fast. If you scan large stacks of paper frequently, you will benefit the most.
5. Software Bundle
   In addition to Acrobat, the fi-6140 includes full versions of professional-level software such as Kofax VRS Professional and Fujitsu ScandAll Pro.
6. Long Duty Cycle

In the rest of the article, you can read more about my overall impression of the Fujitsu fi-6140. In this review, I’ll cover how to use this scanner with Acrobat and access some extended functions.

Spoiler alert: I liked it! Read on . . .

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Fujitsu has an excellent reputation in the document scanning business. Many solo and small firms use their popular and inexpensive ScanSnap S510 document scanner—about $400 or so street price—for document scanning.

While I’ve scanned thousands of pages using my ScanSnap, it was a workflow challenge because the modely I have could not be directly controlled by Acrobat.

The ScanSnap S510 doesn’tt support TWAIN, a standard software protocol that allows scanning devices and software programs to communicate.

Thus, I was delighted recently when Fujitsu was nice enough to send me an evaluation unit of the ScanSnap fi-5110C, the next model up in the line. You can find this model for about $600 to $700 at various online stores.

The ScanSnap fi-5110c is a good choice for solo or small firms that want more control over scanning to PDF. It includes a good TWAIN driver and the full version of Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard. Fujitsu tells me that they will be upgrading to Acrobat 8 shortly. This device is compatible with both XP and Vista.

The ScanSnap fi-5110C is rated to scan fifteen double-sided pages per minute.

Read on to learn more about my experience using this scanner and some tips and techniques for setting it up.

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One of the perks of my job at Adobe is that partners send me cool stuff to evaluate. Sometimes the products come without any warning. That was the case when I received a Canon DR-2580C scanner recently. I don’t even know who to thank!

The DR-2580C is a great scanner for a solo or small firm. The DR-2580C is rated at 25, black and white, double-sided pages per minute at 300 dpi. That’s smoking fast! Best of all, this scanner includes a full version of Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard. I assume they will upgrade the bundle to Acrobat 8 in the future.

For a scanner this fast, the price is reasonable ranging from about $640 to $750 depending on the online retailer.

I’ve discovered a few tips for using this scanner with Acrobat 8. While we’re at it, I’ll make note of some new OCR features in Acrobat 8.

Read on more info…

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