One the of the most popular class topics run by iTandCoffee is the Ditch that Scanner class - where we look at all sorts of options for ditching your printer’s scanner and using a mobile devices to scan your documents and photos.
Of recent times, I have been using the built-in features of the iPhone and iPad to do my day-to-day document scanning, rather than relying on any third-party scanner. I scan all sort of things direct into Notes and use it to keep records of receipts, bills, and all sorts of other things. I also use something called a Shortcut to scan a document straight into my iCloud Drive (so that it syncs across to my Mac and can be accessed almost immediately from Finder on my Mac). Let's take a look these scanning options.
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A client that I saw this week was having problems with her 10 year old printer’s scanner. It had stopped working after a recent macOS update, and she could not scan documents to her Mac’s desktop using that scanner.
We tried updating the printer’s drivers, but this did not help. Rather than continuing to try to resolve this issue (or look at options for a new printer/scanner), I showed her how she could achieve that same scanning using her Mac and her iPhone - requiring less steps and effort. 28/5/2024 0 Comments I am ditching my favourite scanner and note-taking apps. What are the alternatives?One of my favourite apps has changed - to the point where I aim finding it no longer usable and it's time to ditch it for a replacement.
It is the (previously) free app Evernote Scannable, which has always done such an amazing jobs of scanning documents AND photos. I have recommended Scannable to so many clients over the 9 or so years since it first arrived on the scene. And I know that so many iTandCoffee clients have used and loved this app. So how will I (and other Scannable users) scan using an iPhone in future? I have been asked this several times in relation to photos, especially old photos - is it possible for some descriptive text to appear under the photo, and always be visible?
Apple's Markup feature, which is available from the Photos app, allows the addition of text to an image. But the text appears on top of the image, which is not necessarily what is wanted. And it's not easy to add a white background to the text, so that it is like a banner at the bottom of the photo. (Here's a members-only tip that show how you could use Markup if you do want to give it a go: Add Text to Photo using Apple's Markup.) There is a particular app that I use that does a lovely job of this, adding a white background section at the bottom of the photo with whatever text you choose to enter - and even a date for the photo, if you choose to enter that. I have shown some examples from my own family photos in the image above. 25/11/2022 0 Comments Here's how I scanned boxes of old slides into my Photos library in no time flatI recently had to prepare a slideshow for our family, and had been sent a big box of old slides taken in the 60s and 70s - with the plan being to include these slides in the slideshow.
I don't have a scanner that caters for slides (they are quite expensive to buy) - so I used an amazing app to achieve wonderful results in very little time. In fact, it took far less time than if I had purchased a device to do the scanning. 15/6/2022 0 Comments How can I collate all my receipts and store them somewhere on my iPad and iPhoneTax time is upon us, and for those of us in small business, it is time to pull together all those receipts and invoices.
Many receipts from retailers are on thermal paper and, by the time we get to tax time, the print can have faded so much that content of the receipt is not able to be read. How can you save away all these receipts/invoice so that you can easily access and read them when needed - and perhaps even electronically share the collection of these receipts/invoice with your book-keeper or accountant? A client of iTandCoffee - who has an iPad and iPhone, but no computer - had this very question just this week, and so we looked at a fantastic solution for storing all her receipts/invoices. 8/4/2022 4 Comments How to easily re-create a digital book from a hard-copy book/pages - and then publish itWay back in 1984, a distant relative of my father-in-law created a wonderful, 300-page hardcover family history book - of which we have a copy.
We also have a short family history book put together by someone in my own father's family tree. In addition to those published books, we had various other typed and handwritten family history notes and letters for other branches of each of our family trees. In recent times, my children had asked if we could source copies of the published books for their own book collections. Unfortunately, the books are no longer able to be re-printed and are only available in hard copy. And they are very out of date, needing updating to reflecting the generations that have come since the time they were published. So, I set about first re-creating and updating the two books, getting them into digital format using the old hard-copy versions the books (with the authors permission, of course). This was able to be completed so quickly - without having to re-type any of the words from the books!
I have previously featured this tip, and thought I'd re-run it after making use of it myself in putting together some Family History books for my kids.
If you have some slides that you would like to scan into digital format, there is an App that may be worth a try - and it is from the same people who made one of my favourite photo scanning apps (which I have covered in this previous Handy Hint: For those who are looking to organise all those old photos - there's a great app for that!). A client who visited iTandCoffee last week had a frustrating problem with her much-loved scanner, an Epson DS-560.
This scanner really is amazing - able to scan two sides at once and is SO fast. If you have heavy-duty scanning needs, it's really worth considering. However, our client found that, as soon as she upgraded her Mac to High Sierra, the Scan app associated with her Espon scanner would crash every time she tried to change the destination location for her scans |
What's on at iTandCoffee ?Below is our list of videos, classes and other events that are coming up soon.
Videos shown are offered for eligible members of the iTandCoffee Club. If you have questions, why not join fun and informative 'user group' meetings, held once a month. All iTandCoffee classes are run as online classes (using Zoom), which means you can attend from anywhere. |
27 Sycamore St, Camberwell, Victoria Australia
(also located in Daylesford)
(also located in Daylesford)
Call +61 444 532 161 or 1300 885 420
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Seniors Card holders qualify for a 10%* discount on eligible classes booked and paid for online. To activate the discount at the time of booking, select Redeem Coupon or Gift Certificate and enter 10OFFSEN before selecting Pay Now Seniors can also save $5** on the first full hour of appointments booked online. Enter Coupon Code of BASEN5 when booking to receive this discount. * Some heavily discounted classes are excluded from the 10% class discount offer. ** Where more than one type of discount is available, only one type of discount can be used. |
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