Your document scanner cannot do much by itself. It's the document scanning software that interprets the light information and produces meaningful results. This article first describes the significance of scanning to document management. Then the criteria that determine the features you want in the scanning software is investigated.

Scanning software comes in different flavors, with simple to extensive capabilities. You have to guard against paying for expensive features that you don't want, and at the same time ensure that the software will meet the needs that you do have.

Document scanning moves paper documents into the electronic workflow by converting them into digital documents. This conversion process typically has two major stages. First, scanning software produces a digital image of the paper documents. Second, any text-character ‘images' are converted into computer readable text by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Once the text characters become readable by the computer, it becomes possible to carry out several key document management processes:

Document scanning software offerings differ in capabilities and cost. Your desktop scanner can most likely scan only single sheets of up to, say, A4 size pages. You have to hand feed each sheet. Heavy duty scanners can accept a continuous flow of automatically fed sheets, of different sizes, and are far more productive. You have to select a scanner that meets your requirements.

Other features of scanning software include:

The more extensive the capabilities, the more expensive the scanning software is likely to be. You have to balance your needs and the cost.