Best Scanners For Receipts And Small Business : Review And Buying Guide
Gretchen Rubin Sep 25, 2023 3:39 PM
What percentage of your time do you spend on the road because of your small business? Receipt scanners and other helpful tools can make it easier to keep track of your out-of-pocket costs and purchases when you're on the go. If you've been keeping careful tabs on your spending, come tax time you'll be ready to claim every deduction to which you're entitled.
Scanning receipts electronically is a time-saving and accurate method of keeping tabs on business expenditures. Here is a guide to scanning receipts, as well as the best receipt scanning apps available, whether you're looking for a simple and cheap solution to manage your freelancer expenses or a powerful mobile system to coordinate your sales and travel-related expenses.
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Size
Do you seek a moveable object or one that will remain stationary on your desk? For scanning, what paper sizes do you anticipate? Consider the weight if you plan on taking it around with you when making your choice.
Speed
Because you're probably buying a receipt scanner so that you may save time, speed is a crucial consideration. Scanners with quicker speeds and additional capabilities like duplex scanning tend to be more expensive. However, the time you'll save may be well worth the additional expense. Examine the scanner's page per minute (PPM) rate before buying.
Auto-feed
If you routinely scan multiple-page documents, it's important to know how many pages you can load into the auto-feeder before leaving the scanner to do its thing.
Portability
The receipt scanner's portability and light weight are essential considerations. You can acquire a full-featured desktop scanner if you want to use it at work.
Compatibility
You should be sure that the scanner you end up getting is going to work well with your current system. Whether an Excel spreadsheet, the cloud, or your accounting program is the destination. The purpose is to save you time and irritation, not to add extra labor.
Resolution
The resolution of a scanner is not the one and only factor required for scanning. You'll want a perfect copy of the document scanned from your scanner. It needs to be able to detect even the tiniest nuances of color and detail. Fortunately, most modern scanners have a high resolution suitable for scanning a receipt at no cost. When printing papers like invoices, the maximum resolution of 600 dpi is more than adequate.
File Export
Whether you run a large or small business, scanning receipts helps you stay organized and communicate with your staff. The file format of the scanned document is likely to be either PDF or an image format. However, in daily reports or another format, you may wish to display data content. This requires the scanned documents to be both searchable and editable. To better compile small company expense reports, some scanners offer the option of exporting data to an excel sheet or other format using document management software. Some scanners even let you upload the scanned document straight to the cloud.
To have these functionalities, you must hunt for a scanner compatible with document management software and have drivers like TWAIN, WIA, ICA, etc. Nearly all of the scanners on the list either have document management software or are compatible with software used for expenditure reports.
Connectivity
Expense reports are typically scanned with a group of scanners that are linked via USB. To counter this, the typical person employs the use of three different electronic gadgets. In this case, the user should be able to utilize any of their devices to gain access to the scanner. That can't be done unless the scanner has WiFi capabilities. Doxie Go SE, for example, is a mobile-friendly scanner that can print directly from your phone. Look for scanners with Wi-Fi connectivity if you need to scan receipts, expenses, or other documents from many devices in your workplace or at home.
FAQS
Should I just use a receipt scanner on my phone or tablet?
It may be convenient to use a mobile app that scans receipts on your smartphone or tablet. Given that most people always have their phones on them, there's really little need in carrying along any additional gadgets. Spending on a dedicated receipt scanner should primarily be considered when doing so will save time. A receipt scanner allows you to set up a stack of receipts and have the scanner feed them through without having to individually photograph each one.
What’s the difference between single or duplex scanning?
Both sides of a sheet of paper are scanned in a single pass when using a single-pass duplex scanner. The term "single" or "simplex" refers to scanning from only one side at a time. Duplex scanning is a time saver if you need to scan several double-sided pages, but it can slow down the scanning process.
Scanners that employ a process known as "single-pass duplex" can scan both sides of a sheet of paper in a single pass. One side is scanned at a time in single or simplex scanning. Though it can be slower, duplex scanning is a time-saver if you need to scan many double-sided papers at once.
How can a receipt scanner help with expense reporting?
Paper receipts and physical papers are a pain to keep track of, especially when there are a lot of them or you need to take them with you on the road. The cost reporting process can be streamlined by scanning receipts and uploading them immediately into the accounting software.
What’s the difference between a receipt scanner and a regular scanner?
Feeding the paper through a receipt scanner allows the hardware to swiftly capture the image, in contrast to a flatbed scanner or one integrated into a multifunction printer, where the item must be laid down on the glass. The use of a flatbed may be preferable to a feeder when transporting photos or other fragile items. However, a receipt scanner is the best option for heavy-volume scanning operations.
What is OCR
It's a scanner's most crucial function. OCR is text recognition technology which helps the scanner to detect the text on the scanner to scan and save in the system and is helpful for small businessess. The user may now look for the receipt using only text, which is a great convenience. Because the picture format used to store the receipt will not be searchable by accounting software, optical character recognition (OCR) is essential.
Conclusion
When managing a small company, you're always on the lookout for methods to streamline your administrative processes. If you're looking for a way to streamline your bookkeeping processes, the best receipt scanners are built to work with your existing accounting software.
