Doxie One - Standalone Portable Document & Photo Scanner

Minuses- You CANNOT scan anything when the Doxie is hooked to a computer via USB. You CAN import images that you scanned when the computer was disconnected, but you CANNOT scan any more images until you disconnect the USB! This is a real PITA. The software, while useful, does not allow you to import files that were not generated by the Doxie. If you try to import a pre-existing JPG scan into the software, the software generates an import error, stating that the file was not scanned with a Doxie scanner. Therefore, if you scan 10 things with the Doxie, and one thing with your flatbed scanner, you cannot combine the files in the Doxie software. This is a very unfortunate way to set things up! You cannot use AAA alkaline batteries. The hardware is purposely designed so that it wont work. You can only use NimH rechargeable AAA batteries, and you need four of them. This will be an extra expense for me. Yes, I know Doxie wants to save the whales, but this design ensures that you wont be able to pop in some available-anywhere-in-the-world-alkalines when your rechargeables crap out. So, you must either pack the power supply or a recharger for longer trips, defeating the purpose of being able to operate on batteries. The edge of the paper must be meticulously and seriously flat to enter the scanner. There is no room for error. The slightest edge crease will keep the paper from entering the scanner. Inserting the paper properly is a very delicate operation. My scanner seems to grip the paper tighter on the right side, which worries me. When something goes wrong, the right side of the paper will be drawn in, while the left side remains semi-stationary. Of course, this results in a failed scan. The Doxie seems to need more grip; it holds the paper VERY gently. If you are heavy-handed, this scanner is not for you. After a few scans, it is pretty easy to recognize when an item needs to be re-scanned. Obviously, since youre not hooked to a computer (CANT be hooked to a computer!), you cant tell for sure how the scan went. You want to make sure you re-scan it now, rather than later, which is easy enough to do. Pluses- Very simple to use. The scanner only has one on/off button to deal with. A flashing light in the on/off button alerts you when it (or you) screws up. Scan quality is very fine, more than enough for storing documents or receipts. A stack of old photos is incredibly easy to scan, and the scan quality is suitable for snapshots of the quality most people are likely to have. It is much easier than using a flatbed scanner to scan an existing folder full of stuff. Once your paper folder is scanned, you can sit down, easily delete bad scans (there will be a few baduns in each batch), re-order them if you want to, then export in a variety of formats. It is easy to make OCR documents. You can combine all your imported documents into one file, staple them together in the software, then export the entire file as a plain PDF or an OCR PDF, which allows you to easily seach larger PDF files for a single item. The OCR seems to work very well, but will obviously slow things down tremendously. The document auto-cropping works perfectly. This ensures documents are only as large as they need to be. Auto-cropping and straightening for scanned photos is fair, sometimes resulting in thin white edges. The software does a nice job of enhancing the documents contrast, straightening it, and making it more readable. Thats why I would REALLY LIKE to be able to combine files in the Doxie software from my flatbed scanner! Mine came with a 4GB SD card.

1) The software used to import and convert the scanned images lacks one major feature: Zoom. The preview of the scanned image is fairly small, and so when youre changing contrast settings and rotation, it can be difficult to tell how effective youre being until you actually export the file. Their support says this will be added soon, but theres no timeline on when that will be. 2) Document length limit. Admittedly, my 17 inch long auto warranty document is a beast, but none the less, it would be nice to be able to scan it. Doxie support tells me theres no way to scan it. They max out at 15 inches. 3) Imports slowly. Over USB, the document import is pretty slow. 1 A4 scan can take 30 to 45 seconds in total. 7 or 8 sheets and you could be there for a while. Not a deal breaker, but its definitely the slowest step in the process. *EDIT* Doxie support suggests I use an SD Card reader to speed things up. Ill have to try that. 4) This is a big one, I came back and edited this to add it. My wife and I use one Windows machine with separate accounts. If I open up Doxie and import scans, when my wife opens it up on her account, she cannot see any of those, and vice versa. If she opens up hers and hits import, documents Ive already imported are not imported into hers. So at this point we have essentially two separate Doxie apps with their own collection of scanned documents. This makes keeping things organized a bit more difficult. Doxie support says that the app is meant to be more of an inbox, where you should export the files therein to the format you prefer, but none the less... Overall, its a nice little scanner. Very portable, very quick and easy to use. But I think its worth mentioning these little details. Update: 10/16/13 Outstanding service. My kids knocked my Doxie off a table while it was plugged in. It broke the power connection internally. I send an email asking if there was a way to repair it. Their response? Sorry, theres no way to repair it. IS this the correct address to send you a replacement? They sent me a brand new Doxie One, with a case, and even a promotion waste paper basket basketball hoop. I never in my life expected that kind of response. Truly top notch service.

Amazing little gadget! Where have you been all my life? I originally bought this with the purpose of reviewing school records for my son, and rather than paying the $1/page the district demanded for copies, I scanned them on the spot. I also decided, I could use this to scan HUNDREDS of old photos. It is self feeding, huge plus. It is compact, major plus. It is lightweight, major plus. It operates on batteries, major plus. It scans to an SD card, major plus. The picture quality on scans is GREAT! I will never use a flatbed scanner again for pictures. Im a photographer. I am SUPER picky about this. The only thing I dont like, is that it scans documents to jpg, rather than pdf...or, I just havent figured that out yet. I opened the box a few hours ago. It is easy enough to add a picture to a word document and convert to pdf. You cannot go wrong with this one, especially for pictures. 2 Polaroids from his NICU nurse were the only pictures I had of my oldest son in the hospital when he was born. You know those are funky to begin with, so, forget trying to scan them on a flat bed scanner. I posted that scanned picture in this review LOVE IT!

I was super-excited to receive my Doxie One with the goal of going (mostly) paperless in a household full of stacks of paper. Out of the box, it is pretty easy to get started. Plug it in. Calibrate it (all you do is feed the included calibrating card into the scanner). Scan away! Pros: - Virtually no set up time to get up and running. No annoying setup CD or pages of instructions to read before you get started. You install the software direct from their website. - Compact size by far, makes it superior to larger scanning options like all-in-ones. - Quick and quiet scanning. Im a pretty impatient person, but Im happy with the speed of this. - Comes with memory card so you dont even have to have it plugged into the computer to scan. Also nice if youre in a situation where you just want to share the card with someone else or save to cards instead of your hard drive/cloud. - Option for battery operation is nice to reduce cord clutter or for portable on-the-go scanning. - Easy to operate. I admit my daughter (almost 5 years) LOVES putting papers through here. I hand her a stack of papers and she scans them for me. - Most of all, Im really happy with how straightforward and user-friendly the software is. Several quick and easy options for saving, including a staple function for merging multi-page documents into a single PDF file and option to save as JPG. I hate reading lengthy instructions. This product has a simple set up, simple software, but all the functions I needed to dive into my paperless quest. Cons: - Sometimes feeder can be very fickle. Ive struggled every now and then with papers that are not perfectly flat. The slightest bend in a corner has made it so that the document would not feed through. In those instances, I scanned the document upside-down. The good news is since the software is easy to use, rotating documents is quick and easy. - AC adapter plug on the unit is ill-fitting, in my opinion. It doesnt really snap into place and loosens fairly easily. I love the small size of it and it just sits on our bar counter, where mail and bills and important papers usually pile up. Instead, the Doxie sits there and is ready to scan papers immediately before being disposed of. I originally used a large all-in-one during my first quest to go paperless. The advantage there was that it had the option to stick a stack of papers in and allow them to auto-feed, but Id often get jams and the software that came with it (A Brother all-in-one) was annoyingly difficult to navigate. If youre using the Doxie as a means of going paperless, its a bit of a time investment to get caught up if youve got stacks of paper. Once you reach the point of maintaining, its the perfect tool. Versatile, simple, and easy. Overall, Id give the Doxie One 4.5 stars. -------------------- Edit: A rep from Doxie contacted me regarding my statement in my review regarding the plug coming unplugged easily. She said it was a defect in some units and had me a new unit shipped right away. I sent back the old unit using prepaid postage from them, and the newer unit has a more secure plug. They have AMAZING customer service. The fact that they even spend time reading all reviews, even ones that are overall positive, and then addressing any issues speaks volumes about the company. They really want their customers to be completely satisfied. My Doxie is still getting regular use and Im still really happy with it.

Ive been using this device now for a good month and here are my impressions: Pros: -completely cleared up the paperwork that was sitting on my put away shelf, now the only stack I have is scanned, file away -the scanner is small and doesnt take up much room -it does a good job of scanning and the images look crisp and easy to read -the software used to import your scans is VERY EASY to use -stapling your documents is simple (i.e. creating a document with 12 pages as oppose of 12 documents with one page each) -exporting is a breeze -you can export multiple documents at a time (this will save you lots of time) -hardware quality is good but not top of the line Cons: -it does not scan legal size docs (if I had known that, I would have gotten the next version up) THIS: -it took me a while to figure out the best method of feeding the documents to the scanner (if you get one, you will see what Im talking about) because the scanner will start to auto feed when ready and yes, you will have plenty of miss feeds at the beginning of your adventure -exporting, especially when you select PDF with OCR (because, why not?) is slow Yes, I recommend it.

I ordered this in January and its now October. No problems. It works well and does what I need. Im using this mostly for receipts and some full page scanning. There are a few who have mentioned its hard to feed straight. There is an issue with that. The wheels can pull the paper in crookedly, so one has to be sensitive to how they are pulling. However, I find after the first one or two receipts, Ive got the pattern back down and it becomes a simple rhythm to feed them in properly. Someone mentioned that the power cord on the Doxie side is loose. Thats true for mine as well. It does not hold in well. However, I dont find that to be a big problem as Im generally sitting in one place using it. If Im not, I have batteries in it. The scan quality is good. Ive got receipts of varying lengths. Some are close to 12 inches long, possibly longer. They feed well (again with the occasional slip to one side or another [see above]) and even when they dont, I can clearly see the image. My receipts are wrinkled, wadded, and altogether not very flat. This hasnt been a problem for me. I open them up, smooth them out and make sure the leading edge is as flat as I can get to start. As long as that edge catches, its good to go. Even on wrinkled receipts, the print can be read. The image looks wrinkled as well, but everything is legible, its not a problem. Im happy with this purchase. I needed something portable, dependable, and clear for my record keeping. I did not get this to scan pictures, so I cant say as to any details on that. But what I have scanned looks good. The software is easy to use and I found it quick and easy to combine scans, and save it to my files.

Its a good scanner. Image quality is top notch and it having an SD card is great when on the go. You can leave your cables at home. The only drawback is that its a little slow and you have to manually feed it, so if you have a stack you want to scan in, youll be sitting there a while. Other than that, its great. I would recommend it for someone who needs to scan paperwork on simple things. I wouldnt recommend it for someone who needs to scan mountain of papers daily. Things that I like about it: - Its great to travel with - small and fits in any briefcase. - Easy to use - my mother can use it. - SD card - Fast On/Off - Slick Things I dont like - Manual feed - Speed of scanning - No leeway in feeding error - If you dont feed it correctly, youll definitely bend your page. You have to hit it right on the money to feed it right.

The Doxie One is my first experience with a portable scanner. I have had it for less than a month and have had some success with scanning letter sized documents. As others have mentioned, the paper feed is tricky. It will grab the document on one edge and attempt to run it through crooked. Eventually, one gets the feel for how that works and it becomes less of a problem with practice. Every paper edge has to be straight which means sometimes I have to send the document in bottom edge first then rotate it in the software which comes with the device. The paper guide would be more useful if it were larger and in a contrasting color from the device. It also slides out of position easily so I do not bother with it anymore. As a result, there is almost always a black line on the right or left side of the scan which I crop off using the software. The software is straightforward to use. Although, it does not seem to want to delete files that have been saved elsewhere. I have followed the onscreen instructions and it appears that the files are gone but when I am ready to import a new set of scans, it gets busy importing old scans that should have been deleted. To get around this, I manually delete the saved files from the media card before starting a new set of scans. The power supply has multiple attachments for different types of electrical outlets. The end that goes into the device is easily dislodged though so I have to try not to move around too much while using it. It takes rechargeable batteries (sold separately). I do not want to invest anymore money in this device. The size and weight of the Doxie One are precisely what I was hoping to get. The speed of the scanning process is great. Importing the scan to a computer using the USB cable takes a long time even when it is not trying to import old scans. Since I have to manually delete files anyway, I am planning to experiment with importing directly from the media card to see if it will be faster. I am giving it three stars (Its OK) because of all the extra work I have to do to get the results I want. If I had not purchased this on sale at a good price, I would have returned it for something else.

This product was my first attempt at going paperless. I have yet to find any major problems with it. I have noticed that the paper feeder can be a bit temperamental, but if I encounter any problems, I just feed it through again -- it scans so fast, it doesnt matter. The software bundled with it is a bit dumbed down for a technology nerd like me, though in general it was useful software. I will say that the Evernote integration is really just Send to a program on this computer... integration. It wasnt as tightly integrated as I expected. I do give them props for doing this in a generic way though, so you could pass these documents to a PowerShell script or any other program. Tip 1: Dont scan with the USB cable plugged in to a computer. It scans faster just powered and writing to the SD card, since it doesnt re-register this way as a disconnect/reconnect of the device on every scan. Tip 2: The PDF files is creates can be large. Adjust the quality of graphical scans or make sure you have a method to shrink / compress images in PDFs. 25 pages will be in the tens of MB in size.

When I started practicing law in the 1970s, I would lug what is still called a brief or trial bag to depositions and hearings. In it would be a huge mass of paper and a bunch of legal pads. At the end of the deposition, I would pack it all back up along with newly added exhibits and tote it back to the office where someone would ultimately file it away. Sometimes the dead weight would exceed twenty five pounds. Three years ago, I started carrying a portable scanner and a laptop to depositions. The scanner, a