Kodak Alaris 1025006 S2040 Document Scanner

I have been needing a scanner to organize all the paper in our household. I never thought I’d be so thrilled with the purchase of a scanner! I installed it last week and keep finding new ways to use it. I installed the Smart Touch software that comes included and set up just a few scan settings to send my documents to different locations. (personal records, work expenses, photos) – this is awesome, now I just touch one button and my receipts go straight to my work email as PNG files, my tax documents go to Google Drive, and my photos are being saved on my external drive in full color. All files are named consistently too since the software handles it all. Today I added a 4th Smart Touch option to capture my daughter’s artwork, we labeled it “Artchive” (ha!) The included 3-year warranty was a key reason I purchased as the entire unit can be replaced if something goes wrong. The scanner has been really easy to set up and use – and the images it captures are great quality!

Extremely easy to use, very fast and results are great!

The scanner scans well but after 3 days of moderate use the scanner cannot seemed to scan the documents individually and your just with multi-feed errors all day long. I now have to feed the documents into the feeder one by one to get this stupid thing to behave correctly. And yes I have tried used, new and all types of paper and it just won't separate if feed as stack

Created a custom app to scan and then print it automatically in another building.

My plan for this scanner is to eliminate physical stacks of paperwork that must be preserved and archive photos and easily share them with family and friends. Overall I am pleased with the scanning operation but the software could be more user-friendly. If interested, specifics follow. Using a Windows 10 PC the first step is to download and install the scanner drivers and the firmware update from the company website. Next register on the website which entails providing name, state & country, phone number and email address. Then a link will be sent to the user’s email for the Smart Touch software then download and install. Next connect the scanner to the computer using the included USB cable. The scanner can now ready to use. I also used it with scanning software that already exists in Windows 10 called Fax and Scan or a new app at the Windows store can be downloaded. A general 78 page User Guide is downloaded with the drivers but for detailed information about using the Smart Touch software I went to the support page on the website for this scanner model where I found a 34 page Using Smart Touch manual. It explains that after everything is loaded correctly, including the app, a Smart Touch Icon will appear in the PC system tray. Right click on the icon and a configuration menu appears where scanner options can be chosen. There are 9 pre-configured options and more can be added if desired. Each option can be set for destination, file type, file name and various other choices. After setup is complete those options will then be accessed through the scanner’s control panel not through the computer screen. . I selected the icon on the computer and configured the pre-defined option for black and white PDF and sent it to a folder on my PC and named it--Test--followed by the date and sequence number. Then placed the page to be scanned in the paper feeder, went to the scanner control panel, pressed the down arrow until I reached black and white PDF and then pressed the forward arrow icon. The document was physically scanned and the progress was shown on the PC screen. I am a bit disappointed that documents and photos cannot be scanned directly to an external storage device like jump drives, hard drives, etc. That would be beneficial from both a security standpoint to avoid exposing the data outside of the scanner and also convenience.

Although have given this scanner a five-star score in this review because of its high speed and the high quality of its document scanning results, I believe that the supporting software could be improved. A color screen on the front of the scanner shows the nine types of document types that can be produced from this scanner, including color PDF, black and white PDF, black and white RTF (with automatic OCR), color JPEG, black and white single page TIFF, black and white multi-page TIFF, email black and white PDF, custom color PDF and custom color files. Once the desired file type has been chosen I can load up to 80 pages and see both sides of all pages scanned in two minutes or less without glitches or jams. The scanning results are then saved on my computer in a document folder designated by the Alaris scanner. Some documents will automatically open the computer's application that can then be used to view and edit the resulting scanned pages. Using this scanner with a Windows laptop computer, I found the speed quality of the scans to be outstanding. In one example, I scanned a one-page color document, that was printed on both sides and which included color text, art and photographs. Then I printed that document on my color laser printer. My results were virtually indistinguishable from the original, which I found impressive. There are, however, some areas where I believe that the software can be improved. If I am scanning mixed pages that are both color and black and white, the scanner software should be able to automatically detect which ones are color and make the appropriate internal adjustments without having to scan all pages as either color or black and white. Scanning both sides of every page, this scanner should be able to detect which pages are blank on the back and then omit blank pages from the scanning results. It did not do that for me, which meant that I had to go through the resulting scanned pages and delete all of the blank ones. The technology to omit blank pages is currently a feature with other scanners which cost less. In summary, despite what I consider to be the minor shortcomings of this scanner's software, the speed, paper handling and high-quality scanning results make this Alaris scanner worth considering.

The quality is good. Difficult to set up. The scan resolution could be better. It does have a fast response time. It is more of a business machine.

Alaris S2040 me permitió lograr el trabajo en mucho menos tiempo y con más claridad y puntualidad con los requerimientos solicitados que los otros equipos usados, excelente!!

I have been using Kodak Alaris Document scanners since 2007. Their products never fail me. The initial setup may take some time. Once it is done, the scanning is easy. The quality of the scanned copy are excellent. This S2040 that I bought recently for my daughter is only $589 (tax included) and I don't have to spend thousands with other brands. Highly recommended and it seems it is not getting the reputation and attention of other users.