For me on XP ScanPapyrus works without flaws for single image or batch scanning, sorting and elementary editing of the scans.If one want to minimize size of the final .pdf the sorted and edited scans can be saved as images for downsampling with an external application who will save in resolutions under the 200 dpi limit ScanPapyrus offer, before re-importing the images into ScanPapyrus for production of the final pdf file.The example old magazine scan below is made up of 30 scanned jpg images reduced in size with Irfan View to appr. 150 Kb / 120 dpi each, resulting in a 5Mb pdf file.
Even with help of this program scanning is time consuming and I guess importing photos of pages into ScanPapyrus is the fastest way to go

http://document.li/7x8U

Why bother if you have scanner hardware? I can't see the point. I agree on Zamar or some other online converter

Thanks to GOTD and BlackParrot.
Easily installed and activated. Was using the older version.
It DOES allow user to choose specific output folder and it DOES remember this setting the next time you run the software. I know. I tested that moments before typing this.
It calls up my Epson scanner software as a front end.
It is easy to click on the magic wand icon on the left panel to automatically crop the scanned image.
Saving as a PDF allows you to choose the output page size. So if you scanned a very small piece of paper just choose A6.
Saving as an image is in Jpg.
Saving as a MsWord document is in docx. The result is a MsWord document with the scanned image inserted as a Picture with object handling nodes. It is not editable text.
Does what it says.
No dirty tricks.
But the original scanning software given free by Epson with the hardware scanner purchase, is still much better.

This program doesn’t make much sense (other than pulling in some loose change for the developer). If someone is using MSWord, then from within the program there already exists the capability to Import, Export, and Save As most anything into a Word format (text docs, images, forms, etc.,). There are a myriad of freeware programs on the net to convert, manipulate, shake, rattle, and roll documents all to a User’s delight, as well as text editing (something this program can’t do). This is an over simplified text background noise minimizer. It treats text documentation as images which is why it can’t perform the simplest of editing tasks. Someone making a typo that wasn’t caught before ScanPapyrus did its thing is in for a lot of work.

What this program offers can be done by default with existing applications. Thank You GOTD, I believe today’s offering will be much help for a lot of people, however, on this go around I think it’s best I’ll leave this application “standing at the gate”.

OCR with MS OneNote:
OneNote is free (for Windows7 and Windows8 only?) at www.onenote.com
1. Open OneNote, select 'Insert' and then 'ScannerPrint'(?) (I use it in Swedish so I don't know exactly what is in the English menu)
2. Select 'Custom Insert' (or what is on the middle button) and customize your scanning area and quality
3. When you see the image in OneNote, right click on it and select 'Copy text from image'
4. Paste into Word or text editor. You get text without formatting, but it is fast and free!

A scanner without OCR???

I'm disappointed with this software. I did try to scan into PDF file, but the size was in mega bytes. My original scanning software that came with the scanner creates the same pages into kilo bytes, 10 times smaller and better resolution than scanpapyrus.
Uninstalled because the scans are not real PDF editable files but images of the scanned documents.

As Nigel noted above, the program is not properly activating. Tried twice on 2 computers on Win7 and win 8 with same result - no proper activation. The program is working in a trial mode- registered to no one and showing a buy license icon. Also the program is set up to check for updates each time it is called up - surely that will void the terms of the giveaway. Worse, if you like the program and wish to purchase to obtain updates Scanpapyrus has no discount offer. The concept of the software is nice but with no proper activation and auto update checks on start this program is a definite MUST PASS. It could be worth a try if they fixed the activation.

The setup on this was a bit tricky but it did recognize my scanner and the results are pretty good. I scanned an old photo and did a bit of adjusting and it came out pretty good. It saves to a folder that I designated and defaults to it. This is good.I still need some practise but I am quite happy with the program so far. Thank you GOTD and Scanpapyrus.

It recognized my old Cannon LID 25 scanner immediately.

I don't get it. What does this actually do?
A scanner scans. Not software.
Apparently it will convert the image to a PDF, is that it?
Usually the scanner will offer the option to save as a PDF anyway.
If not there are any number of programmes that will turn a (scanned) image into a PDF. Free.
Or you can send it to Zamzar.com and convert it online.
So what would a regular purchase get you for that money?
How often would you need to convert a flat image to PDF anyway? It's not a document if it's scanned; it's an image.

As usual with this design the working space is not very important. On my not-that-big-but-not-that-small 1440x900 screen the working height is 734 pixels. The ribbon blindly copied from MS cannot be reduced ---what a shame. I don't see why a ribbon is better than a menu + toolbar. Is it nicer, though? Maybe, but losing functionality for aesthetics is a wrong move. Is it better? No, because yo have to click more than with a standard toolbar which takes much less screen space.

Then, once registered, the software should not show "Activate" with empty fields. Anyway, information is in HKCU/Software/ScanPDF (making this GOTD a half-portable application).

For my little test, I took a white page on which I've written with a pencil and selected WIA-xxxx as twain source.

1. The first time I tried to save the scan as an image to a folder of my choice, there was nothing in it. That was a first! It works only if you do not uncheck "Create the subfolder". Dumb. When I saved as PDF and Djvu, file was where I asked. BTW, Irfanview has more options for PDF (but cannot save as Djvu).

2. The output quality is less good than the scan made with Irfanview (which is BTW the only scan tool I use), with the same resolution (300 dpi).

3. Saving. ScanPapyrus PDF is 1.3 only (no choice) and has a bigger size (383 vs 333 kb). For JPG, with same 85% compression rate, Irfanview is much bigger (440 vs 386) but it might be because it has more "ink".

4. Editing/Image contrast: useless because it takes into account the background: if the background is white, it will become grey, which is not what I expect from a dedicated scanning software. So, it is not better than Irfanview, which is better because there are much more options to work on the image.

5. (Very) bad: does not remember the last folder used and no option to set a specific folder. I'm tired of software that know only "My *** beeeep *** Documents". Just for that (and the saving thing), I think the version number should be at most 0.1xxx.

6. Good: merging scans into a document is easy. If you need this, as well as scanning books (I don't scan books, so don't know how it works), and are too lazy to merge yourself the pages, fine. But you'll need another software anyway if you want to merge other things into your main document.

In short: nothing outstandng, wrong UI, bad usability and limited functionalities/options. IMO, not worth keeping and certainly not worth the price.

Win 7 x 64. Brother 152W scanner.

1) First off, I don't like the fact that the "Buy Now" and "Activate" buttons still appear under the information tab. (Yes, I restarted the program, was even forced to twice as the program ceased to function and closed).

2) As the preview pages on the right of the screen are increased in size, they start to disappear off screen with no obvious way of dragging them back in full view, very shabby.

3) When scanning pages of a book, "Reduce Noise" does not work on Pre-Scan.

4) Does not remember folder to save scans to.

5) And finally, I can no way of "cleaning the background" as stated above.

For version 15 I would have expected the program to work as stated. I'll stick with Scanitto & VueScan.

I hit the wrong finger. I ment thumbs up. Excellent software.Works great for my scanner. lost installing software for scanner. Now cse my scanner again. Thank You,Thank You,Thank You

Very good - does a more thorough job than my OEM software - well pleased!

Installed OK on my Windows 7 x64, and found the software very easy to use, the screen layout very clear to me. I have never before converted any documents to PDF, but now I have, I will certainly use this program in the future.
Not too sure if updating this software will invalidate the license, and whether an update will trigger a version change, which has happened before with some software I have installed, and no apparent special deal on their web site for GOTD members.

I have had version 15.3 of this software for about 6 months and recommend it highly. I use it with either a Canon flatbed scanner or a Brother multifunction device with good results.

Installed and registered without problems on a Win 8.1.3 Pro 64 bit system. A clean install.

A (Russian/Spanish)) company without name and address:
"The BlackParrot Software company develops home and office applications for Windows. Our programs are known for their high quality, have been thought out well and are user-friendly. "

The software uses EZTwain for scanning in the version 3.0 http://www.eztwain.com/eztwain3.htm and the djvu software from 2013.

Upon start a resizable interface opens to full page, it checks for updates automatically, in the settings you define the scanner, the resolution and the interface language. You can choose between English and Spanish.

With every scanner comes the scanning software - maybe, if you buy second hand, then you missed it.
This software uses a general twain from EZTwain (see above).

It scans and converts the scanned image to some formats like DJVU or Word. But it does NOT convert to word, it is an image in a Word document, because of the missing OCR part.

After scanning, you have some editing features, page turning, cropping, changing contrast.
http://i.imgur.com/QxzPoxp.png

Nothing, what your scanner software cannot do - okay, one feature maybe, the page splitting, when scanning books with left or right page.

Test it maybe it is useful for you.
Uninstalled via reboot.

And a tip, for automatic cropping of scanned PDF files, I use Briss. http://sourceforge.net/projects/briss/
Still in a beta state (since years), but for me the best available tool.

Very useful for scanning entire documents and saving as one PDF file.
The only caveat is that one cannot stop and continue scanning later the same document, so a product for merging PDFs is required.
Thumbs up.