A scanner is a device that captures images from photographic prints, posters, magazine pages, and similar sources for computer editing and display. Scanners work by converting the image on the document into digital information that can be stored on a computer through optical character recognition (OCR) . The primary function of a scanner is to scan or take pictures of a document, digitize the information, display it on your screen, and store it on your connected computer.
Here are some common uses of scanners:
- Document management: Scanning helps with a company document management strategy. With this, it is easy to retrieve, locate, and distribute critical documents with family or colleagues.
- Creating digital copies: Scanners allow you to create digital copies of important documents, preserving them in a more secure and easily accessible format. Scanning also enables you to share documents electronically, reducing the need for physical copies and the associated costs.
- Editing and enhancing images: Scanners make it possible to edit and enhance scanned images, improving their quality and making them more versatile.
- Archiving: Scanners are used to create and store digital copies of hard copies of documents, including business records, tax paperwork, personal documents, and family letters.
- Graphic design and photography: Scanners are valuable in graphic design and photography, as they can digitize drawings, photographs, and other visual content for editing and manipulation.
Modern scanners come in handheld, feed-in, and flatbed types and are for scanning black-and-white only or color. Handheld scanners are portable scanners that are smaller than flatbed scanners and are designed for scanning documents on the go, such as newspaper articles or printed photos. 3D scanners are a bit different than traditional scanners in that they collect distance point measurements from a real-world object and translate them into a virtual 3D object.
