There is almost no scanner out there left with a full keyboard. Yes, some will have buttons and shortcut touch areas, but no manufacturer will build one with a full keyboard
So what is the solution for this? Well, scanner manufacturers are now replacing full keyboards with large touchscreens
The scanner gets huge and it just costs extra money for all the buttons. But touchscreen was so much better now than 10 years ago, that you’ll love the digital keyboards these scanners have built into them. So here is our list of the best document scanners that have a digital keyboard built into them.
Product | Format | Scanning area | Connectivity | Sheets per minute | Images per minute | ADF Size | Daily Duty Cycle | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Our choice Raven Pro Document Scanner | A4 | 8.5 in. x 11.7 in. | Wi-Fi (2.4ghz), Ethernet | 60 | 120 | 100 sheets | 6000 sheets | Click for more info |
Fujitsu N7100 | A4 | 11.69 in x 16.54 in | Ethernet LAN | 25 | 50 | 50 sheets | Click for more info | |
Popular choice Raven Original Document Scanner | A4 | 8.5 in. x 11.7 in. | Wi-Fi (2.4ghz), Ethernet | 17 | 34 | 50 sheets | 1500 sheets | Click for more info |
Canon ScanFront-400 | A4 | 8.27 in x 11.69 in | USB 2.0, Ethernet LAN | 45 | 90 | 60 sheets | 6,000 sheets | Click for more info |
Let’s have a look at each product in particular.
Raven Pro Document Scanner
Product | Format | Scanning area | Connectivity | Sheets per minute | Images per minute | ADF Size | Daily Duty Cycle | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Raven Pro Document Scanner | A4 | 8.5 in. x 11.7 in. | Wi-Fi (2.4ghz), Ethernet | 60 | 120 | 100 sheets | 6000 sheets | Click for more info |
This allows you to make dynamic shortcuts, which mean just a single touch of the screen or even type custom email addresses, or other details. Of course, you can scan directly to an e-mail address saving time by not running the file through your PC.
Besides that, you get the regular features, that you would expect from a good A4 document scanner. The optical resolution should reach 600dpi and the sensor used is a very efficient CIS sensor.
One of the good things about this scanner is the relatively large ADF size, which can reach around 100 pages. Considering the scanning speed which is decent enough, the large adf size will come in very handy. The device scans documents at a speed of 60 sheets per minute.
Now, please understand that the large ADF is relative, the more productive scanners will always have a larger ADF than the Raven Pro document scanner.
Fujitsu N7100
Product | Format | Scanning area | Connectivity | Sheets per minute | Images per minute | ADF Size | Daily Duty Cycle | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fujitsu N7100 | A4 | 11.69 in x 16.54 in | Ethernet LAN | 25 | 50 | 50 sheets | Click for more info |
As you know, digital senders require the user to input certain details attached to the documents they send, for example an email address, a short message or even CC’s or BCC’s.
The large touchscreen is very good to replace a classic full keyboard. This will allow you to easily input the above mentioned details, without inputing typo’s or mistakes.
Besides those, the specs are pretty average. The scanning speed is quite low, at 25 pages per minute. It has a duplex mode and that will double the number of images per minute. You can scan any media size up to A4 with it.
The ADF size is more or less a match for the scanning speed. Practically it will take 2 minutes of continuous scanning to empty the input hopper.
The connectivity of this scanner is an Ethernet LAN, which means that you can set this up in your local network and scan inside it or outside it quite easily.
This network document scanner has a 24-bit color depth when scanning photos in color and 8-bit when doing document scanning in grayscale.
Raven Original Document Scanner
Product | Format | Scanning area | Connectivity | Sheets per minute | Images per minute | ADF Size | Daily Duty Cycle | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Raven Original Document Scanner | A4 | 8.5 in. x 11.7 in. | Wi-Fi (2.4ghz), Ethernet | 17 | 34 | 50 sheets | 1500 sheets | Click for more info |
In comparison to the bigger brother, the Pro sheet fed model, this can also scan in A4, but the scanning speed is a little bit lower.
When you enable the simplex mode, the number of sheets you will scan each minute should be around 17. Double that in duplex scan mode and you will be scanning around 34 images per minute.
With a daily duty capacity of around 1500 sheets each day and an ADF size of around 50 sheets, you can clearly see that this color duplex document scanner should be used either at home or in a very small office.
But it comes packed with a lot of features, which make it a good bang for the buck. For example it has both a Wi-fi connection and an ethernet one. This gives you good flexibility on what to use and depending on your circumstances it can be either of the two.
Canon ScanFront-400
Product | Format | Scanning area | Connectivity | Sheets per minute | Images per minute | ADF Size | Daily Duty Cycle | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canon ScanFront-400 | A4 | 8.27 in x 11.69 in | USB 2.0, Ethernet LAN | 45 | 90 | 60 sheets | 6,000 sheets | Click for more info |
I really like this model as it offers really decent performances for such a small device. For example the scanning speed goes up to 45 pages per minute. The color depth is 24-bit and grayscale depth is 8-bit and the CIS sensor has a resolution of 600 dpi optical and all paper sizes up to A4 are accepted.
Yes, it’s definitely not the fastest photo and document scanner here, but it’s not slow either. The ADF has a size of 60 sheets, which again, for a small A4 scanner is not a bad value. You can run media types of different thicknesses from plain paper to plastic cards.
Regarding the connectivity, it has both a connection through USB Cable and an Ethernet Lan. The latter is great when you want to use the device as a digital sender, in the lobby of your office for example.
This way, everybody in the office will use it easily and transfer documents when needed. The USB will work great to use this color scanner as a dedicated scanner, when you have a larger quantity you need to scan, and you just want to focus on those.
Canon provides TWAIN and ISIS drivers for this color document scanner on their website and it is compatible with PC and Mac. We wrote a separate review of the ScanFront 400 on our website where we put in more detailed product information.
Which is the best scanner with a digital keyboard?
So which of these 4 models should you think about buying today? From the start I need to tell you that my favourite model of the 4 is the Raven Pro Document Scanner. This is by far the most potent scanner of the 4. It has a really high scanning speed, large ADF and was built from the ground up to work without needing a computer.
If my budget is not that high, then I would go for the Raven Original Document Scanner. Is not as powerfull as the Pro version, but it costs half as much and offers a lot of performance and features.
Regarding the other two models, they are not bad scanners, it’s just that they cost too much compared to the Raven document scanners. And they don’t offer more features than the two. That is why I would suggest you choose between one of the two.
If you think there are other models that we should have added, let us know which is your favourite document scanner with keyboard or touchscreen!
If you are actually looking for a keyboard with a document scanner, there is something called the KeyScan Imaging Keyboard which is exactly what you would expect: A keyboard with an incorporated sheetfed scanner. So what models are missing? The Epson Workforce line, The Fujitsu ScanSnap IX1500 has a touchscreen but not a proper digital keyboard. We also reviewed mobile document scanners like the fujitsu scansnap s1300i portable scanner.