These 3 Portable Scanners are perfect for your Chromebook.

These 3 portable scanners are perfect for your chromebook. What does that mean? Basically they can scan directly to Google Drive, which is really all you need. They don’t have to scan directly to the Chromebook, they scan to the cloud and then your Chromebook gets the files from there

Chromebooks and scanners are not good friends because of the way the Chrome OS is built. These 3 portable options are the best for your Chromebook.
 
 
These 3 Portable Scanners are perfect for your Chromebook.
ProductImages / MinuteFormatConnectivityMax. document sizeADF TrayWeightPrice
Our choice

Doxie Q

Doxie Q
8 IPMA4Wi-Fi, micro USB8.5 in. x 30 in. (215 x 762 mm)Yes1.79 lb. (0.81 kg)Click for more info

Fujitsu Scansnap IX100

Fujitsu Scansnap IX100
11 IPMA4USB 2.0, USB 1.1, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz)8.5 in. x 34 in. (215 x 863 mm)No0.88 lb. (0.4 kg)Click for more info

Epson ES-300W

Epson ES-300W
50 IPMA4SuperSpeed USB 3.01, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz)8.5 in. x 44 in. (215 x 1117 mm)Yes2.9 lb. (1.31 kg)Click for more info



Let’s have a look at each product in particular.

Doxie Q

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Doxie Q

Doxie Q
8 IPMA4Wi-Fi, micro USB8.5 in. x 30 in. (215 x 762 mm)Yes1.79 lb. (0.81 kg)Click for more info
Are you familiar with the Doxie Q? This rechargeable wireless device is one of the best scanners for Chromebook has a speed of 8 IPM and an 8 pages Automatic Document Feeder ADF tray. It can scan A4 format documents at 600 DPI Optical Resolution. As you know, what we are looking for today is not specifically speed, but rather devices that will allow you to scan even if you have a Chrome device and this device is Chromebook compatible.

And this is what the Doxie Q does. It allows you to scan your documents without using a computer at all, with a good Optical Resolution of 600 DPI. Equipped with accurate OCR, this device has a Li-ion rechargeable battery that can scan up to 1000 pages in one charge.

The device is fully wifi capable, by default it creates its wifi network which you can join but if you fiddle with the administrator settings, you can set the document scanner to join your local network. There is even an app to scan the paper documents straight to your mobile device. So you have several scanning methods at hand to use. It is compatible with both Mac and PC devices.

Light and portable, this scanner has a weight of 1.79 lb. (0.81 kg). The dimensions of 11.5 in. x 4 in. x 8 in. (29.2 x 10 x 20 cm) are not as compact as we would have liked, but it remains easy to handle.

This device will allow you to scan various documents such as receipts, photos, and cards, and it can create JPEG, PNG, or multi-page PDFs.

The Doxie Q also features Automatic Deskew, Automatic Image Cropping, Rotation and Color Detection. The maximum documents size it can handle is 8.5 in. x 30 in. (215 x 762 mm).

Most users on Amazon have had a good experience with this wireless color scanner, deeming it to be a good portable device that is quick, quiet and easy to use. It works with Asus Chromebooks, Samsung Chromebooks and HP chromebooks because it is Google Cloud ready. The scanner supports direct scanning to cloud storage and in this case it is the Google Drive. It can also save the files to storage devices such as an SD Card or a USB Flash Drive.



Pros: 2. It does not require a computer to scan, Light and portable, It has OCR, so you can create searchable documents in Word or PDF.

Cons: 3. No Background Removal or Punch Hole Remover.

Fujitsu Scansnap IX100

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Fujitsu Scansnap IX100

Fujitsu Scansnap IX100
11 IPMA4USB 2.0, USB 1.1, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz)8.5 in. x 34 in. (215 x 863 mm)No0.88 lb. (0.4 kg)Click for more info
Chromebook users, the Fujitsu Scansnap IX100 is another one on our list of the best scanners for Chromebook you can consider to get a clean and relatively fast scanning job done.

At 11 pages per minute, it is definitely faster than the Doxie Q, but wait until you see our third choice of scanner. This device features USB connection: USB 2.0, USB 1.1, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz) connectivity and supports documents up to 8.5 in. x 34 in. (215 x 863 mm).

It does not come with an ADF Tray or Duplex scanning mode, but it is a light and compact device with dimensions of 10.7 in. x 1.4 in. x 1.8 in. (27.1 x 3.6 x 4.7 cm) and a weight of 0.88 lb. (0.4 kg). This is the most compact and lightweight portable mobile color page scanner in this list.

The 600 DPI Optical Resolution is more than you need for a portable scanner under 50 IPM.

Besides the possibility to scan directly without using your Chromebook, it also offers versatile options such as mobile connectivity. Like its predecessor, it is equipped with a rechargeable battery, which means that you can operate it without being physically connected to anything.

Fujitsu bundles the following scanning apps with this mobile scanner: ScanSnap Home, ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap which helps you create searchable PDFs and editable Word Documents out of your scanned images. The scanning software offers some smart tools like a Scan To Cloud feature that will sync the files with Google Drive and then with your Google Chromebook. The scanning apps are compatible with PC and Mac also.

This scanner for Chromebooks has OCR, Automatic Deskew and Automatic Color Detection, and since it is designed for light duty scanning, you probably won’t miss scanning features such as Automatic Image Rotation, Cropping, Background Removal or Punch Hole Removal. This scanner does not have an ADF tray, so it will require manual feeding. However, this should not really be a set back for modest scanning jobs.

The accurate OCR, robust software bundle and scanning speed still make the Fujitsu Scansnap IX100 a good choice if your priority is to find a scanner that does not require a computer. Another great portable scanner that Fujitsu makes is the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i.



Pros: 2. Light and compact device, Accurate OCR, Good software bundle.

Cons: 3. No duplex scanning, Manual feeding only.

Epson ES-300W

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Epson ES-300W

Epson ES-300W
50 IPMA4SuperSpeed USB 3.01, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz)8.5 in. x 44 in. (215 x 1117 mm)Yes2.9 lb. (1.31 kg)Click for more info
Fast and accurate, the Epson ES-300W, our third choice for best scanner for Chromebook has a scanning speed of 50 IPM. Just like the other scanners featured in this article, it has wireless connectivity and a rechargeable battery, so once again, you can operate it without being plugged to anything at all (freedom!). It also scans at 600 DPI Optical Resolution which makes the scan quality suitable for photo scanning.

We kept this portable document scanner for the end of the scanning to chromebook list because it comes with some impressive specs. Besides the scanning speed, it features SuperSpeed USB 3.01, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz) USB cable connectivity (The device can also run USB powered), Duplex scanning mode, a 20-page ADF Tray and it is highly portable. Of course, you can scan directly to the cloud, but it is also possible to scan to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The dimensions of this sheetfed scanner are 11.3 in. x 2.6 in. x 3.5 in. (28.7 x 6.6 x 8.8 cm). So, despite being heavier than the other two scanners we reviewed for this article (2.9 lb. / 1.31 kg), it is still a compact device that you will have no trouble carrying around and for that we also recommend you buy a hard travel case.

Moreover, this color duplex document scanner comes with document and business card management software. With OCR included, you can easily create searchable documents in in PDF or Word, or create Excel files, eBooks etc. The Epson scanning software will sync your scanned files with Google Drive so that you can access them directly from your Chrome browser after you’ve scanned them.

It can fit nicely into the Chromebook ecosystem where you have Google Cloud Print and now scan too. It is true that the integration of scanners is a bit different than Cloud Printing.

For example HP Officejet Wireless All-in-one Printers are directly supported by the Google Chrome system whereas scanners just do file transfer from one ip address to another, there is no real driver and compatibility integration.

Epson also makes another solid portable scanner, the Epson Workforce ES-50.


Pros: 2. SuperSpeed USB 3.01, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz) connectivity, 50 IPM, Duplex scanning, Document and business card management software.

Cons: 3. Heavier than the other two scanners in this article, Max. document size: 8.5 in. x 44 in. (215 x 1117 mm).

 

What is the best portable scanner for Chromebook?

Chromebooks, the budget-friendly alternative to laptops are designed to run a lightweight operating system. Even if these Acer chromebooks and Samsung chromebooks are not always compatible with scanners, as you can see now, you can still find a solution for the Chromebook hardware…or three in this case, namely Epson ES-300W, Fujitsu Scansnap IX100 and Doxie Q. You certainly have to make a trade-off when you buy a Chromebook, so you are getting security in the form of no chromebook virus, but hardware compatibility is limited to say the least. Our first choice to scan on Chromebook would be the Epson ES-300W for its fast scanning speed and connectivity options. However, we would recommend the Doxie Q as the best scanner for Chromebok for its long battery life and basic scanning jobs that don’t require a speedy operation, or the Fujitsu Scansnap IX100 if you are looking for a light and compact device, with accurate OCR and a good software bundle. There are other solutions too: For example buying HP printers, more specifically wireless all-in-one printers. They use an embedded web server ews which can transfer the scans directly to your chromebook. Along with that, the web server interface also handles the print jobs, print management and printer ip address. An HP device which is capable of printing and scanning will get the job done. If you are thinking of getting flatbed scanners to work with Chromebooks, you are better off just buying an all-in-one printer or one of the scanners mentioned in the article. We suggest you check Amazon to find the current price for them and delivery date.

 

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