Scan to SMB solution needed...maybe.

Agent6376

I have a client that would like to be able to scan a document to a central location so that any users in the organization can easily obtain scanned documents from anywhere in the company. Usually you can just scan a document into a computer, attach it in an email, and call it a day-but sometimes there are documents that are over 100 pages that are scanned into a PDF format that wont send via Exchange.

I configured an FTP server for him so that I could possibly use the scan to FTP function of his Brother MFC-9440, but he doesn't like the idea of having to "save as" on each of the documents that would be listed on the FTP site.

I'd like to be able to scan directly to the client's server, but from what I understand the scanning can only take place by using the Brother Control Center software which is not compatible with Server 2003. Can anyone think of a solution that will work besides a network scanner that supports smb scanning? These scanners are typically much more expensive and bulkier than what he needs.

Any advice is appreciated, TIA

astorrs

May not be an option (given that you are trying to use an existing scanner) but you should double-check that none of your photocopies are capable of scanning (or that it can be enabled with a license key) as most of these support saving to CIFS shares on a Windows server and especially if they're under lease already the licenses are usually way less than an HP Digital Sender or similar network scanner.

Agent6376

What seems like it should be such an easy task is making me jump through so many hoops. It's a shame I can't just tell the client to scan to his PC and then **** the file(s) on his server, but he wants a standardized process that he can teach to his employees and wants it to be as simple as possible.

dynamik

There are plenty of things that are simple, as long as price isn't a factor

I've had positive experiences with mid-range Konica-Minoltas or Ricohs.

tiersten

I've used Toshiba MFDs which supported saving to a CIFS share but the UI was clumsy and there were some issues with the way it worked.

Management wanted the ability to separate the documents by department which the Toshiba supported by having multiple destinations you selected on the touchscreen. Each departments destination share could only be able to be accessed by members of that department.

The first problem was that people would scan to the wrong department and since they can't access the share to remove the files, they'd have to call IT to remove them.

The second major problem was that the MFD just gave it a numeric filename with no way of choosing what it would be whilst scanning. The users would have to go back to their PC, navigate to the share, work out what file was theirs, rename it and then file it away into the appropriate directory.

The solution in the end was me putting together a simple app that ran on a networked PC dedicated to scanning. You'd select the department, document type e.g. invoice, typed in a name + description and then it'd fire up the scanner. Occasionally people did still somehow not notice the department and document type was completely wrong and send files to the wrong place but it was significantly less than with the MFDs.