CaseSoft Client FYI Newsletter

7. The ScanSnap: A Simple Scan to PDF Solution

Positive comments some of our clients have made about the Fujitsu ScanSnap prompted us to check out this scanner. The ScanSnap is designed strictly for creating PDFs of paper documents. It doesn't create other types of image files, e.g., the older TIFF format.

We purchased a ScanSnap and turned it over to Levi Whitney of our Support Staff. Levi put the scanner through its paces with pretty positive results, so we thought we'd pass his analysis along to you.

Please note that we don't sell or support the ScanSnap and that we have no relationship whatsoever with Fujitsu.

You can purchase a ScanSnap at Amazon and many other vendors. It's a little over $400, but comes with a full Acrobat Standard license, which would cost $299 if purchased separately.

Here's Levi's report:

I've had the opportunity to give the ScanSnap scanner a good workout. It's very nice, if used in an appropriate setting. Here are the primary pros and cons (well, actually just one con) as I see them . . .

Pros:

Ease of Set-up -- I was creating PDFs less than 10 minutes after starting to install the ScanSnap software and set up the scanner itself.

Ease of Use -- The name is a good one. Scanning is a snap. Just pop one or more pages into the scanner, press the Scan button, and a new PDF is created moments later. The ScanSnap scans 15 pages a minute. Not lightspeed, but pretty good for a unit of this type.

Quality of Output -- Nice quality. You can even adjust the quality vs. file size depending on your needs.

Ability to Feed Stacks of Paper -- I was able to scan stacks of paper without too much trouble. I list jams as my only con and will have more to say on this topic below.

Very Small Footprint -- The ScanSnap is not much larger than a toaster.

Con:

Occasional Feeding Jams -- I experienced occasional jams when scanning stacks of paper. Most of these related to the nature of the pages being scanned, i.e., whether they had folds, creases, etc. It was very easy to clear jams when they occurred -- something that can't be said about many printers and scanners. I should also mention that there's a nice option in the software that comes with the ScanSnap that lets you append pages to an existing PDF file if a jam occurs. Fujitsu's documentation suggests stacks of up to 50 pages can be feed. The odds of a jam seemed to go up as I loaded larger batches, but I ran stacks of 20 pages through with few problems.

Conclusion:

The ScanSnap isn't an appropriate choice if you have 1000s of pages to scan at a time. But for small jobs, I think the ScanSnap works out great.

Well, that's Levi's review. Please remember: Your mileage may vary!





CaseSoft FYI - January 2006
We're pleased to report that CaseSoft is a Finalist for four Law Technology News Awards, including the awards for Litigation Support Software and for Product of the Year. We won't know if we've won any category until winners are announced at LegalTech next Monday, but we're quite proud to be on the short list for 4 of the 11 categories. This month's Adobe Acrobat Tips & Tricks column reviews the Fujitsu ScanSnap, an easy-to-use scanner that produces PDFs. Other Acrobat-related items: The CaseSoft Academy is now offering Acrobat training at your offices. And we've just posted an updated version of our white paper: "The Three Flavors of Adobe Acrobat: A Litigation Perspective." Details below. The National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) and CaseSoft have just finalized an agreement that gives members of NFPA chapters special discounts on CaseSoft tools and training. Again, details below. CaseSoft Client FYI is our monthly e-mail newsletter (click to view prior issues) providing updates and tips for CaseMap, TimeMap, NoteMap, TextMap, and DepPrep users. Please follow the instructions located at the bottom of this email message anytime you would like to unsubscribe.
CaseSoft FYI January Contents 1. No-Charge LTN Subscription & See You at LTNY? 2. Interwoven and Hummingbird Integration Available Now 3. Adobe Acrobat Training at Your Office & Over the Internet 4. The Three Flavors of Adobe Acrobat -- Revised Version 5. CaseSoft Tools & Training Become New NFPA Member Benefits 6. Learn a Key Feature in 30 Seconds: "By Issue" Reports 7. The ScanSnap: A Simple PDF Scanning Solution 8. Abacus Software Offers Best Practices Reports
1. N/C Law Technology News Subscription & See You at LTNY? Would you be interested in a no-charge subscription to Law Technology News, ALM's technology magazine for the legal industry? If so .... Click this link to visit a subscription form at the LTN website Visit Us at LegalTech New York -- Exhibit Hall Pass Are you attending LegalTech New York next week? If so, please be sure to stop by the CaseSoft Booth to say hello and to see the latest stuff coming out of our development shop. We're in Booth 333 on the first floor of the exhibit hall. Click this link for a no-charge LegalTech NY Exhibit Hall Pass
2. Interwoven and Hummingbird Integration Available Now We've released new DM Integration products that link CaseMap and the latest versions of the Document Management Systems developed by Interwoven (a.k.a. iManage) and Hummingbird. Once these utilities have been installed, CaseMap users will be able to link records in CaseMap case files to documents stored in either Interwoven WorkSite or Hummingbird DM5. In the next few days, we'll be posting webinars showing Interwoven & DM5 integration in action. You'll find these sessions in the a new Integration section of the CaseSoft Webinar Center that will be available once the DM integration webinars are complete. If you're interested in learning more about the integration or in purchasing the Interwoven or Hummingbird DM Integration Utility, please contact your CaseSoft Account Representative or write sales@casesoft.com.
3. Adobe Acrobat Training at Your Offices & Over the Internet Our CaseSoft Academy trainers can now provide in-person training on how to get the most out of Adobe Acrobat. We teach both half-day and full-day Acrobat sessions. For example, you could have us conduct Acrobat training in the morning and CaseMap training in the afternoon. A day of training (whether Acrobat-only or half Acrobat and half CaseMap) is $900 plus travel expenses for organizations on CaseSoft Maintenance and $1,600 plus expenses for organizations not covered by Maintenance. If you're interested in learning more or in scheduling Acrobat training at your offices, please contact Julie Parker, Manager of the CaseSoft Academy, at jparker@casesoft.com. Acrobat Training Over the Internet We have six Acrobat-related webinars available at the CaseSoft Webinar Center. These no-charge sessions are available 24/7 and three of them are taught by David L. Masters, Esq., author of the ABA Publication "A Lawyer's Guide to Adobe Acrobat." Click to visit the CaseSoft Webinar Center to learn more and view webinars Have You Taken Your CaseMap Fundamentals Phone Training? While we're discussing training, it's a good time to ask if you're a CaseMap user who has yet to take your no-charge CaseMap Fundamentals phone training. The only cost to you is the cost of originating the call. Please write training@casesoft.com to schedule this hour-long session with a member of the CaseSoft Support staff.
4. The Three Flavors of Adobe Acrobat -- Revised Version We've just posted the final version of our new white paper that compares and contrasts the litigation-related features of the three versions of Adobe Acrobat. It's available here in PDF form. Click to view The Three Flavors of Adobe Acrobat: A Litigation Perspective If you haven't seen our other Acrobat-related article, The Bell Curve & Document Indexing/Imaging, we invite you to read it also . . . Click to view The Bell Curve & Document Indexing/Imaging
5. CaseSoft Tools & Training Become New NFPA Member Benefits Paralegals are critical to our business. As such, we're very proud to report that the National Federation of Paralegal Associations and CaseSoft have reached an agreement that provides all paralegals who are members of an NFPA-affiliated association with special pricing on certain CaseSoft tool and training options. Here are details on the new initiative: NFPA Member Benefit for CaseMap & Acrobat Training We're offering a $50 per seat discount to members of any NFPA association who attend one of our open-enrollment CaseSoft Academy classes. This discount applies not only to our CaseMap classes, but also to the new Acrobat-specific classes we now offer. Click to view a schedule of upcoming CaseSoft Academy classes Please note that the full 2006 CaseSoft Academy schedule has not yet been posted. It should be available by February 1. NFPA Member Discounts on CaseSoft Tools Our TimeMap timeline graphing tool is available to NFPA members for $129 a license, $70 off the normal price (a discount of 35%) Our NoteMap outlining tool is available to NFPA members for $74 a license, $75 off the normal price (a discount of 50%) Our DepPrep witness preparation tool is available to NFPA members for $74 a license, $75 off the normal price (a discount of 50%) Click to visit the NFPA Member Order Section of the CaseSoft website
6. Learn a Key Feature in 30 Seconds: "By Issue" Reports CaseMap's "By Issue" reporting option makes it a cinch to create word-processing docs that organize facts, documents, case law research, etc. by the issues to which these case elements relate. For example, one mouse click can create a MS Word document that displays the name of each case issue and underneath it a table of the facts that bear on the issue. Click to see a sample "By Issue" Report Here's how to create a "By Issue" Report . . . 1. Choose the spreadsheet you want to use as the basis of the report, e.g. Facts, Objects - Documents, Research - Authorities. 2. If you wish, filter the spreadsheet to limit the records that will be used to create the report and rearrange the columns in the spreadsheet to determine which columns appear in the word-processing tables. 3. On CaseMap's File menu, select Send To, X By Issue (where X is the name of the spreadsheet you're viewing in CaseMap) and then your target -- Word, WordPerfect or HTML.
7. The ScanSnap: A Simple Scan to PDF Solution Positive comments some of our clients have made about the Fujitsu ScanSnap prompted us to check out this scanner. The ScanSnap is designed strictly for creating PDFs of paper documents. It doesn't create other types of image files, e.g., the older TIFF format. We purchased a ScanSnap and turned it over to Levi Whitney of our Support Staff. Levi put the scanner through its paces with pretty positive results, so we thought we'd pass his analysis along to you. Please note that we don't sell or support the ScanSnap and that we have no relationship whatsoever with Fujitsu. You can purchase a ScanSnap at Amazon and many other vendors. It's a little over $400, but comes with a full Acrobat Standard license, which would cost $299 if purchased separately. Here's Levi's report: I've had the opportunity to give the ScanSnap scanner a good workout. It's very nice, if used in an appropriate setting. Here are the primary pros and cons (well, actually just one con) as I see them . . . Pros: Ease of Set-up -- I was creating PDFs less than 10 minutes after starting to install the ScanSnap software and set up the scanner itself. Ease of Use -- The name is a good one. Scanning is a snap. Just pop one or more pages into the scanner, press the Scan button, and a new PDF is created moments later. The ScanSnap scans 15 pages a minute. Not lightspeed, but pretty good for a unit of this type. Quality of Output -- Nice quality. You can even adjust the quality vs. file size depending on your needs. Ability to Feed Stacks of Paper -- I was able to scan stacks of paper without too much trouble. I list jams as my only con and will have more to say on this topic below. Very Small Footprint -- The ScanSnap is not much larger than a toaster. Con: Occasional Feeding Jams -- I experienced occasional jams when scanning stacks of paper. Most of these related to the nature of the pages being scanned, i.e., whether they had folds, creases, etc. It was very easy to clear jams when they occurred -- something that can't be said about many printers and scanners. I should also mention that there's a nice option in the software that comes with the ScanSnap that lets you append pages to an existing PDF file if a jam occurs. Fujitsu's documentation suggests stacks of up to 50 pages can be feed. The odds of a jam seemed to go up as I loaded larger batches, but I ran stacks of 20 pages through with few problems. Conclusion: The ScanSnap isn't an appropriate choice if you have 1000s of pages to scan at a time. But for small jobs, I think the ScanSnap works out great. Well, that's Levi's review. Please remember: Your mileage may vary!
8. Abacus Offers Best Practices Reports to CaseSoft Clients Casesoft partner Abacus Data Systems is making the following reports available to CaseSoft clients: "What Other Lawyers Know About Practice Management Software" "Enhancing Your Mediation Practice" "Best Practices: Personal Injury" "Best Practices: Estate Planning" "Best Practices: Family Law" "Best Practices: Worker's Comp" To request any or all reports at no cost, please visit www.abacuslaw.com/casesoft.
Thank you for being a CaseSoft client! Here are links to PDF versions of some of our most popular white papers: Chronology Best Practices Creating & Using Issue Analysis Memos Brainstorming Your Way to a Better Case Strategy Better Visuals Via Brainstorming Click to see a complete list of titles