SFTP Desktop Scanner?
November 4, 2014 9:19 AM Subscribe
Is there an affordable desktop scanner than can scan to SFTP?
Best answer: Some scanners do support scanning directly to an FTP server. It seems reasonable to assume some may be capable of using SFTP.
Apparently the Kodak Scan Station 500 is one.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:00 AM on November 4, 2014
Apparently the Kodak Scan Station 500 is one.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:00 AM on November 4, 2014
winscp has some scripting tutorials that allow you to sftp files from a directory to a target. You could cobble together a script that runs every X minutes, or just manually start it after a scan. If youre lucky, your scanner may have an option to start a program after scanning. http://winscp.net/eng/docs/scripting
posted by edman at 10:00 AM on November 4, 2014
posted by edman at 10:00 AM on November 4, 2014
I'm with edman. If you're on Windows, WinSCP plus Scheduled Tasks would work. Scan to whatever directory and then replicate that with a WinSCP script and Scheduled Tasks. It wouldn't be instant, but you could run it every five minutes.
I'd imagine there's at least one other utility that would monitor the directory and replicate on change, but that may be overkill.
posted by cnc at 2:33 PM on November 4, 2014
I'd imagine there's at least one other utility that would monitor the directory and replicate on change, but that may be overkill.
posted by cnc at 2:33 PM on November 4, 2014
Response by poster: Desktop can't be part of the equation.
Most of the bigger multifunction printer/scanners do it, but I need specifically a desktop level scanner (preferably monochrome) than can bypass workstations as the middleman and scan straight to an SFTP server. If it were me doing it, I'd just scan to desktop and upload the files with a client and securely delete them. But it's not me, and the solution has to be such that this goes straight from scanner to SFTP server, bypassing scanning to desktop altogether. There are legal and logistical reasons why we don't want the files stored on the workstations even temporarily (and mostly there are logistical reasons why this isn't practical in the specific environment).
Thanks for the input everyone.
posted by smallerdemon at 7:39 AM on November 5, 2014
Most of the bigger multifunction printer/scanners do it, but I need specifically a desktop level scanner (preferably monochrome) than can bypass workstations as the middleman and scan straight to an SFTP server. If it were me doing it, I'd just scan to desktop and upload the files with a client and securely delete them. But it's not me, and the solution has to be such that this goes straight from scanner to SFTP server, bypassing scanning to desktop altogether. There are legal and logistical reasons why we don't want the files stored on the workstations even temporarily (and mostly there are logistical reasons why this isn't practical in the specific environment).
Thanks for the input everyone.
posted by smallerdemon at 7:39 AM on November 5, 2014
If an ftp-enabled scanner won't do the trick on its own, you could instead install an ftp server on (say) a Raspberry Pi computer next to the scanner, then set *that* up to SFTP files it receives to a remote location. Lots of software tools exist to perform the second half of the task.
posted by genghis at 4:00 PM on November 5, 2014
posted by genghis at 4:00 PM on November 5, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
This has nothing to do with scanning. What you might ask for is a program, that will automatically move the file that has been created by your scanner (usually a PDF or JPG or TIF) once the scnanning is complete automatically to a server somewhere on the internet. This is a task most of the FTP programs can do by themselves, as you can set up folders for which new content is automatically duplicated to a server of your choice. You just have to set up your scanner accordingly, so that it will save new scans/files in this automated folder.
posted by KMB at 9:47 AM on November 4, 2014