Using flatbed scanner to import business cards. Mac OS x.

October 23, 2015 8:53 AM

Just want to use flatbed scanner to import business cards (about 80 a week) to Mac contacts or directly to a spreadsheet. Mac OS X here. Any advice on new apps or using existing stock Mac software apps or Google Drive to import would be appreciated. No I don't want to use my smartphone for work, plus flatbed scanner should be more efficient. Thanks.
posted by caveatz to Technology (1 answer total)

I agree with stoneweaver. 80 a week is a goodly amount for collation on a flat bed. Flatbed to me seems like it will be labor intensive. While you can set your scan area to cover one card, you must make sure that card is in the right area on each scan. You must handle each card individually and you must save the card in a selected file format that may need to be changed to another format for text operations. Conversely you can fill the scanner with as many cards as will fit, which is also labor intensive. I have heard there is software that will automatically save separate files that are scanned together. But if it falters you must rescan. Also most often this is used for photographs so you have to wonder how well it will work with business cards. You may find that a business card scanner has software that will sort cards by parameters you select, alphabetical for example. And of course you can enter them alphabetically. I would surely look into a card scanner before committing to a flatbed scanner as your default method.
posted by Jim_Jam at 12:57 PM on October 23, 2015