Tuesday, March 11, 2014

What's the big deal with PaperStream IP from Fujitsu?

Recently our team had the opportunity to review and test drive the new Fujitsu 7160, PaperStreamIP (PSIP) with CAPSYS CAPTURE.  Having worked with so many different scanner manufacturers over the years they all begin to look the same and at times its difficult to determine meaningful or memorable differences from one brand to the next.  Every once in awhile, some new feature surprises you, but its not all that often.  At the end of the day, you the consumer are just looking for reasonably priced piece of equipment that will reliably scan documents as fast and accurately as possible with minimal paper handling problems.  As we know, one brand to the next all claim to "do x better than their competitor."  On top of that, you have optional third party image quality enhancement products that sit between the application and the scanner to
Fujitsu 7160
further improve the image quality than what already the scanner manufacturer claims to be superior to all the other brands. It can all get rather technically complicated, watered down and lost in the advertising and marketing communications.  Layers upon layers of software like drivers, image enhancement technologies and applications become a daunting task for IT to manage and support and the end users get inundated with different user interfaces and settings that can leave you in a state of confusion.  We have even seen instances where some of the image enhancement technology requires both ISIS and TWAIN be loaded concurrently confusing matters even further.   Weird anomalies arise such as "set this option in the driver configuration, but configure this option in image processing UI, but set this setting in the application layer."  You set an option in one area, only for it to have unintended consequences elsewhere.  Then a firmware upgrade comes out from the hardware manufacturer to resolve some problem that ends up breaking something in the image enhancement/image processing third party's offering rendering all three components - scanner, image enhancement, application software relatively inoperable at that point.  Sound all too familiar?

PaperStream IP, What is it?
So now Fujitsu comes along with PaperStream IP and you are probably thinking, "here we go again, been there done that."  In all candor, we kind of thought the same thing.   However, we were pleasantly surprised.  First, it would be helpful to understand what PaperStream IP actually does and what it contains.  On the surface you can't tell much of a difference between PaperStream IP and other manufacturer's image processing/enhancement competing offerings.   However, dig a bit deeper and Fujitsu begins to really stand out and substantially differentiates itself in the marketplace.  PaperStream IP can be described as advanced image enhancement (or image processing) recognition technologies, a hardware interface driver of your choosing - TWAIN or ISIS -combined with an intuitive, easy to use user interface.  The image enhancement capabilities include specialized features like auto orientation, punch hole removal, image cleanup despeckle and deskew, edge repair, blur correction for smooth dot matrix print all in an effort to produce better OCR, Barcode, Patchcode and Document Separation and improved image quality results in data and document capture applications.

Prior to PaperStream IP, the challenge to ECM resellers and consumers of ECM was they had to deal with selling/buying/supporting/maintaining three separate license-able software/hardware products in the past to provide the best possible image capture solution which could be summarized as follows:
  1. Scanner with TWAIN or ISIS driver support;
  2. Hardware or Software based Image Enhancement and Image Processing Technologies from a third party;
  3. Data and Document Capture Application software.
With PaperStream IP, items 1 & 2 are combined into a single offering; as well now being supported and enhanced from a single manufacturer, in this case Fujitsu. Ongoing maintenance costs should be lower (one less software package to be under software assurance) and IT / end user headaches should be reduced. ISV's (Independent Software Vendors) will also stand to benefit from the tightly integrated components.   Item two now becomes a non-issue for the Reseller and the Customer.    

Installation Process is a Snap!
It took about 10 minutes to complete the install and have the scanner functional with CAPSYS.  Fujitsu's install process for us consisted of selecting the PaperStream IP with the TWAIN driver and clicking the SETUP button. We ignored everything else.  Before you rush to drop that CD/DVD in the drive and hit install, STOP.  Go get the latest kit from their website, which is a 120MB download.  What you have on your CD/DVD most likely is already outdated.  It was for us and you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration if you get the newest builds from their online portal.  There were minor bugs we ran into with the early releases that Fujitsu has since fixed.

fi-7160 Compact Design
They too, like other scanner manufacturers throw in a bunch of other software items that they think are beneficial but you will probably largely never utilize if you use a commercially available data and document capture software application.  All the other items contained on the CD/DVD while nice for a consumer who doesn't have a product like CAPSYS CAPTURE or some other full featured data and document capture software takes up unnecessary space and you will probably never use it, so we didn't bother installing it and suspect you will arrive at same conclusion.

Post installation and User Experience
TWAIN UI Simple, Sleek Design
Image quality, speed and setup process are all simply outstanding engineering efforts.  Best we have seen in the ECM industry, ever! The user interface is just downright impressive.  You are not overwhelmed or intimated by the TWAIN setup UI or the Advanced Imaging Enhancement Controls. They even have options pre-configured that you can choose from a menu and Viola! You are GTG.  You see what you need to see and the rest is hidden but easily accessible by a drop down navigation button. Enough said. 

Wait, what about the 7160?
PaperStream IP Advanced Settings
Hey, its a nice scanner, no doubt about it.  Paper handling, speed, durability, packaging, form factor, USB, etc. all that is great.  No surprises here, Fujitsu has always done a very good job with the quality of their scanners.  80 page ADF, 60 pages per minute, color/grayscale/black and white, hard card scanning, can't really find any negatives about it...but in all candor, the real story here is their PaperStream IP and what a significant difference it really makes for end users, IT, VARS and Resellers.  And, the best part about it...doesn't cost you the consumer a penny more to reap the benefits from it.  No more hardware or software based third party image enhancement licenses to purchase, maintain or support!  There is a catch though....you need to have a Fujitsu scanner to get less hassles and all this added functionality. 

Yeah, we love it, but let me know your thoughts!

Best,

Paul

78 comments:

  1. I tested PaperStream IP with CAPSYS earlier this week. And was very pleased at how beneficial it was for me based on the mechanics and image quality. I have tested many different products before but PaperStream has a lot of different useful settings you could use to get the perfect image you need for your scanning. I highly recommend this product for anyone who does a lot of scanning and want their images looking sharp. Thank you.

    -Nick

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  2. Thx Nick for the feedback, glad you experienced similar results that were exhibited for us!

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  3. We recently started using Paperstream IP with our new Fi-7280 scanner and it has several new features that helped us make our scanning workflows easier.

    The new interface is easier to understand and I like the fact that it now has a settings icon for all the detailed settings which prevents my end-users from altering settings on the profile page. They can simply select the profile based on the workflow and scan away.

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  4. Installed 7160 and all software but could not get Paperstream to save the scans. Clicking Release or Suspend does nothing, whether I check the preview icons for each page or not. I have installed the software update with no luck. So I am using SnapScan which is not as simple and requires many more clicks to scan. Any suggestions? Using Win 8.1 with all updates.

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  5. Thx for the note back and sorry you having some difficulties. You should be running PSC 1.4 and PaperStreamIP 1.7. Check out the link http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/drivers/ to confirm and if all is in order and you still have problems send an email to: VMinger@us.fujitsu.com and he will be able to help you out.

    Best,

    Paul

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  6. How do I save scan profiles so that anyone who logs in will bet the same settingc

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  7. You can download "Scanner Central Admin" from Fujitsu's website and I believe that should address your question. Here is a link that explains Scanner Central Admin in detail: http://www.fujitsu.com/emea/products/scanners/software/scanner-central-admin/

    To download the tool: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/drivers/fi-7x80.html

    Thank you for your post!

    Regards, Paul

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  8. The update for PaperStream Capture from 1.0 (CD) to 1.0.1 requires a form completion and then waiting up to 3 business days for a download link to arrive, I find this unacceptable in 2014...

    Now my IT team has to leave a job undone, and come back because of this, seriously disappointed in Fujitsu...

    if anyone has a link to the 1.0.1 PaperStream Capture for my fi-7160...

    Maybe EPSON values customers better? Looking into that while I wait for this thing to come back...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/drivers/ps-capture.html

      You may be getting to our beta site- the updates are freely available at our website above. You can contact me at vminger@us.fujitsu.com

      Delete
    2. If you install PaperStream Capture from the install DVD, you probably got version 1.01. Go to http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/support/drivers-downloads_index.html; there's a link in the middle of the page for "PaperStream Capture Updates". The current rev, as of July 16, 2014, is 1.0.4.

      One nice enhancement is the ability to add a custom file name at scan time.

      Delete
  9. Sorry to hear about your frustration. I don't see that issue when I go to the website and trigger the download, get immediate download. What link are you using, here is what I used: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/drivers/ps-ip-twain32.html

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  10. Never mind, I see what you are speaking of. You are referring to their capture application, not the driver. Sorry about that my mistake. We don't use that, we just use their TWAIN driver, so I can't be of much help here. What I will do is forward this request to our Fujitsu contact and see if they can assist you directly.

    Best,

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  11. Thank you Paul, sorry to seem grumpy, I was getting that because on your April 23rd post you state:

    "You should be running PSC 1.4 and PaperStreamIP 1.7."

    1.0.1 seems to be the best I can do on the fujitsu website (at least for my fi-7160)

    Thanks for your help

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I may have posted the wrong link. Vaughn from Fujitsu corrected that with his post. http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/drivers/ps-capture.html Let us know how it works out.

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    2. http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/support/drivers-downloads_index.html, there's a link in the middle of the page for "PaperStream Capture Updates". The current rev, as of July 16, 2014, is 1.0.4.

      Delete
  12. Worked amazing and the Scanner is now TOP NOTCH.
    Thanks Paul and Fujitsu!

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  13. Glad it worked out for you and you are very welcome!! Thanks for visiting my blog site too.

    Best,

    Paul

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  14. THIS APPARENTLY IS ADVERTISING! LOOK WHERE MR. SZEMPLINSKI IS WORKING :)

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  15. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. You got me, I am a double agent working for both CAPSYS and Fujitsu. CAPSYS is all front that actually is owned and funded by the government /taxpayers, has a secret agreement with Fujitsu to advertise its products. There, its all out in plain view for all to see. Call me Mr. Incredible. ;-)

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  16. Hello I have a question, is there a way to scan a document to pdf using just PaperStream IP and not paper stream capture?

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  17. Hi Vipul,

    PaperStream IP by itself is a sophisticated "driver" not an application. You would need some application like CAPSYS (or another TWAIN app) to invoke the Paperstream IP driver which is what directly communicates with the scanner. Hope this helps.

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  18. i have proplem with big punch hole no removed please if u have good seeting for it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have the same issue. Did yo find the solution?

      Delete
    2. The Hole Punch Removal feature is looking for ROUND holes about 0.5 inches in diameter. If the hole is much larger, or if the hole is jagged and torn by ACCO fasteners, the software may not recognize that this the hole you've been looking for.

      Delete
  19. Do you have a sample image you send us so we may take a look? You may post the image on our support website by opening a ticket. Please visit: https://support.capsystech.com/home

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  20. Hi Paul, I have the fi-6770 Fujitsu. Any chance PaperStream is compatible? Also, currently using the ISIS driver but recently upgraded from XP to WIN7 and having a lot of issues.

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  21. http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/drivers/ps-ip-isis.html
    This link will get you the Paperstream driver for the 6770, Win 7 and 8.1 compatible, you can reach me at vminger@us.fujitsu.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The actual PaperStream Capture program itself is not available for download; you need to request a DVD for that.

      The PaperStreamIP ISIS and TWAIN drivers, and the "legacy" TWAIN and ISIS drivers are available at the location above.

      Delete
  22. I see Fujitsu responded directly. If their suggestion doesn't pan out, let us know. Be sure to uninstall any previous version before you upgrade to the latest.

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  23. Hi guys. I lost my installation CD during moving from office to office. What can I do to in terms Paper Stream Capture software quickly instal my fi7260 on second PC.
    I filled on-line form but is no response so far. Please help me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should be able to download directly from: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/drivers/ps-capture.html

      Delete
    2. Thank you. After 3 days Support team responded to me

      Delete
  24. Hi everyone,
    I have issue with Hole Punch Removed. It's activated and in the Fill Color if i clicked on White but when i scan a document the holes appear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello, is it a two or three hole punch hole and are the sizes typical or out of the ordinary? Are you using the TWAIN or ISIS version? You can email me a sample of the image at paul.szemplinski@capsystech.com.

      thx,

      Delete
    2. Good Morning Mr.Paul Szemplinski,

      Thank you for reply me back.
      I can't delete the holes and the blank page neither. I send you some pictures about my configuration by email
      . I appreciate your help.

      Thank you Mr Paul.

      Delete
  25. Hello, Fujitsu just released 1.8 if PaperStream TWAIN and ISIS drivers. Download can be found at: http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/support/paperstream-ip-software.html

    Best,

    Paul

    ReplyDelete
  26. We are considering the purchase of the Fujitsu 7260 for our office. We scan mainly mixed documents that are 8.5 X 11 and 8.5 X 14. Can you tell me if this scanner will automatically detect the paper size and keep them in the order in which they were scanned?

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  27. The page size settings are accessible and configurable through the PaperStream IP configuration settings. Here is where you can configure how you want page sizes to be handled through the driver and ultimately the scanner application. Open the PaperStream IP configuration settings, go to Page -> Cropping and choose -> Automatic Size. This should detect mixed document sizes going through the ADF and set the image property accordingly. As for the page order in which they were scanned, again assuming you are using the ADF, I foresee no issues with the ADF being able to maintain page order integrity throughout the batch scan process. Hope this helps and thank you for reading my blog!

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    Replies
    1. BTW, if you scroll up a bit towards my original thread in the paragraph that begins with "wait, what about the 7160" you will see a screen shot of the automatic size detection configuration panel.

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    2. Thank you for your help.

      Delete
  28. Can the 7160 PaperStream to to network drives. My ScanSnap Organizer software can not?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am not aware of any limitation in PaperStream that would prevent you from outputting to a network share/network drive.

      Delete
  29. We are looking to purchase the 7160, but I cannot find any information regarding the Software's ability to reduce a file size for easy emailing. Any ideas if the PaperStream does this automatically or if we would need to get a 3rd party software?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When you scan documents you can choose which file TYPE and you desire for the resulting scanned image. For example, JPG, TIF, PDF, etc. Each option has its own set of pros/cons that need to be taken into consideration when transmitting through email. For example, compression methods which is the term used to describe approaches towards reducing file sizes. Those methods usually differ from one file format to the next. For example, JPG format is ideal for Color images. TIF is ideal for black and white or bitonal images. You also have to take into the consideration the recipient of the message who will be working with your attachment(s) and consider what tools on their end they will have at their disposal to "render" or display your resulting compressed images and file formats that you will be sending. Generally speaking, the safe route is to scan and save the images as a PDF which is widely accepted format and offers good compression. Hope that answers your question.

      p.s. I apologize for delayed response, Google did not alert me to your post.

      Delete
  30. I'd like to add some icons to PaperStream Capture for my custom configuration profiles to use. How do I do this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, I am not familiar with how to do this myself. Sorry I can be of help on this one.

      Delete
  31. how can i make sure that the barecode will automatically be used as the filename?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Within CAPSYS, we have a barcode detection module that can be configured to map the decoded value directly to a CAPSYS field name such as "Order No.". That field name can then be carried throughout the workflow process to our ExportPRO module to create the eventual file name originally contained in the barcode field. In ExportPRO, the configuration would resemble the following: "@CASEID@FIELD=Order_No@PAGE-NO@.TIF"

      Delete
  32. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  33. When scanning in PaperStream there is a thin border where it does not pick up images/writing. Like where people write in the margins. I can adjust this? Other than that I love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't come across this myself. . Is that the image is getting truncated because the image size is set too small, or is it because the border isn't dark enough? Usually contrast and/or brightness setting should compensate for this

      Delete
  34. nice article, explains a lot..but I don't quite understand the difference of ISIS and TWAIN...here is a post I found, in case somebody has the same question: http://www.dynamsoft.com/blog/document-imaging/document-scanning-twain-wia-isis-sane/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The problem I found is we use 4-bit grayscale in our Document Management System and the PaperStream IP driver does not support 4-bit color, 8-bit color or 4-bit grayscale. This fi-7160 was a replacement for our fi-6130. Not good at all.

      Delete
    2. Great article about ISIS/TWAIN/SANE. Thanks for the contribution/post.

      Best,

      Delete
  35. Hi, We use PaperStream IP to scan documents through a Saas application (SenSaas) and need to be able to push parms to the default scanner profile XML file. Anyone has the translation table in order to resolve numerical tags to their meaning?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hello Friend
    I read your post and it's very nice,thanks for share with us. We are also offers online photo print and Superior Photo Scanning Service.

    ReplyDelete
  37. hello
    i recently installed fi 760 with paperstream capture 1.04 later download paperstream ip form fujitsu site, but i can't see the exe of paperstream ip but in control panel appears installed, any help is welcome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, this discussion is centered more around the scanner driver itself, rather than Paperstream Capture - the application. There should be program group called, "fi series" and I would suspect Paperstream Capture application would be located there.

      Delete
  38. I've put together a great "how to" guide on installing PaperStream capture along with a step by step Youtube video). You can download the PDF for free without signing up for anything. I hope this helps someone!: http://pds-co.com/paperstream

    Benjamin DeVries
    Professional Document Solutions
    www.pds-co.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,
      When i scan a document with Paperstream IP of for ex. 10 pages.... or it generates a file for every page (when i use page counter and document counter in filename rules) ) or it constantly overwrites the filename per page resulting in only 1 page as final document. How can i solve this ? I dod not find this in the document and film

      Delete
  39. Hi, thanks for the nice post..another post here showing TWAIN popularity: Which is the most popular document scanning protocol?.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Using Paperstream with Teleform. Between pages there is a delay. Prepicking setting doesn't seem to help. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To clarify, are you scanning using Teleform capture which is leveraging the Paperstream ISIS or TWAIN driver?

      Delete
  41. Hi,
    I installed Paperstream IP latest version + Updates2. I installed the ISIS and TWAIN driver as well as Capture 1.04 Update on a Win7 PC. My scanner is a Fujitsu fi6800 which is connected to the port on the printer with the big wide border. 1. Which driver do i have to choose in Paperstream ? I enabled barcode to ON and select Barcode 3 or 9 and i want to include the barcode in the filename. The barcode type i use is known as 39. How do i have to do that ?
    Kind Regards,
    Johan Segers
    johan.segers@ext.ec.europa.eu

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The intent of this blog was to talk about the Paperstream IP driver TWAIN implementation and not the Paperstream IP Capture Application. Using CAPSYS CAPTURE which leverages the Paperstream IP TWAIN driver, I know CAPSYS can extract the barcode value and include that in the filename during the export process. As for Paperstream IP Capture application, I can't really speak to whether or not it can do that. Sorry.

      Delete
  42. Hi,
    When i scan a document with Paperstream IP of for ex. 10 pages.... or it generates a file for every page (when i use page counter and document counter in filename rules) ) or it constantly overwrites the filename per page resulting in only 1 page as final document. How can i solve this ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suspect you are trying to do this using Paperstream Capture application, would that be correct? The intent of this blog was to talk about the Paperstream IP "driver" namely the TWAIN implementation coupled with the 7160 and not the Paperstream IP Capture Application. With that, I can't really comment on Paperstream IP Capture app much. Sorry.

      Delete
  43. Hi,
    When i scan a document with Paperstream IP of for ex. 10 pages.... or it generates a file for every page (when i use page counter and document counter in filename rules) ) or it constantly overwrites the filename per page resulting in only 1 page as final document. How can i solve this ?

    ReplyDelete
  44. We are testing fi-7180 using PaperStream IP (TWAIN) ,
    The scanning part is so fast but the process after scanning is very slow , 10 pages takes about 1 min. and 45 sec. scanner attached to a thin client.

    ReplyDelete
  45. New build of Paperstream IP TWAIN driver released Version 1.21.0.4179 that addresses some issues around deskewing and blank page deletion that you may find helpful! Visit http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/products/computing/peripheral/scanners/fi/software/ps-ip-twain32-change.html

    To get the TWAIN driver update: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/products/computing/peripheral/scanners/fi/software/

    ReplyDelete
  46. Hi Paul, PSIP 1.30 is now available
    http://www.fujitsu.com/us/support/products/computing/peripheral/scanners/support/paperstream-ip-software/

    ReplyDelete
  47. I have Windows 7 and bought the fi7160 scanner and installed paperstream IP. Now that software doesn't recognize the scanner. I installed without the scanner power on. But my operating system indicates the scanner is ready to use. Any thoughts? Deb

    ReplyDelete
  48. After scanning a document, I can't seem to find the option to preview the document 1x1(full screen).

    ReplyDelete
  49. After scanning a document, I can't seem to find the option which allows me to preview the document 1x1 (full screen)

    ReplyDelete
  50. I have this scanner on my work computer and I have to say, it's the most complicated piece of equipment I've ever tried to work with! I need some basic instructions that show how to create a folder, and then how to put something in that folder. Period. I can scan and then see the documents, and I can select the documents (green arrow), but then they disappear. It has to be very basic, but there is no logic to the steps that need to be taken.

    ReplyDelete
  51. how do we get rid of the thin white border that surrounds each scan. The larger documents with nothing written in the margins are not affected but any small receipts with writing up to the edges gets cut off by a 0.5cm white border around all 4 edges.

    ReplyDelete
  52. We downloaded paperstream. It is easy to use but the scanned image is sketchy. I'm not sure how to fix it.

    ReplyDelete

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