Buying a Receipt Scanner

Once you are convinced that creating a digital backup of your receipts is a smart idea, you’ll want to start getting them scanned. Shoeboxed allows you to digitize your receipts without scanning them yourself. In our Receipt Mail-In program lets you send them to us and we’ll take care of the scanning.

If you are interested in scanning receipts yourself, you’ll need to buy a receipt scanner yourself. Here are some things you should consider when making the purchase.

Flatbed vs. Sheet Feed

There are basically two types of consumer scanners that you could buy, flatbed and sheet feed scanners. With flatbeds, you would place your receipts face down on a glass surface, close the top, and then scan each receipt separately, which can increase the overall amount of time you spend scanning. Sheet feed scanners allow you to place a stack of papers in the scanner and they are scanned one-by-one. These are easier to user and are generally faster, but they are significantly more expensive.

How to Connect Your Scanner to Your Computer

The two most popular connections for scanners are USB (or USB 2.0) and FireWire. USB is probably more common, and most computers are equipped to handle a connection from a scanner’s USB cable, as the standard is highly compatible and most computers have USB ports. FireWire cables, though standard issue on new Macs, may not be a feature on your PC. Make sure to check if you have a FireWire port before buying a scanner with a FireWire connection cable.

Scanner Software

Before you buy a scanner, make sure the scanner’s software is compatible with your computer. Check the operating system, required memory, and other factors before purchasing. The last thing you want is to sit down to scan receipts with a brand new incompatible scanner.

Image Processing

When making your decision, investigate whether the image processing software that comes with the scanner meets you needs. If you need the scans in a particular format (i.e. .jpg or .pdf), check to see if the scanner can produce those kinds of files. You will also want to make sure that the resolution is high enough for you to read the receipts that you will scan in. The minimum resolution that Shoeboxed recommends is 300 dpi (dots per square inch).

Organizing Your Digital Receipt Files

Once your receipts are scanned in, your scanner software will probably save them to a folder somewhere on your computer. Make sure you know where the files are going, and that the software names the files with a standardization that makes sense to you. If it names them Image001.jpg, Image002.jpg, etc., you may have difficulty finding the file that you need on your hard drive.

Warranties

Scanners, like all hardware, will eventually break. Due to incompatibilities with you computer, they may also not work properly or as advertised. To protect yourself against such inconveniences, make sure you keep your warranty. You can even keep the receipt and warranty on Shoeboxed so you will have them safe and secure.