(bright, upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Agent Bennett, and today,
I'll show you how to scan documents
using a wireless scanner.
Here's what you'll need,
a wireless scanner, a computer or a smart device,
like a phone or tablet,
the scanner's app or software installed,
your wireless network login information,
and, of course, a document to scan.
I'll be using an Epson Workforce ES-580W,
the Epson Smart Panel app, and a Samsung Galaxy S7 Tablet.
So the steps might be a little different
depending on what you have.
Let's get started.
First, if this is a new scanner, like mine,
make sure all of the packing material
and tape have been removed from the scanner.
Lift all of the components to make sure.
They usually tape down all the moving parts before shipping,
so make sure you get them all.
Then, connect any accessories and feed trays.
Plug the power cord into the scanner,
and plug the other end into a power outlet.
The scanner might power on automatically, but if it doesn't,
press the power button,
and wait until the scanner is ready to be set up.
Make sure your smart device is connected
to the same wireless network as the scanner will be using
and that your Bluetooth is on.
This Epson Workforce scanner has a control panel on it,
so the setup wizard will guide me through a few prompts
to set location, then language,
and then connect to my wireless network.
If your scanner doesn't have a control panel,
you can skip this step.
Now open the scanner app.
This is mine.
You might see some terms and conditions
or a licensing agreement, like this.
Check them out,
and if you agree, select Agree.
Follow the instructions to connect the app to your scanner.
At some point, the app will search the network
for the scanner, and when it finds it, tap Continue.
If the scanner is connected to a computer using a USB cable,
the app will ask you to unplug it
so the scanner will know
to transmit the scans wirelessly.
Now select your scanner from the list
of devices the app detected.
When the setup is complete, tap OK.
Your scanner will now appear in your app's home screen,
and you're ready to scan!
To scan your first document,
load it into the document feeder,
or place it on the flatbed.
Pay attention to the icon
that shows you which way to face the document.
If you have a document feeder,
you can adjust it to feed in smaller documents, like this.
If you have a flatbed scanner, you'll see an icon
that shows you where your document should be aligned.
When you're ready, tap Start.
If you have quite a few documents,
a document feeder saves a lot of time.
This automatically feeds the documents
into the scanner one after another,
so you don't have to feed them individually.
Some even allow you to do two-sided scanning.
Along the same lines,
if you plan on scanning legal-sized pages,
make sure you get a scanner that can do that.
Most focus on standard 8.5 by 11 sheets of paper,
so if you're planning to scan larger,
like an 8.5 by 14 legal-sized sheet,
make sure you get one that can do that.
Alright, back to it.
Once you've got your documents scanned,
you can change the page order or orientation in the app,
so, for example, if you scanned a picture
but it needs to be rotated.
You can also name the file,
choose where you'd like to save it,
and also set some security settings.
Let me say a bit more about the file name.
If you'll be scanning many things, like receipts and bills,
it's important to come up with a naming convention
that works for you.
That way, you can quickly find the right document
among a sea of man documents using only the filename.
Personally, I prefer to start with the date using the month,
followed by a period, then the day, period,
then the full year.
Then, finally and most importantly,
I use an underscore followed by a word or two
that'll help me identity the document.
For example, if I bought printer from Best Buy,
I would scan the receipt
using a naming convention like this.
When you're ready, tap Save, and the document will be saved
to the location you chose.
Depending on which model you purchase,
your scanner might also have a few other options
that you can access in the app.
In mine, by tapping More Settings,
I can choose the document size, color or black and white,
resolution, and single, or, like I mentioned before,
double-sided scanning.
I can also adjust the file format.
This one's important because some formats, like PDF,
are great for documents because they allow
for multiple pages, and, depending on the software,
a fancy term called OCR, or optical character recognition.
This means that the software will attempt
to recognize the characters on the page,
so if you search for them later, instead of just looking
at the name of the document,
it'll search the entire document.
Speaking of, if you ever want to print any
of your scanned documents, you can also do that
through your printing app.
From receipts to business cards and more, in no time,
you can have all of your documents neatly scanned
and organized and get rid of those piles of messy papers.
Hopefully this video was helpful.
If it was, give it a like.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments,
and be sure to subscribe to our channel
for more Tech Tips from Best Buy.
Thanks for watching!