Keeping paper records is not my idea of efficiency and any time I can, they are scanned and saved. Then after a period of time, I discard the paper. Sometimes it’s immediately and sometimes it’s years later.  Many image scanners have been used over the years including flat-beds, and sheet-fed ones. But I have grown quite fond of one scanner in particular and it’s the subject of this article.

I have a portable USB optical scanner I bought around 2005-2007 that I have used for years. It’s pretty compact and fits easily in my laptop case. it’s scanned probably thousands of pages and It worked in Microsoft Windows XP and 7 but I never got it to work in Windows 10.  It uses the Paperport software and handles greyscale, color and black/white images. Several formats are available for saving and I use PDF(portable document format).  Last week I tried again on my Lenovo thinkpad laptop. It failed to install the Paperport software the times I tried but I didn’t give up. I knew Windows 10 had some installation options for older software. Instead of normal mode, I ran the installation in Windows 7 compatibility mode and it worked! To access the compatibility mode, right-click on the installation file and in the menu, start “troubleshooter compatibility.” Follow the prompts and questions and it may resurrect your old Windows software in windows 10.

 

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