… until an error occurs. The scanner then stops scanning and announces it has a paper jam. Most of the time, it actually is a paper jam. Jam is cleared and scanning continues merrily along.

Sometimes it is not so easy. The scanner is convinced there is a jam, but there is no paper in the scanner. Experienced users know that there is some dust on one of the several paper sensors in the scanner; strategic blasts of compressed air is often enough to get the scanner cooperating again.

Sometimes, the Panasonic KV-S3065C scanner still thinks there is paper in it. The user utility says the error code is U18 18040000, and the scanner just doesn’t want to work.

The U18 class of error codes basically mean “there is probably a paper jam, or probably not, but in any case one of the sensors thinks there is paper where there shouldn’t be.” The 04 part means the sensor in question is the rear ending sensor.

Great! There is just one rub: Where the heck is this rear ending sensor.

Recall that this scanner can drop scanned pages in one of two places: Either on the top bin, or out the back. Virtually everyone has the scanner scan to the top bin, but there is still a complete compliment of sensors to handle scanning out the back. The rear ending sensor is in this seldom-used paper path.

Now that we have found this sonofagun, we have to clean it. The easiest way is to open the scanner as usual. On the left side, towards the rear of the scanner, operate the switch to switch from “scan to top” to “scan straight out the back” mode. Observe the chute inside the scanner as it moves. When it moves up, use compressed air in the gap to blow out the gunk. Close the scanner back up and away you go!

The Efact USA test labs recently got our hands on a Brother MFC-7840W Multifunction copier/scanner/printer/fax machine. Here is a quick rundown:

• 35-page input tray (we were actually able to fit up to about 60 pages) plus flatbed
• Single-sided scanning only
• No page size auto-detection
• At 200DPI
• In our tests, around 10 pages per minute black and white 200DPI (faster at lower DPI)
• Network scanning support (NOTE: we do NOT typically recommend network scanning for high-volume scanning needs)
• Monochrome laser printer, fax machine, and copier all built in
• Wireless networking support

Pros:

• Price!  Much better than any other scanners at this price range.
• Much faster than a flatbed
• Also includes a flatbed
• Relatively easy setup
• Print, fax, and copy features

Cons:

• Some problems with double-feeds
• Some problems with skew
• Not appropriate for high-volume scanning
• Lack of page size autodetect means it is inconvenient for people doing a lot of mixed-size scanning
• Single sided scanning means you will need to scan any double sided document twice

Before we got ahold of the Brother MFC-7840W we maintained that most document-fed scanners below the ~$800 level were not worth purchasing, due to driver issues, jamming issues, double feeds, roller problems, maintenance problems, etc.  However, this little device may just fit a niche for the small office that only needs to scan a couple hundred pages per day or less.   The price is hard to beat, and there is a USB version that is even more affordable which we should be reviewing soon.  Again, if you are looking to scan in a backlog of old files out of storage, digitizing box after box of paper, this scanner is not appropriate.  At this price, you have to expect there will be jamming, doublefeeds, and similar problems.   But if your office already has a high-volume scanner this might be a great secondary scanner to drop on a few employees’ desks.

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At My Efact, we overwhelmingly recommend the use of USB. The key here is availability: We believe that your scanner is less likely to be down for extended periods with USB instead of SCSI, for several reasons:

• Ease of maintenance: SCSI is hard to manage. One needs to know about archaic details such as SCSI IDs and proper termination. Some IT professionals may not be familiar enough with SCSI to get your scanner up and running quickly. That delay results in downtime. In contrast, USB is easy to manage. Every IT professional and most tech-savvy office employees can easily diagnose and correct USB problems. Scanner downtime is minimized.
• Availability: SCSI cables and SCSI terminators are hard to find and expensive. If you have a bad SCSI cable, be prepared for a trip to a far-away specialty store, or wait for UPS to deliver a new one. In contrast, USB cables can be found inexpensively at any office supply store; many offices even have USB cables on-hand. If you have a bad USB cable, spend a few minutes to hook in another one.
• Flexibility: The most common SCSI variant for scanners (Ultra SCSI/SCSI-3) has a maximum cable length of 3 meters (about 10 feet). USB has a maximum cable length of 5 meters (about 16 feet).
• Performance: While older versions of USB were slow and unusable for scanning, modern PCs and scanners support the newer and much faster USB version 2.0. Both USB version 2.0 and SCSI can transfer scanned images faster than the scanner can scan (in other words, they are not the weakest link in the chain).
• Universality: Every PC built in the past several years has USB version 2.0 support. That means that any PC you get to replace your current system will have USB.

My Efact does not recommend, nor do we support, using SCSI-only scanners. Additionally, we do not recommend or support using a dual-interface scanner with SCSI. Add-in USB version 2.0 cards are inexpensive and easy to install, and let you use USB for scanning.

Christopher M. Moniz
Synergy Resource Title & Closing Solutions, P.C.
Real Estate Conveyancing & Closing

Evan M. Kushner, Esq.
Kushner & Marano, P.C.
Real Estate and Litigation
www.kmmlawfirm.com

Sotiri Sougaris, Esq.
Law Offices of Sotiri Sougaris, P.C.
Real Estate Law

Jim Robinson
Horizon Settlement Services, Inc.
Real Estate Conveyancing & Closing
www.horizonsettlement.com

We looked at other solutions in the past, but the prices were much higher without similar features. Overall, our Efact will save us a lot of space, and countless hours of time we used to spend searching for paper files and a peace of mind in case of a fire or flood.

We certainly would recommend EFACT to anyone in the insurance industry.

Thanks again for all your help and support during this transition.”

Bob Gallagher, Owner
The Insurance Store
Insurance Agent

I am happy to refer the Direct IT Efact Solution to any practitioner or other business who is in need of a document management and scanning system. I could not be more please with the results of my purchase.”

Richard A. Feigenbaum
Feigenbaum & Uddo LLC Counselors at Law
Estate planning
www.elderlaw.com

We really enjoy not running to “pull the file” and that everything can be retrieved from our desk using Efact. The ease of retrieving, emailing and faxing documents from our desktop made Efact an easy choice for our agency. You and your team have made Efact such a user friendly system that our employees were using it on the first day as if they were using it for years.

I evaluated Docstar before signing up with Efact. The reasons that I chose Efact over Docstar were the price and the ease of use. I found Docstar to be extremely hard to understand and the price was worlds apart fiom Efact.

As the owner of a property & casualty insurance agency, I would highly recommend Efact to my fellow agents in the industry that wish to turn their paper ridden agency into a paperless agency.”

Barry G. Cooper, Owner
Matthew Cooper Insurance Agency, Inc.
Complete Insurance Services
www.matthewcooperinsurance.com

Salim R. Tabit, Esquire
Broadhurst Tabit LLP

Robert L. Allen, Jr., Esq.
Law Office of Robert L. Allen, Jr., LLP
www.boballenlaw.com

A second way of sending encrypted mail is our Efact Email encrypted PDF mail system. Efact Email lets you send encrypted PDFs as attachments through Microsoft Outlook. Documents are encrypted using secure 128-bit RC4 encryption, and can be read by most modern versions of Adobe Reader.

That means paperwork, and lots of it.

My Efact replaces the countless filing cabinets and reams of paper with a cost-effective electronic solution. After scanning in the documents, they are safely archived and can be quickly retrieved for later viewing and emailing. Each document can also carry with it the equivalent of a “sticky note,” a quick note that appears along with the file information. This is handy to use for quick notes concerning this file for others in the office to review, such as “do not email this to the ex husband!”

Some conveyancers take it one step further, by burning the homebuyer a copy of his closing documents onto a CD. My Efact offers black CDs with your logo and contact information pre-printed on them, a valuable marketing tool. My Efact makes it easy to burn documents directly to CD.

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