Tutorial: Set up a scanner

Detect your scanner, choose your capture settings, and run your first duplex color scan into Scanix.

In this tutorial you'll connect a document scanner to Scanix Desktop, confirm Scanix can see it, and run your first scan — a two-sided, color capture — straight into the Viewer. By the end you'll have a batch of pages in Scanix, ready to read and export, and you'll know how to start any scan from scratch.

We'll go end to end: detect the scanner, fix it if it doesn't appear, pick your resolution, color mode, and paper source, turn on two-sided scanning, and press Start Scan.

Scanning is Windows only

Scanix captures from scanners on Windows only. On any other platform the scan buttons find no devices, so this tutorial assumes you're on a Windows PC with a document scanner connected.

What you'll have at the end

A batch of scanned pages open in the Viewer — captured in color, both sides of each sheet, at the resolution you chose — ready for you to review, run OCR on, and export. You'll also know how to reach the diagnostics tools if a scanner ever fails to show up.

Before you start

You'll need two things ready:

A document scanner connected to your PC, powered on, with its manufacturer driver installed. Scanix is a 64-bit app, so install the 64-bit version of the driver — a scanner that only has its 32-bit driver installed won't appear.
A few sheets to scan. Load them in the feeder. Two-sided (duplex) scanning needs a feeder, not the flatbed, so use the feeder for this tutorial.

You don't choose a connection method

Scanix lists each physical scanner once and automatically picks how to talk to it for each job. There's no TWAIN-versus-WIA switch to set and nothing to configure — just detect the device and scan.

Detect your scanner

Open the Scanner screen

From the Dashboard, click the USB Scanner card to open the Scanner screen. (The card is greyed out and not clickable when no scanner is connected.)

The screen checks for scanners as soon as it opens. When it finds one or more, the USB Scanner panel on the left shows a green dot and each detected device by name, and a small status near the top right reads something like Found 1 scanner(s).

Screenshot

The Scanner screen with the USB Scanner panel on the left showing a green dot and a detected device name, and the Found 1 scanner(s) status at the top right. — shot tutorials-set-up-a-scanner-01

If nothing appears, detect again

If the screen shows No scanners detected, make sure the scanner is powered on and connected, then click Detect Scanners. The button shows Detecting… while it works and lists your device when it finds one.

Still nothing? Run diagnostics

If detection still comes up empty, click Run Diagnostics. It shows Probing… while it checks your system, then reports what it found — including whether your scanner's driver is registered and whether it's the right one for a 64-bit app.

If the report shows a driver registered as 32-bit but none as 64-bit, that's the problem: install the manufacturer's 64-bit driver and detect again.

64-bit drivers only

Scanix is a 64-bit app, so it can only use a scanner's 64-bit driver. If a scanner refuses to appear, an out-of-date or 32-bit-only driver is the most common cause — the diagnostics report calls this out for you.

Run your first scan

Open Scan options

With your scanner detected, click Scan. The Scan options dialog opens in two steps.

First you'll see Select scanner, listing each detected device on its own card with a green Connected badge. This step appears even when you have only one scanner, so you can confirm which device the job will use. Click the card for the scanner you want.

Choose your capture settings

Now you're on the Scan options step. Set the four controls for this scan:

Resolution — how finely the scanner reads each page, in DPI. The default is 200 DPI, which scans quickly and is ideal for documents. The list is trimmed to what your scanner supports.
Color mode — choose Color, Grayscale, or Black & White. For this tutorial, leave it on the default, Color.
Paper source — choose Auto, ADF / Feeder, or Flatbed. Auto lets the driver pick (usually the feeder if it's loaded, otherwise the flatbed). For two-sided scanning, use the feeder.

Higher DPI is slower

Scanix shows a hint at 400 DPI and above: 200–300 DPI scans faster and is ideal for documents; reserve 400–600 for photos. For everyday paper, the 200 DPI default is the right choice.

Turn on two-sided scanning

Tick Duplex (scan both sides — feeder only) to capture the front and back of every sheet in one pass. This option works only from the feeder; if your scanner can't scan both sides, it's disabled with a "Not supported by this scanner" note.

Screenshot

The Scan options step showing Resolution set to 200 DPI, Color mode on Color, Paper source on Auto, and the Duplex (scan both sides — feeder only) checkbox ticked, with the Start Scan button below. — shot tutorials-set-up-a-scanner-02

Start the scan

Click Start Scan. The feeder runs and pages flow into the Viewer as they're captured. A scan empties the whole feeder — there's no page limit on a free-form scan.

When the feeder is empty, your batch is open in the Viewer, ready to review.

Closing the dialog

The dialog won't close if you click the dimmed background. To back out without scanning, use Cancel, the ✕, or the Escape key.

You now have a scanned batch

That's it — a batch of two-sided, color pages captured straight into Scanix. From here you can run OCR to make the pages searchable, capture index fields, and export the result. A free-form scan like this one doesn't run OCR on its own, so reading the pages is your next step.

The settings you just chose are remembered and pre-filled the next time you scan, so your routine capture becomes a couple of clicks. When you find yourself scanning the same kind of document over and over, save those settings into a template and capture it with a single button.

Troubleshooting

The USB Scanner card on the Dashboard is greyed out. Scanix hasn't detected a scanner yet. Check that the device is powered on and connected, open the Scanner screen, and click Detect Scanners.

My scanner never appears, even after detecting. Run Run Diagnostics on the Scanner screen. If it reports the driver as 32-bit only, install the manufacturer's 64-bit driver — Scanix can't use a 32-bit driver.

The Duplex checkbox is disabled. Your selected scanner doesn't advertise two-sided scanning, or you've picked a non-feeder source. Duplex needs a feeder; the flatbed scans one side at a time.

A scan stopped partway through. Any pages captured before the interruption are kept and the batch is flagged as incomplete, so you can check the scanner — clear a jam, reload the feeder, close the cover — and rescan the missing sheets.