TWAIN and ISIS Scanning

SimpleIndex works with all TWAIN and ISIS document scanners.

Virtually all document scanners support both the TWAIN and ISIS driver standards. TWAIN is more common and is usually the only driver provided with consumer scanner models.

ISIS is the unfortunately named driver standard developed by Pixel Translations years before the acronym (which stands for “Image and Scanner Interface Specification”) had any jihadist connotations. ISIS provides a more standardized interface for high-speed scanners, and is often required to scan at the scanners rated speed.

TWAIN scanning is supported in all versions of SimpleIndex.

Support for ISIS is included with SimpleIndex Professional and available as an Add-on for other versions. ISIS is recommended for high-speed document scanners, or applications that require central management of scanner settings. ISIS driver settings are saved in your SimpleIndex job file so every user gets the exact scanner settings they need for each type of document.

What is a WIA Driver?

WIA stands for Windows Image Acquisition and is the driver standard promoted by Microsoft for basic scanning functions that don’t require additional software other than the Windows OS.

WIA is much better suited for flatbed scanners than for document scanning applications. While you can use the WIA driver in SimpleIndex, you will get much better results with the full TWAIN or ISIS drivers, which may require a separate download from your scanner manufacturer.

What Happens After You Scan?

The difference between SimpleIndex and other desktop scanning applications is that it fully automates the process of indexing and filing your documents once they are scanned. Use bar codes, OCR, database lookups and other features to identify keywords and metadata, organize files into folders, or populate your database and document management system.

Indexing is the key to making your scanned files organized and searchable so you can find them when you need them. Without automation, the indexing process can be very labor intensive, taking many times longer than it takes just to scan documents.

TWAIN & ISIS Scanning Video

Since scanning happens in the meatspace there’s really not a lot to show in a screen recording. But Google really likes videos so here’s a quick preview what it looks like when you’re scanning with SimpleIndex.

Unique Book & Magazine Scanning Features

SimpleIndex streamlines the process of scanning books and magazines. Anyone who commonly scans bound material needs SimpleIndex just for this feature!

Book scanning lets you scan bound books quickly on a flatbed scanner. The user is prompted after each scan so they only need to turn the page and press “enter” to perform the next scan. 2-page scans can be automatically split vertically or horizontally to create single page images.

When scanning a typical tabloid-sized magazine that is folded down the middle, SimpleIndex’s magazine scanning function will automatically split the images in half, reorder and rotate the pages so they appear in proper reading order when finished. This can save hundreds of hours of manual image QC, or provide your clients with a level of image quality they can’t get from anyone else.