Canon imageFormula R40 Document Scanner Receipt Edition Review

While prices for most high-tech hardware have fallen rather than increased over the years, some niche devices can buck the trend and remain competitive. Take Canon’s imageFormula R40 Office Document Scanner Receipt Edition, for example, at $399, it’s $130 more than the base model imageFormula R40 we reviewed in March 2020. Data such as receipts, statements and invoices. A direct competitor to the excellent Epson RapidReceipt RR-600W, the R40 Receipt Edition reliably and accurately scans everyday office documents and financial data. It’s also a solid value at a list price of $100 less than the Epson one.Unfortunately for Canon, at the time of this writing, the RR-600W has been priced in line with its rivals and is a receipt scanner. and holds a slight edge as Editors’ Choice among document scanners.

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it’s all in the software

In most cases, upgrading a sheetfed document scanner to a document and receipt scanner simply bundles processing modules or plugins that digitize, sort, and archive financial data. More on this later, but first let’s talk about the hardware.

The new imageFormula R40, like its predecessor, measures 9.6 x 11.4 x 9.9 inches with the paper tray closed and weighs 6.2 pounds. Like Epson and most other scanners in this class, the Canon’s desktop footprint doubles or triples with the input and output trays open.

Like most sheet-fed document scanners, the R40 takes up a lot of desk space when idle. (Credit: Canon)

Competitors include the Brother ADS-3300W with BR-Receipts, the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600, and the Epson WorkForce ES-300WR Accounting Edition. At an inch or two in any direction and weighing a pound or so, these document scanners and several other small to medium-capacity document scanners are similar in size and weight.

However, some work better from the Control Panel. The control panel is usually available after opening the output tray. The R40’s panel features select buttons for scrolling through profile numbers, start and stop buttons, a manual feed toggle to help adjust thick documents such as ID cards, and a monochrome LCD for selecting numbered workflow profiles. It has been constructed. Create and edit profiles using the bundled software. More on this later.

The control panel has several buttons and status LEDs, and a monochrome display. (Credit: Canon)

Compared to Canon’s two unobtrusive control panels, the ScanSnap iX1600 and RapidReceipt RR-600W’s color touch screens offer a lot more in how you configure and run your scans, and create and edit workflow profiles or shortcuts. I can. Some entries, such as the iX1600 and Raven Original Document Scanner, boast control panels that let you edit, save, and archive documents as well as configure and run scans.

Canon’s automatic document feeder holds up to 60 single- or double-sided pages. (Credit: Canon)

The imageFormula R40 Receipt Edition can scan documents as small as 2 x 2.1 inches and as large as 8.5 x 118 inches (9.8 feet). The automatic document feeder (ADF) holds up to 60 pages and is rated for a duty cycle of 4,000 scans per day, matching the ratings of the Brother ADS-3300W, Epson RR-600W, and ScanSnap iX1600. Fujitsu’s ADF capacity is slightly smaller (50 pages), RR-600W’s is larger (100 pages). The Epson ES-300WR is a great portable scanning solution with a 20-sheet ADF and 500 scans per day.

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Using imageFormula R40: Connectivity and Bundled Software

The R40 comes with only one interface, a USB 2.0 port for cable connection to a single computer. However, as long as that computer is connected to the Internet, the scanner can easily access the cloud, social media sites, local drives of your PC, and drives of other systems on your office network.

Connectivity is limited to USB, with the exception of most handheld mobile devices. (Credit: Canon)

Restricting connectivity to USB prevents scanning to handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets. Unless you’re scanning from a control panel or deploying the scanner into an existing document management system with its own software, you’ll likely use one or more of the utilities included in Canon’s downloadable bundles.

These include Windows and macOS TWAIN drivers for use with many third-party apps that support direct scanner input (including Microsoft Office 365 and most Adobe programs), and Canon’s CaptureOnTouch scanning utility and document manager. Includes software. Windows-only apps include Readiris PDF and Cardiris business card scanning and contact archiving software.

Canon’s CaptureOnTouch combines a scanner interface with basic document management software (including archiving financial data in this case). (Credit: Canon)

CaptureOnTouch is a fairly comprehensive scanner interface with important document archiving features. A wide range of options are available to quickly and effectively digitize hardcopy documents and store them in searchable formats according to the parameters set in the selected workflow profile. It is also the utility used to create and edit workflow shortcuts for selection from the R40 control panel.

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ImageFormula R40 test: Scanning faster than expected

Canon rates the imageFormula R40 receipt plate at 40 single-sided pages per minute (ppm) and 80 two-sided images per minute (ipm). These speeds are about average for their class, with the Epson RR-600W and Fujitsu iX1600 slightly slower at 35ppm/70ipm and the portable Epson ES-300WR even slower at 25ppm/50ipm.

I ran the tests via a USB connection to an Intel Core i5 testbed running Windows 10 Pro and Canon CaptureOnTouch. First, we timed the R40 as it scanned 25-page single-sided and double-sided (50-sided) text documents and saved the scans to image PDF format using CaptureOnTouch software. The receipt version averaged 42.4ppm and 82.1ipm, a few pages per minute faster than its 2020 predecessor. Other document scanners rated at 40ppm/80ipm were slightly faster, but the R40 easily beat out his two slower Epsons.

We then timed the R40 Receipt Edition to scan a 25-page, double-sided (50-sided) text document, convert it, and save it to a more convenient, searchable PDF format. Canon went from paper page to editable text in 39 seconds. This is one of the fastest times I’ve seen in this class. Only Brother was 1 second faster (37 seconds), others were 1-2 seconds slower (except his 55 seconds on the portable Epson ES-300WR).

When it comes to optical character recognition accuracy, it’s fast becoming one of the boring benchmarks, in a good way. Most modern document scanners work with roughly the same accuracy. imageFormula read both Arial and Times New Roman pages up to 6 points without error. While the 2020 model and Fujitsu dropped to 4 points for Arial and Epson RR-600W to 5 points, very few companies have encountered print below 10 points in their actual documents. don’t need stuff.

I also scanned piles of receipts and other financial documents. After some initial setup, the software does a respectable job of collecting numbers, field names, and other relevant data from vouchers, sorting and storing the data according to your needs, and doing a lot of hands-on work. It ran without errors, and there were no issues with the Receipt Edition plug-in to the CaptureOnTouch interface.

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Verdict: Solid Paper Stack Shaver in Tough Fields

When it comes to document and receipt scanner combinations like this, the 4.5 star Epson RapidReceipt RR-600W is hard to beat. Nevertheless, the Canon imageFormula R40 Receipt Edition is fast, accurate and competitively priced, joining the Brother ADS-3300W as an excellent alternative for entry-level to mid-range document and financial scanning environments. If it stays close, I’d still choose Epson, but the good news is that there are many to choose from and most are stable.