A simple application that allows for scanning resources from any WIA compatible scanner and automatically saving images. It shines at performing multiple scans without having to show a UI, saving large amounts of time when scanning same-sized items.
The Quick Scan utility does exactly as described - it provides a (more) convenient work flow for scanning images from flatbed scanners and saving them to disk with as few user interactions as possible, with automatic saving and file name generation. It especially shines at chain-scanning multiple images using the same parameters.
The original version of this application displayed a modal
confirmation prompt each time it had finished scanning. This
used to frustrate me endlessly, as I had a habit of having this
application on one monitor and my Quick Catalogue application on
another. During scanning I was also adding entries to the
catalogue, and the modal prompt would often rip focus away and
if I was typing out a description and didn't stop fast enough,
invariably I'd press y or n and trigger a button. Version
1.1 introduces a new "inline prompt" option which both resolves
this and has additional benefit that the image processing tools
can be used when chain scanning. The remainder of this document
assumes that inline prompting is enabled as this is the new
default. If you want to revert to the old modal message, ensure
Inline Prompt from the Options menu is unchecked.
Also note that due to a change in how the ini file is parsed, the Output Folder field will need to be reset.
- Select your device from the Device group. Only scanners will be listed in this field
- Check Continuous if you want to scan multiple items - after each scan the application will prompt how to continue
- Select an appropriate output format from the Output Settings group. As JPEG is lossy and GIF limited, neither of these formats are recommended - I stick with TIFF, although this has significant overhead with file size.
- (Optional) If using JPEG as the output, set the Quality as appropriate. Larger values equate to larger file sizes, although JPG files should still be smaller than PNG
- Set the output Folder
- (Optional) Set the base File name (without an extension). If you leave this blank, the current date and time will be used
- Ensure the Use Counter option is set. When this option is used, an incrementing number is automatically appended to output file names
- Ensure the Auto Save option is set. When this option is used, after an image is scanned, it is automatically saved using the configured output settings, and the counter incremented. If this option isn't set, you can still manually save the image - but this tool is all about reducing the clicks
- Click Scan, or press F5 to initiate the WIA scanning dialogue. When you have defined the attributes of the image to scan, performed the preview and defined the scan size, click Scan to scan the image and close the WIA dialogue. I always recommend choosing Custom Settings and setting the DPI to the maximum as the default profiles use quite a low value. Note that depending on the image size and DPI, values greater than 600 may result in corrupt images.
- After the image has been scanned and saved, the continuation
bar will prompt how to progress
- Choose Yes to repeat the scan using the same parameters (see known issues below). This is the best option when scanning multiple items of the same size and resolution
- Choose Yes, Customise to re-open the preview dialogue. This is best used when you are doing continuous scanning, but the size of the item being scanned is different to the previous scan
- Choose No to cancel the scan loop
- (Optional) Before choosing an option from the continuation bar, you can use the imaging tools to manipulate the image in basic ways. After performing flip or rotation actions, click Save to save the image - this will act the same way as the automatic save, so a new file name will be generated and the counter incremented (if these features are enabled)
I do most of my scanning on Windows 11, but recently when using Windows 10, I was irked to find focus kept getting stolen from the application I was entering data into back to Quick Scan (which is why I put in the inline feature to begin with!). Version 1.3 introduces a new per-machine "Show Progress" option that controls if the progress dialog whilst scanning is displayed. While this is useful for avoiding having Quick Scan take focus when you're working in another application, it has the following caveats:
- As far as I know it isn't possible to get the progress programmatically, so there isn't an inline progress bar
- In a similar fashion to the above, there isn't a way to cancel a scan either
- Copy - copies the current image to the Windows Clipboard.
- Paste - pastes an image from the Windows Clipboard which can then be manipulated and saved as if it were any other scan.
- Maximise Scan Window setting - this experimental setting attempts to maximise the WIA scan dialogue, which may be useful for selecting accurate scan regions as the default preview is very small.
- Auto Select Custom setting - this experimental setting attempts to set the WIA dialogue to "Custom Settings" by default, thus saving a click. I always have to click this button as the other options use pre-defined DPIs that can't be changed.
- This is only a slight step above an internal tool, so UX may not be great and error handling certainly isn't. Please report any problems so I can continue to improve this tool.
If you have multiple scanners, make sure you select the device you want to use first before clicking Scan. WIA will always prompt for a device when there is more than one (even if instructed not to!), and if the device you select doesn't match the window selection, subsequent scans will fail. Most of my scanners are USB based and only appear when plugged in, so that part is easy. The scanner on my Brother laser printer always appears regardless of if the printer is switched on or off. As I rarely use this scanner I disable it (but not the printer) in Device Manager to prevent it being seen by WIA.This is fixed in v1.4 I believe.If (as you probably should) you always choose Custom Settings from the Scan dialogue and you customise those settings so the chosen DPI no longer matches the DPI in the Quick Scan window, subsequent scans will be wrong. At the moment I haven't worked out how to retrieve the parameters used for the scan in order to properly update.This is fixed in 1.4.Related to the above, depending on the scanner, repeating a scan using the same settings may fail. For the CanoScan LiDE 110 and 220, I haven't had any issues. With the Plustek OpticSlim 1180 I always have to display the WIA Scan dialogue and reselect all parameters.This should be fixed in 1.4.- Rarely, reading WIA properties causes a crash.
- Sometimes, an image is so large the program crashes trying to save the modified version. When this happens, Quick Scan will instead save the original image from the scanner. This keeps the scan, but means it is saved in the scanners native format (always BMP in my experience), and with no additional features such as EXIF generation or rotation.
- Some scanners seem very badly behaved (again, rarely have an issue with the CanoScan, but the OpticSlim does this every time) and sometimes WIA can't connect to the devices when they are switched on (if they require separate power), or when the OS/scanner resumes from sleep. In this scenario restarting the Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service seems to be the solution - you can do this from within Quick Scan from the Tools menu.
- If you are scanning large images (above A4 size) at a high DPI (greater than 600) you may end up with "corrupt" images where, the bottom of the image is either missing, or is composed of bands from other parts of the image. Not sure if this is a problem with WIA or the scanner driver. As with most of my scanner issues, I get this with the OpticSlim 1180. To resolve I gradually reduce the DPI until I get a "clean" image.
Pre-built binaries are available from the releases page. These are compiled using .NET 4.8 and therefore require one of the following operating systems
- Windows 11
- Windows 10 Anniversary Update (version 1607) (x86 and x64) (or above)
- Windows 8.1 (x86 and x64)
- Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (x86 and x64)
- Windows Server 2016 (version 1709) (or above, e.g. 2019, 2022)
- Windows Server 2012 R2 (x64)
- Windows Server 2012 (x64)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (x64)
If you wish to compile the source yourself, the source code requires .NET Framework 2.0 or above, although it does make use of some third-party dependencies.
And of course - a WIA compatible scanner. This application doesn't (yet?) support using the TWAIN interface.
- Brother MFC-L2710DW, Windows 10
- Brother MFC-L2750DW, Windows 10
- CanoScan LiDE 100, Windows 10 (yes, this works perfectly well)
- CanoScan LiDE 100, Windows 11
- CanoScan LiDE 220, Windows 10
- CanoScan LiDE 220, Windows 11
- Plustek OpticSlim 1180, Windows 11 (I don't recommend this scanner unless you need A3 scanning on a budget)
For the past few years, and in a somewhat adhoc fashion, I've been attempting to catalog the piles of DVDs, music CD's, books, magazines and all sorts of other clutter I have. In addition to recording pertinent details in a database, I've either been scanning the front and back of media such as as books or DVDs (where they fit in a scanner) and taking digital photographs of everything else.
However, this sort of scanning is rather tedious and laborious. If I used a program such as Paint.NET or Paint Shop Pro, I'd be wasting a large amount of time manually acquiring an image and then saving it, with lots of time spent navigating menus and dialogues. I created this tool to simplify the process - if I am scanning multiple items of the same size, then I only need to specify the size once, and then just answer a confirmation prompt to perform a new scan. Images are automatically saved to a single folder for me to file later. This has turned out to be quite a massive time-saver - even if each item I'm scanning is of a different size, I don't need to keep performing the entire flow to acquire a new image and then save it.
I have made thousands of scans using this tool, tweaking it over time to add new features such as EXIF meta data and even just the simple act of playing a sound after automatic saves. It has worked well for me and I hope it is useful for others.
Contributions accepted!
- Found a problem? Raise an issue
- Want to improve the code? Make a pull request
Alternatively, if you make use of this software and it saves you some time, donations are welcome.
- Scanner icon derived from Computer Hardware Cute Style vol 2
- Some toolbar graphics use Fugue Icons
- The chime sound licensed as CC0 is by Brandon Morris
This source is licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE.txt
for the full text.
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