Scanmarker Air Pen Scanner – OCR Digital Highlighter

I have been a researcher since the mid 1970’s at a time when my research notes were written long-hand, eventually taken over by word processors and finally in 1997 by Word documents.
Since using Word I’ve carried on my work whilst at the same time converting older research notes into the same format.
I purchased Scanmarker Air based on the promises of it being easy to use and accurate. Once I installed the software the scanner was very straight forward to use. Being able to scan sentences at a time I have been able to edit my original notes as I’ve gone along and have found the product fantastic in this capacity.
The area where I feel a little let down is that despite what I would call a good, consistent scanning technique on my part, it would occasionally do any or some of the following:
a) not acknowledge that I had scanned anything at all
b) pick up only the first few words from the line I had scanned or miss the last few words.
c) send a load of gobbledygook to the screen (which seemed to be based on something but absolutely nothing to do with what I’d scanned)
So, it is definitely a lot faster than typing up the notes from a page with a ruler sitting on it indicating where I’m at but I haven’t been able to trust that it’s done its job and the scan is 100% correct. If this was the case, I could scan line after line without having to make sure of its accuracy.
It’s still a useful tool for my needs but…………

I have been a researcher since the mid 1970’s at a time when my research notes were written long-hand, eventually taken over by word processors and finally in 1997 by Word documents.
Since using Word I’ve carried on my work whilst at the same time converting older research notes into the same format.
I purchased Scanmarker Air based on the promises of it being easy to use and accurate. Once I installed the software the scanner was very straight forward to use. Being able to scan sentences at a time I have been able to edit my original notes as I’ve gone along and have found the product fantastic in this capacity.
The area where I feel a little let down is that despite what I would call a good, consistent scanning technique on my part, it would occasionally do any or some of the following:
a) not acknowledge that I had scanned anything at all
b) pick up only the first few words from the line I had scanned or miss the last few words.
c) send a load of gobbledygook to the screen (which seemed to be based on something but absolutely nothing to do with what I’d scanned)
So, it is definitely a lot faster than typing up the notes from a page with a ruler sitting on it indicating where I’m at but I haven’t been able to trust that it’s done its job and the scan is 100% correct. If this was the case, I could scan line after line without having to make sure of its accuracy.
It’s still a useful tool for my needs but…………

I have been a researcher since the mid 1970’s at a time when my research notes were written long-hand, eventually taken over by word processors and finally in 1997 by Word documents.
Since using Word I’ve carried on my work whilst at the same time converting older research notes into the same format.
I purchased Scanmarker Air based on the promises of it being easy to use and accurate. Once I installed the software the scanner was very straight forward to use. Being able to scan sentences at a time I have been able to edit my original notes as I’ve gone along and have found the product fantastic in this capacity.
The area where I feel a little let down is that despite what I would call a good, consistent scanning technique on my part, it would occasionally do any or some of the following:
a) not acknowledge that I had scanned anything at all
b) pick up only the first few words from the line I had scanned or miss the last few words.
c) send a load of gobbledygook to the screen (which seemed to be based on something but absolutely nothing to do with what I’d scanned)
So, it is definitely a lot faster than typing up the notes from a page with a ruler sitting on it indicating where I’m at but I haven’t been able to trust that it’s done its job and the scan is 100% correct. If this was the case, I could scan line after line without having to make sure of its accuracy.
It’s still a useful tool for my needs but…………

easy to use would have liked to be able to use it without ipad just using hearphones

Really pleased with it. My son has already said that this will be game changing at university.

Really pleased with it. My son has already said that this will be game changing at university.

With practice this can be a very handy tool and at the cheaper way for assistive technology however you need to practice Straight Lines and this would not be good for someone with no sight whatsoever as the the scan to speech is is iffy at best it has a tendency to stop speaking it also can’t handle tiny text that could fit multiple lines within the scan area, standard font should be ok but anything smaller such as medication instruction booklets does need practice to only catch one line at a time I’m a couple of things I would do to improve this are have it read out what you have done wrong E.G text too long or or caught multiple Lines and and have it it tell you how to adjust it’s also sometimes has a tendency to write long strands of gibberish if you you accidently catch multiple lines in the scan area

Good product. I gave it a five because it is very good but. People need practice to be able to use it. Not for children as they don’t have the patience to do so, especially if the have dyslexia. So if you purchase be prepared to have time to practice.

Having read some of the reviews I became a bit scared and was quite prepared to send this back. However I managed to get it working within a few minutes on my Mac. Do not follow the instructions on the leaflet go to the Scanmarker website and download the appropriate software. I have had none of the problems mentioned by the other people. It has already translated some documents from Spanish to English for me. So far it appears fairly accurate although as with any translation device it’s better to read with a bit of caution.

I like this tool so far. It’s not as precise as I would like it to be, but it still makes my note-taking more efficient. So far, I’ve tried it on handwriting for fun, and a textbook for important note-taking for my course. The scanner picks up some of my handwriting, but not in a way that is very legible. That’s alright; I don’t really see the benefit of scanning my own handwriting.

When I scan lines in a textbook, weird characters often show up in just about every sentence. These ‘weird characters’ mostly take the form of the scanner mistaking letters like W and U for each other. These errors aren’t the end of the world because you can at least still decipher what the text is supposed to say without having to refer back to the original.

The scan marker is also finicky about the speed at which you drag the marker across the page. It can’t be too slow, and it can’t be too quickly.

I only used it for the first time today and I was impressed. I used it to make notes on a book that I’ve just read. It produced three pages of A4 in perhaps 15 minutes – though I did have to spend some time making corrections. It may well improve as I get more used to scanning. The most missable error was ‘swerved’ instead of ‘observed’. But overall, I’m impressed. Not sure that the hard case was worth the outlay, though – it comes supplied with a pouch which is probably sufficient unless you are touring.

I only used it for the first time today and I was impressed. I used it to make notes on a book that I’ve just read. It produced three pages of A4 in perhaps 15 minutes – though I did have to spend some time making corrections. It may well improve as I get more used to scanning. The most missable error was ‘swerved’ instead of ‘observed’. But overall, I’m impressed. Not sure that the hard case was worth the outlay, though – it comes supplied with a pouch which is probably sufficient unless you are touring.

My daughter wanted one of these to help her with her law degree – she says it is a game changer! Highly recommend

Fast delivery, makes copying from textbooks onto laptop a lot easier, I use it all the time in university. Great for students and office staff

Works well with a bit of practice. I’m left handed and it works scanning text right to left. If you need to scan lots of text this is a very useful alternative to typing. The pen seems to struggle with numbers/ special characters and difficult to get the speed correct so you need correct errors as it often merges words together. Blue tooth keeps disconnecting so needs re-connecting frequently. Re-connecting is pretty quick though so not a big issue. Works better when using the usb. Pen was easy to set up.

Works well with a bit of practice. I’m left handed and it works scanning text right to left. If you need to scan lots of text this is a very useful alternative to typing. The pen seems to struggle with numbers/ special characters and difficult to get the speed correct so you need correct errors as it often merges words together. Blue tooth keeps disconnecting so needs re-connecting frequently. Re-connecting is pretty quick though so not a big issue. Works better when using the usb. Pen was easy to set up.

Good but you need WiFi all the time to use.

Brilliant product very very happy that I bought this I would encourage anyone to buy one

Best digital pen to have, the instruction manual is easy to follow and to setup the digital pen. It works fine and makes life easy.

Using this for work as we need to copy lots of information on a order over to an excel spreadsheet. My only criticism would be it struggles with single numbers on a page however it’s quicker for us to type this in manually anyway. Once you get used to the smooth motion of the pen it is faultless. We also stupidly forgot to activate the pen when it expired and we binned the box, luckily the customer service team were quick to send us a replacement code.

A GREAT help for a primary school teacher like me!

I’m currently Senior Tutor Aircraft Engineering at STAC Harlow, this little tool has been invaluable in the transmission of the printed word to computer programs such as PowerPoint.

I bought this to scan text books and it has saved me hours of copy-typing. However, there are certain things it doesn’t always handle very well. Sometimes the first word of a line will be omitted, so it intelligently (or not so intelligently) puts an initial cap on the second word instead. Very often simple punctuation such as commas and full stops will be missed out, so need putting back in manually, or a colon or semi-colon will be replaced with a hyphen or an asterisk. Also sometimes two characters in a word being scanned are too close together, resulting in the word being misread. I have become forgiving about these misgivings, because once you know the device’s limitations you know what to look out for while scanning and can correct as you go along. So to conclude, I still think this is a great bit of kit and it does save a lot of time otherwise spent typing, you just need to get used to it’s little ways.

I bought this to scan text books and it has saved me hours of copy-typing. However, there are certain things it doesn’t always handle very well. Sometimes the first word of a line will be omitted, so it intelligently (or not so intelligently) puts an initial cap on the second word instead. Very often simple punctuation such as commas and full stops will be missed out, so need putting back in manually, or a colon or semi-colon will be replaced with a hyphen or an asterisk. Also sometimes two characters in a word being scanned are too close together, resulting in the word being misread. I have become forgiving about these misgivings, because once you know the device’s limitations you know what to look out for while scanning and can correct as you go along. So to conclude, I still think this is a great bit of kit and it does save a lot of time otherwise spent typing, you just need to get used to it’s little ways.

The scanner is very easy to install – just one App from App Store (in my case) and couple pages of instruction then I can start using it. The most useful feature for me, other than ease of use, is scanning directly to Word. The read out loud function is most useful for young students with dyslexia. I’ve seen other product with the same functionalities but would cost double if not triple the price.

J’ai achet ce scanner OCR et je ne le regrette pas.
J’ai longuement hsit a acheter ce dernier par rapport son concurrent Belge plus cher.
Je me suis fi aux avis publis sur Amazon et je n’ai pas m’en plaindre.
Il n’y a plus de problmes signals concernant la non reconnaissance des apostrophes ou des tirets car le logiciel est maintenu et les avis des utilisateurs semblent tre pris en compte.
l’insertion directe dans Word avec ou sans traduction directe fonctionne trs bien, s’en est presque magique !
Bref beaucoup de temps gagn en perspective.
Le seul petit bmol, c’est la qualit de la traduction qui est approximative (Franais -> Anglais ou inversement).
Mais je ne l’ai pas achet pour cela et il existe des moteurs de traduction sur le Net que je ne nommerai pas qui sont bien plus efficaces.
Sans me prononcer sur la durabilit du produit, je recommande vraiment pour celles ou ceux qui ont a ressaisir du texte pour l’inclure dans leurs documents (thse notamment) !

I recently purchased the Scanmarker. I’m academic (and dyslexic) and this helps saves a lot of time of coping/re-typing quotes out of publications – it is so awesome it types/scans straight into word document so no cutting and pasting. I’m still learning all that it can do but seems great with translation and reading aloud words i’m unsure how to say. (foreign ones particularly). It seems to translate well and has different voices for different languages. Like any tool it does take a bit of time to learn how to use it correctly but once going it works a treat. I had a wee issue with activation (my own fault) and they got back to me sorting it within 5 mins. Great, customer support. I’d highly recommend this scanmarker!

Just finished highlighting the key points from a whole chapter in the book I’m reading. Overall, I am very happy with this product – will make note taking much easier. It was also very easy to share it once I was done with the document (I uploaded it to my Dropbox directly from the app).

I am using it with my Samsung Galaxy 6(Android), and it was working within 5 min of trying to get it setup. Very easy to use. I tried setting it up with an older Android tablet, but the app was not compatible (something to be aware of if you have an older Android!).

Things to get used to:
– I noticed that it seems to scan best when you try to be smooth and scan faster rather than slower (as the tips suggest). But when you get the technique down, it really does a nice job recognizing the correct letters.
– I sometimes noticed the first or last words being left out of lines that I scanned. Apparently I need to scan a few spaces in front of the line, then keep going past the last word in the line a little too.
– It doesn’t scan apostrophes very well (it usually just leaves them out)
– When a line ends in a hyphen (to designate the middle of a word), it usually just puts a space between the first half of the word and the second half of the word (requiring you to go back manually and delete that space).
– There is a limit to how big of font it will scan (then it just starts to scans in a funny way). Some chapter titles were hard to scan, but you won’t have problems with normal text.

A possible area of improvement (it’d be great if the developer notes this!):
– As another reviewer noted, it would be really nice if they updated the app so that if you don’t like the line you just scanned, with the press of a button it would allow you to delete it and try again. As of right now, it is a pain in the butt to delete the whole line (either hold down backspace for 100 characters until it is deleted, or highlight with your fingers the words you want deleted – either way it just takes way too long)