Scanner Sources

Note: This content is no longer updated. For the latest content, please go to the user guide for M-Files Online. For information on the supported product versions, refer to our lifecycle policy.

Via the scanner connection, it is easy to save paper documents into the document vault. This way, the M-Files search capabilities can be applied also to scanned paper documents.

When using external sources, M-Files does not communicate directly with the scanners but uses an external connection to read the file produced by the scanner from, for instance, the scanner's network drive. The connection is configured in M-Files Admin under External File Sources.

These connections can be made, for example, with Hewlett-Packard MFP series devices by using HP Digital Sending Software (DSS). In this case, the device is connected directly to the local area network and the user scans the paper document with the device.

It is also possible to enter metadata via the device's touchscreen. The scanned file and the metadata are sent to the DSS software performing optical character recognition (OCR) for the file. The scanned image and recognized text are combined into a PDF file. The PDF file and an XML metadata file are saved in a folder controlled by M-Files via external location configuration. On detecting new files, M-Files transfers the files to the document vault as documents with metadata.

For instructions on how to use a scanner as an external source for M-Files, see Creating a New Connection to an External Source.

Note: Text recognition can also be performed with the M-Files OCR module. For more information, refer to this note. You can also scan using a local scanner that is directly connected to your computer. For more information, refer to Scanning and Text Recognition (OCR).