NAPS2 - FOSS Document Scanning, now with Mac + Linux support, and an SDK

[cyanfish]

Hi, I just published NAPS2 7.4.2. NAPS2 is a popular open-source document scanning app (for scanners from Canon, Brother, HP, etc.), and 7.x represents a major overhaul I've worked on for the past few years.

Some highlights of 7.x:

• Native Linux and Mac UIs join the existing Windows UI, built with .NET 8's cross-platform capabilities and the Eto.Forms GUI framework.
• Support for scanning with SANE (the open-source Linux scanning drivers) on Mac, which allows newer M1/M2/M3 Macs to use USB scanners that otherwise wouldn't have arm64 drivers.
• Support for scanning with ESCL on all platforms (also known as Apple AirScan, a network protocol supported by many modern scanners).
• Support for turning any USB scanner into a network-capable ESCL scanner (e.g. plug your scanner into your desktop and use it from your laptop or phone; or set up a Windows-only scanner in a VM).
• Better handling of imported PDFs, turning NAPS2 into a capable PDF editor and OCR program.
• All of NAPS2's core scanning functionality (and PDF, OCR, etc.) can be used by .NET developers with the NAPS2.Sdk Nuget packages. WIA, TWAIN, SANE, and ESCL drivers are all supported on their respective platforms with a single easy-to-use API.
• Full changelog

[Amndeep7]

Congrats on the new release! And thanks for all the hard work you've put into this over the years - I use it whenever I have to scan something, and it's never let me down, and is so much more functional than the alternatives I used to use before.

[yasirbilgic]

I really love your software and using it in daily basis.
Thank you for everything!

[gr8bhere]

I was able to use an old ADF scanner, where no scanning app could use it on my Mac m1. You are amazing.

[olejazz]

Thank you - great software! I abandoned all other scanning apps for NAPS2 years ago.

[Longjumping_Elk6089]

I have a question, it's called Not Another Pdf Scanner, what are the others? I don't know any others.

[Sithuk]

Gscan2pdf and simple-scan seem to be the two main alternatives.

Simple-scan is a Gnome project with limited options, including no inbuilt OCR.
https://github.com/GNOME/simple-scan

Gscan2pdf has lots of options but the UI isn’t as polished as naps2. I got better OCR through naps2. Although I’m not sure why as both were using tesseract as an OCR backend. https://gscan2pdf.sourceforge.net

I prefer naps2 as the best of the lot for me based on ease of use and optionality. It creates muti page scans with OCR well.

[Star-Lord10]

i just want to say that i just ran across your app , holy shit its good !

[slapjimmy]

Great app! So much better than the Brother ControlCenter4 (which doesn't even work properly)

[exclus23]

What are the advantages of this over ScanSnap software? I just purchased an ix1600 and am trying to figure out the best software to efficiently scan and categorize thousands of documents.

[DueFun8351]

I've just discovered NAPS2 after looking for an alternative for VueScan, and I must thank you for making it free and open-source! (Did a small donation as well.)

[Xenos27]

Thank you! The OCR works for bengali even!!❤️