Simple Scan

Simple Scan

Simple Scan is a free and open source document scanning application for Linux. It allows users to easily scan documents and images using a scanner or other imaging device connected to their computer. Simple Scan has basic image editing tools and can export scans to common formats
Simple Scan image
scanner ocr pdf documents

Simple Scan: Free Document Scanning for Linux

A free and open source document scanning application for Linux, allowing easy scanning with a scanner or imaging device, basic image editing tools, and export to PDF and JPG formats.

What is Simple Scan?

Simple Scan is a streamlined open source scanning program designed for the Linux operating system. It provides users with an easy way to scan documents, photos, and other images directly from a scanner or all-in-one printer connected to their Linux computer.

Some key features of Simple Scan include:

  • Intuitive graphical interface for previewing scans, adjusting settings, and saving files
  • Support for most common image formats including JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and PDF
  • Basic image editing tools like crop, rotate, and adjust brightness/contrast
  • Automatic document feeder (ADF) support for quickly scanning multi-page documents
  • Export scans directly to common applications like email, Google Drive, Dropbox etc.

As an open source program, Simple Scan is completely free to download and use. Its straightforward tools are suitable for basic scanning tasks in a small office or personal environment. While it lacks some advanced features like optical character recognition (OCR), its ease of use and tight integration with Linux make it a good choice for users needing an accessible no-frills scanning utility.

Simple Scan Features

Features

  1. Scan documents and images
  2. Basic image editing tools
  3. Export scans to PDF, JPG and other common formats
  4. Supports various scanners and imaging devices
  5. Simple and intuitive interface

Pricing

  • Free
  • Open Source

Pros

Free and open source

Easy to use

Good scan quality

Lightweight and fast

Works with many scanners out of the box

Cons

Limited editing capabilities

No OCR or document management features

Few output format options

Basic UI lacking customization


The Best Simple Scan Alternatives

Top Office & Productivity and Document Management and other similar apps like Simple Scan


VueScan icon

VueScan

VueScan is a popular scanning software application developed by Hamrick Software that provides an alternative to using the software that comes with your scanner. It works with over 5,000 different scanner models across 35 different manufacturers.Some key features of VueScan include:Works with flatbed and film/slide scannersAdvanced image adjustment controls for...
VueScan image
NAPS2 icon

NAPS2

NAPS2 (Not Another PDF Scanner 2) is a free, open source document scanning and PDF creation software for Windows. It provides an easy to use interface to control document feeder scanners and convert scans into searchable PDF, TIFF, JPG, PNG, and other image file formats.Key features of NAPS2 include:Scan to...
NAPS2 image
XSane icon

XSane

XSane is an open source graphical scanner interface for Linux and UNIX operating systems. Developed as a frontend for the SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) backend, XSane provides an intuitive way for users to interact with and utilize scanners on their system.Some key features of XSane include:Supports a wide variety...
PDFill icon

PDFill

PDFill is a free PDF editing software available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. It provides essential PDF editing tools for individual and business users.With PDFill, users can fill out interactive PDF forms, edit existing text and images in PDF documents, merge and split PDFs, rearrange pages, add headers/footers,...
PDFill image
WinScan2PDF icon

WinScan2PDF

WinScan2PDF is a document scanning and PDF conversion software for Windows. It provides an easy way to digitize paper documents and convert them to PDF files on your Windows PC.With its simple and intuitive interface, WinScan2PDF allows you to preview scanned pages, adjust settings like brightness, contrast, and resolution, and...
WinScan2PDF image
Gscan2pdf icon

Gscan2pdf

gscan2pdf is an open source scanning software for Linux operating systems. It provides a graphical user interface to scan paper documents and save them as PDF files.Some key features of gscan2pdf include:Simple and easy to use GUI to control scanner and scan documentsSupport for most scanner devices compatible with SANE...
Gscan2pdf image
ScanDrop icon

ScanDrop

ScanDrop is a mobile scanning and document organization app available for both iOS and Android devices. It aims to simplify the process of capturing, storing and managing various types of documents such as receipts, business cards, letters, photos and more using your smartphone's camera.Some key features and capabilities of ScanDrop...
SilverFast icon

SilverFast

SilverFast is an advanced software solution designed specifically for scanning film negatives, slides, and prints to digital formats. It was first introduced in 1995 by German company LaserSoft Imaging.Some key features of SilverFast include:Advanced color management controls for improved scan quality and color accuracyBuilt-in algorithms to reduce dust and scratches...
SilverFast image
Skanlite icon

Skanlite

Skanlite is a free and open source image scanning application designed for the Linux operating system. It provides a simple but capable interface for controlling image scanning hardware and acquiring digital images.Some key features of Skanlite include:Supports many common image scanning devices from vendors like Epson, Canon, and HPAllows manual...
Skanlite image
SwingSane icon

SwingSane

SwingSane is an open source user interface design and prototyping tool. It allows designers and developers to quickly create wireframes, mockups, and interactive prototypes to visualize and test digital product concepts.Some of SwingSane's key features include:Drag-and-drop editor for placing common UI components like buttons, forms, menus onto a canvasExtensive library...
SwingSane image
FreeKapture icon

FreeKapture

FreeKapture is a free and open-source screenshot capture utility for Windows. It provides a simple but capable set of tools for taking screenshots and basic image annotations.With FreeKapture, you can take fullscreen, active window, rectangular region, and scrolling webpage screenshots. It has configurable hotkeys for triggering different capture modes quickly....
FreeKapture image
PaperScan icon

PaperScan

PaperScan is document management software designed for Windows users to easily digitize, organize, and archive paper documents and photos. It has an intuitive interface that allows you to feed pages into your scanner or import existing image files, review and edit them, apply tags, rename files, and save them to...
PaperScan image
Scanitto Pro icon

Scanitto Pro

Scanitto Pro is a powerful document management application for Windows that focuses on scanning and optical character recognition (OCR). It aims to simplify the process of digitizing paper documents such as receipts, letters, invoices, reports, articles, and more.Some key features and capabilities of Scanitto Pro include:Scanning: It can scan multiple...
Scanitto Pro image
Scanned Image Extractor icon

Scanned Image Extractor

Scanned Image Extractor is a Windows software application designed to extract images from scanned PDF documents. It utilizes advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology to analyze the PDF, identify embedded images, and extract those images so they can be saved as separate files.This software provides an automated solution for retrieving...
Scanned Image Extractor image
Mopria Scan icon

Mopria Scan

Mopria Scan is a free mobile app for Android devices that allows you to quickly and easily scan documents, photos, receipts and other paper materials using your device's camera. It then lets you directly print your scans to any Mopria-certified printer.Some key features and benefits of Mopria Scan include:Simple scanning...
Mopria Scan image
CloudScan icon

CloudScan

CloudScan is a comprehensive cloud security and compliance monitoring platform designed to provide visibility and control across public cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP. It helps identify misconfigurations, data leaks, suspicious user activity, and threats to workloads in the cloud.Key features of CloudScan include:Continuous scanning of cloud assets like...
Softi Scan to PDF icon

Softi Scan to PDF

Softi Scan to PDF is a lightweight Windows application designed specifically for scanning paper documents and photos directly into PDF format. It provides an easy-to-use interface that allows you to preview scanned images, adjust settings like resolution and color mode, and save the scans as PDF files.Some key features of...
Smart OCR icon

Smart OCR

Smart OCR is an optical character recognition and document scanning software solution used to convert scanned paper documents, PDF files, and images into editable and searchable digital text files. It utilizes advanced OCR technology to quickly and accurately recognize text from image files with high accuracy.Key features of Smart OCR...
Smart OCR image
AXPDF Scan to PDF Converter icon

AXPDF Scan to PDF Converter

AXPDF Scan to PDF Converter is scanning software for Windows that allows directly scanning paper documents to PDF format. It provides an easy way to go paperless by digitizing your paper documents.The software has a straightforward interface where you select your scanner source and scanning preferences like resolution, paper size,...
AXPDF Scan to PDF Converter image
Flegita icon

Flegita

Flegita is a free, open-source software for music notation, composition, and score writing. It runs on Windows platforms and provides a graphical user interface for creating and editing musical scores. Some key features of Flegita include:Supports a wide range of music symbols, notation, and score formatting for Western musical traditionsHas...