(available in the AP Invoices, Manual Checks, Vendor
Inquiry, and Order screens). This will open a screen with various options
for scanning or loading images.Documents (such as invoices) can be scanned and associated with a particular record in Compeat. Compeat is compatible with any TWAIN-compliant scanner.
Compeat can also import image files from disk. This is useful, for example, if a scanned invoice is emailed to you and you want to import it into Compeat.
Note: Scanned or imported documents are stored as images; Compeat does not perform OCR functions or convert any scanned text into machine-editable characters. Therefore, the text in a scanned document is not searchable.
TWAIN is a standard for communicating between software applications and external imaging devices. TWAIN-compliant devices are the norm, but there are also scanners available that do not comply with this standard. Compeat has the ability to import scanned images from both compliant and non-compliant devices, albeit in different ways.
TWAIN-compliance provides the ability for Compeat to seamlessly launch the scanner software from within Compeat.
The lack of compatibility does not prevent the user from taking advantage of our imaging capabilities. A non-compatible scanner may be operated “outside” of Compeat using the software provided by the scanner manufacturer. As long as the resulting file is compatible with Compeat, it may be imported by Compeat. Most image file standards are supported with JPEG being the most common. The PDF format may not be imported and therefore is not supported.
To scan or import a scanned document, click on the Scan Document tool
(available in the AP Invoices, Manual Checks, Vendor
Inquiry, and Order screens). This will open a screen with various options
for scanning or loading images.
To scan a document:
(Optional) Select a scanner. If multiple scanners are available, you can select one by clicking Select Scanner on the toolbar.
Click Scan on the toolbar.
When you are done, click Save & Close.
Note: From the Scan drop-down menu, you can select either Scan w/Setup or Scan. Scan w/ Setup will open the interface of your scanner software; Scan will simply begin scanning.
To import a document or image:
Click Load Image
in the toolbar.
Browse for the file you want to import and then click Open.
When you are done, click Save & Close.
You can view scanned documents by clicking on Scan Documents from any screen where it is available. If documents have been loaded, a number next to the Scan Documents button will indicate how many are available. A preview image will be shown in the right-hand panel, which can be printed by selecting Print from the toolbar.
Scanned documents can also be accessed by going to Reports > Scanning, and selecting the type of document you want to view from the available options.
If you accumulate a large number of scanned documents, as is likely for many businesses, they can take up a significant amount of storage space. It is therefore a good idea to use resolution and color settings that will minimize file sizes.
If you select Scan w/Setup, you can manually configure all of the scanner options. To minimize file size, set the resolution to no greater than 200 dpi and the color to black-and-white text (this may be labeled in various ways in different scanners).
Compeat provides a safeguard against importing large images, by allowing you to set the maximum size that can be imported. The maximum size is by default, 50,000 bytes; if you attempt to import an image and are unable to, you may need to temporarily change this setting or compress the image.