Your guide Carrie Marshall says… “Did the latest Windows update break your scanner? Don’t worry! VueScan knows over 2,400 scanners, and you can use it to scan when Windows won’t”
At a glance
Skill level…
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Suitable for…
Windows 10
Windows 8.1
Windows 7
Some things in life are certain. Death. Taxes. The latest Windows updates breaking your scanner.
That’s because sometimes there’s a gap between Windows getting an update and your scanner drivers – the software that tells Windows how to communicate with your hardware – being updated to match. Sometimes drivers aren’t updated because the scanner’s manufacturer doesn’t support it any more and thinks you should buy a new one.
VueScan can solve the problem. It supports over 2,400 scanners from 42 different manufacturers. It’s also a very powerful, useful app that does much more than Windows’ own scanning app can do. The free version is fully featured but scans are watermarked until you buy the app.
In this tutorial we’ll discover how to get almost any scanner working with VueScan.
Step-by-step Use any scanner with VueScan
1 Get the app
Download VueScan from its developer at www.hambrick.com and let Windows install it. It works on pretty much every version of Windows you might have apart from Windows 2000: so Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 and 10 are fine. It’ll place a shortcut on your desktop; double-click on it to open the app and you should see this screen.
2 Find your scanner
Now for the good bit: let’s get VueScan to install your scanner. Connect your scanner to one of your PC’s USB ports, or if it’s a wireless model make sure it’s connected to the same wireless network as your PC and that it’s currently powered on and not in sleep mode. Now, click on Scanner > Find Scanners or press [F12]. VueScan may not appear to do anything, but don’t worry.
3 See your scanner
VueScan doesn’t display a status message when searching, but if you keep your eye on the main window you should see it change after a few seconds. If your scanner is one of the models it supports, you should now see it listed above the ‘Press Preview…’ tip towards the bottom of the window. It’ll also tell you the type of scanner and whether it’s a local or network connection.
4 Preview your document
Let’s see if it’s working. Make sure your scanner has got something to scan and then press the Preview button. This should quickly generate a fairly low-resolution preview of whatever document is inside your scanner. If like us you’re scanning a landscape document but the scanner is in portrait mode, you can quickly rotate it with the icons at the bo
