While somewhat shrouded in technical mystery, scanners can be a great multipurpose tool for the office. Does your web site need product shots to accompany marketing text? Do you want an electronic version of your invoice for filing and database management? Or would you like to automate the process of logging sales data into Excel? A scanner can help you with all of these tasks and more.

At its bare bones, a scanner is an optical device that breaks down images, objects, and documents into a digital format. By reading an image as thousands of individual dots, or pixels, a scanner can convert a picture into digital bits of information which are then reassembled by the computer with the help of scanning software. The file of the image can then be enlarged or reduced, stored in a database, or transferred into a word processing or spreadsheet program.

There are a few key considerations for choosing the right scanner for your needs. The most important step before diving in is to think about how you intend to use the scanner and which type of scanner fits that use. If you want to reproduce quality photographs or other images, color quality will be an important characteristic.

Whether you're looking for black and white reproduction or color, bit depth, resolution, and dynamic range are also essential to selecting the right scanner for your needs.

Of course, there are many other factors, like price and software bundles, which will make your decision that much harder. But that's why you're reading this Buyers Guide. When you're through learning the basics, through our comprehensive product database for the right scanner for your office.

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