Canon DR-M1060 Document Scanner

I wrote a scathing review of the Canon DR-M1060 the other day. I had spent two dedicated 9 hour days days with my new unit to see if it would be a good part of my archival workflow and, from what I had around me at that time, I was not impressed. I did say that the HARDWARE of the unit is awesome, solid, small (tiny for an A3 scanner, the size of two Epson GT Workforce ADFs side by side yet two inches shorter)... but the software was the killer.In my previous review of the three included applications, I very quickly passed by the Canon CaptureOnTouch app. This is because when it pops open it presents you with output destinations of send to email, send to an application, send to Sharepoint, send to FTP server and send to printer. These take up major space on the app's touch friendly UI - but not so much that several more options couldn't be added - and looked like they were all that there was. I scan to files, typically uncompressed Tifs, so, at that time I closed CaptureOnTouch. I did go to the Canon website and get the latest version of CaptureOnTouch to see if FTP scanning was still considered a top choice of real world users instead of local file scanning and the same default options appeared in the v4 software. I closed the app.The second included application is the Visual Basic 1994 styled Canon CapturePerfect. CapturePerfect's UI harkens scanning back to the days of SCSI and pretty much was just a quickie front end or a developer's proof of concept for reading the driver property pages and executing a scan. Ok, maybe that is what you have to work with, fine, the scanner property pages have a lot of good options so meh, whatever. Pro software typically look far lousier than consumer software.But then I figured that since the scanner is bundled with a Kofax VRS cd, THAT must be the crown jewel software. VRS is pretty famous, relatively expensive and known as a lock-in app for specific hardware but since it was included with a scanner of this price I figured the full version is what you get. It isn't. On the CD, and yes you have to install from the CD because there is NO support for the Canon DR-M1060 scanner from Kofax (even the paid Elite version which was released in 2014 has an "End of Support" notice for January 2021 specifically for the Canon DR-M1060 scanner). Once you do install from the cd you can't run the software until you register it with Kofax and THEN, finally, geeeeze, the software opens and ... the flash screen says "TEST CONSOLE", so you actually don't get Kofax VRS Elite or even a special edition Kofax VRS designed just for the DR-M1060, you get a piece of trialware with all the annoying UI strangeness of a typical 1997 Java application (most options are disabled but you Can change the color of the UI! Ugh.). I won't get into it, I did a complete workflow and gotcha's analysis in the previous review - there are a LOT of gotchas to the VRS bundle - and here's the thing: Don't intall the Kofax from the cd, just don't; don't think that it must be better if you just sight-unseen pay the hefty upgrade price for an Elite version that may or may not work with the 1060 scanner (remember, end of life for their support of this exact scanner was January 2021). Just don't.After documenting in minute detail all of the workflow issues and posting that review, I put all of the red transport protection strips back, twisty tied the cables back up, put the Getting Started manual and cds back in their boxlet and contacted Amazon for a return.The next day though, I found something that changed my mind. It made this a useful tool. It was not something you will find in the box or even on the Canon page for the unit. I found it on another big online retail site when I was quickly looking to see if there were any other reviews that could have made me not even start this process... it was The Actual Manual. Yes, the Actual Manual is NOT on the Canon page for the DR-M1060, the downloads there are just pre-sales brochures.I don't know why I even downloaded it from that retailer website... since Canon doesn't have a manual available on their site for the unit, I thought this was going to be the same Getting Started sheets that were in the box. And the first pages are the exact same, but then they start talking about the CaptureOnTouch application. And just skimming through I spotted them talking about scanning to different file formats. A closer look and a real read showed that the manual is kind of old, so it was for the original version of the software, not the v4 that I had downloaded... did they remove the file features that I require when they made it into a big-buttony touch UI? (and it is a very nice UI.)I unpacked the scanner, plugged it all back in and restarted the software and ignored the defaults and clicked the button "New output." Yes, I had tried that before and on the screen that opens you get a default option of creating another scan to printer, Sharepoiont, Email, FTP or external application workflow, but if you drop that down and scroll there is a Save To Folder option. Why didn't they make that one of the big button defaults for a user's very first look at the program?Long story shorter, choose the Save to Folder option and you get a workflow that lets you save where you want to Tif (or pdf or png, or jpg), with compression settings, file naming and destination folder options. Close that after making your settings and it makes a big new workflow button. Now go up to the top of the screen and hit the "New document" button and you have your source settings including an option "Use Advanced Settings Dialog" which calls up a nice, pretty view of all of the driver options plus the ability to set a precise scanning area (magazines and journals fit inside A3 but can fluctuate wildly over publication years). Once this was discovered, it was a different animal.Again, the real manual is not in the box. I'll be honest, I now know that a version of it *is* buried on the cd but I saw the Getting Started in the box and did not see a manual on the Canon USA website pages for the DR-M1060 so I didn't dig deep enough and I missed it. My ignorance.Now... here is a thing. While I am happier with the unit now that I understand the Canon CaptureOnTouch software. I have not YET told Amazon that I am not returning it. Why? I have not been able to register the unit on the Canon website. A scanner of this price ain't a throw-away so you need to have support and that means registering. But after creating an account on Canon USA and clicking the big "Register your product" button, they give you the guided bouncing ball system of finding your model and as of September 2021 the Canon DR-M1060 is NOT in their list of models you can register. It wasn't five days ago, it isn't today. I messaged Canon Support and their reply email said "Click the link below to create an account then register your product." But, no matter how many accounts you create, the DR-M1060 can not be registered because it is not in their lists for registration.So... I love the hardware, it is cute and heavy and cool. I now understand which software is useful for the hardware. However, recall that Kofax clearly states that they stopped supporting the DR-M1060 in January 2021... does the lack of registration ability mean that Canon is also phasing the unit out of support? I don't know, my second email to Support has not been replied to yet. If they don't clear this up, or if no one notes on this review the magic steps they did to register their unit, then it has to go back. Clock is ticking. I hope somebody proves me wrong!Update: 2nd Support Email replied to with a direct telephone number to call. Called. A very nice woman listened to the story, told me that the Manual Is available but you have to look closely, Goog-Searches for the product wll take you to the shop DOT canon page wich looks exactly like the usa DOT canon page for the unit but it is the usa DOT version has the manuals along with the drivers (still and will remain 32bit only, no 64 bit coming). This page I was previously getting to as that is where I got the v4 software noted above. But apparently it was the lookalike shop DOT canon page that I used to try to find manuals. Again, MY ignorance, MY apologies. I stand corrected.She also said that while she did not have a Canon account so she couldn't verify that the DR-M1060 unit could not be registered, she would escalate the issue and I would get a call back within 2 business days to make sure it was all working and I could register the unit. She was very calm and very nice, but it was odd - and I said so - that she didn't have an account she could work with. Whatever... 2 days I would get a callback.2 days, 3 days, 5 days... 7 days. No callback. Now there is just one day left to be able to return the unit to Amazon. I call the same number and get a Tech Support man.Registration is not his area for the company but he has a minute for me and He has an account on his company site so he hits the "Register Your Product" button along with me and... sees that the DR-M1060 scanner can NOT be registered. He puts me on hold for a few minutes. He comes back and says that he checked and the unit is still for sale, still an active Canon product of the line and not discontinued so the link *should* work. He says that he will post the issue to the web site team. I say, I sincerely believe you but I have to return this great product, I can't wait another 2 days for a maybe. And he says: "You don't have to return it. you Are registered." Huh? "You called tech support, I have entered your information and your serial number into the system, you are now in the 1 year warranty period, any time you have to call they can now find you but save your Amazon receipt just in case" So... He registered me into the Tech Support system which is actually different from the website product registration system but BETTER, because IF an issue comes up it is Tech Support I want to deal with. This entry into the Tech system, according to him, takes a step out of the process if there is a problem in the future.Great guy, great information.So... Keeping the unit. If you buy one, try going to the Tech Support phone option as a way to make sure you are in the pipe.For the hardware 5 stars, for the software (after figuring it out) 5 stars, for the second man on the phone who just fixed my issue 7 stars and I want him to get a bonus. But, for the road that had to be travelled to get there on such a relatively expensive unit, 2-3 stars. And the final is 4 so that it will not be lumped into the glowing 5 star "no problem at all" reviews because I think there's some value in this story.

I bought this to scan 50 years worth of accumulated documents in my basement. It took a couple of months but I scanned 120,000 pages and disposed of the original paper. The scans can fit on a thumb drive, although I made several copies on different media.Most of the time the scanning software does a great job of detecting color vs. black and white and the appropriate brightness level. Even very faded documents came through in a readable way. It does jam occasionally but is quick to recover. It’s not perfect but it did the job with reasonable speed and quality. I feel it was worth the investment and several friends already want to borrow it.My only disappointment is that it doesn’t work with Macs. I bought a very cheap Windows PC, which does a fine job of running this scanner.

The Canon website clearly states that it supports Mac. It does not. It does not have Mac drivers or a Mac version of the bundled "Pro" scanner software. We bought it for our non-profit org to scan newsletters. It took us almost two months to get a Windows PC donation so we could use the scanner only to find out that it chews up every page fed to it. It is too late to return it to Amazon. Buyer beware. We can't even get support from Canon because when entering the serial number as required, Canon says it is not a valid product.

Very good looking machine I was expecting the white one like the picture but it came in black which is a look for it.

Lightning fast and reliable just get through the set up

I have never bought this product through Amazon. I have 6 of them in my office and they have worked great for many years. I have had to replace rollers on the document feeder at least once on all of them but considering how long I have had them I have no complaints. I have had most of them for 6+ years. The price for them now is about double what I paid for them.

Great scanner! Fast, Quiet and Reliable!!! Wish I had bought it sooner!!

This scanner is performing wonderfully! Just what we needed at work to get caught up on scanning records!