Brother MFC-240C scanning |
This is fast becoming Optical Character Recognition (OCR) week. On Monday I called Kinkos and they wanted to charge roughly $600 to OCR convert a roughly 300 page manuscript into DOC or PDF format. This got me thinking that I could buy a scanner and some OCR software and do the job myself. First, the printer.
Bought the Brother MFC-240C all-in-one scanner, fax, printer at Wal-Mart for $100. There were more expensive scanner only options as well as less expensive printers. What I liked about the MFC-240C was that it had a document sheet feeder so multiple pages could be fed to the scanner at one time. This way we could feed a chapter at a time through the scanner. Here’s what the first target document looks like:
To give you an idea how old some of these documents are: they were originally printed in dot matrix on a Commodore 64 printer. Older than the gray in my stubbly chin. Through the years the old 5 1/4″ and then later 3 1/2″ disks that went with the manuscripts have been lost or damaged. Thankfully, the print versions still remain, but the text is fading and the pages are starting to yellow.
Next, clear off a spot in the corner of my glass desk.
As you might expect, I found the built-in OCR software that came with the Brother MFC-240C to be worthless, producing only garbage characters from the tested pages. Software with an SE after it for Special Edition is begging to be sent to the recycle bin. Rarely does any cheap printer come with decent software, so it’s at least partly my fault for not being willing to spend more.
I’ve had good experience with other Brother printers in the past and I checked that the replacement ink cartridges weren’t too spendy. The red, yellow and blue cartridges all run about $12 and the black is around $25. They always get you on the most used ink, don’t they?
As mentioned, this mostly is going to be used as a scanner with sheet feeder, not a printer and we’re very happy with the results so far. I’ve recruited my teenage sons to help me with the process and they give Omnipage and the Brother scanner a thumbs up.
The machine comes with software for both Mac and Windows XP. If you want Vista drivers you need to visit the Brother website where they are freely available. The Mac drivers installed without a hitch. My main Windows XP would not install the included software, erroring out with the message that I was trying to install the wrong printer name. I called Brother support (free call) and they sent the issue to a higher up. Still waiting on another answer.
We tried installing on another Windows machine, my son’s laptop, and all worked right away. The issue appears to be something with USB drivers on my main developer machine. I won’t blame Brother for this one, but will blame the gods of plug and pray.
One last thing. This printer didn’t come with a USB cord. This reminds me of when I bought a Westinghouse LCD monitor and it didn’t come with the cord. We had a couple extra USB cords laying around so this didn’t end up being a big deal, still they should bump the price a couple bucks and include the necessary cord. The box is clearly marked that it doesn’t include a USB cord but I still think it’s stupid selling without all the necessary cords.
Overall, good price, does what I need to do with only a few annoying things. Grade: B-
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I came upon your website through Google and judging it by your pictures and words, I decided to bother you with a simple question; how to install (and where to get it from) scanning with the Brother MFC 240-C, which is what this site of yours is about. I recently bought a new MFC 240-C and have a new Acer - Windows Vista Home Basic laptop, however, a friend of mine installed on it Windows Office 2000 Professional. I am using the printer, copier fine, but need to get the Scanner feature activated, which I can’t seem to manage yet. I downloaded the Scanning instructions for it, as it is not on the Brother disk for Vista, but unfortunately I am not a technically oriented man. I can use several programs and do various tasks, but tend not to follow well instructions (they sound Greek to me…).
Well, anyway, what I would appreciate very much, if you could guide me through how to set up the scanner feature of the Brother unit. I will be greatful to you for your help.
I retired and moved to a small city in Mexico about a month ago, and I do not have access to a local Brother distributor, perhaps through e-mail you can help me solve it. It must ot be too complicated for someone like you. Many thanks in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Edward Taylor
Cuernavaca, Mexico
Comment by Edward — November 23, 2007 @ 10:36 am PST
Hi,
I have got a question with scanning using MFC-240C printer. I want to scan multiple pages and save all as one pdf document, but have not seen any setting I can activate to get it to work. I am able to scan pages and save as pdf documents, but each single page has to be saved as a document. If you know how to scan and save multiple pages to one pdf file using control center3 please let me know.
Thanks in advance for your help,
Vino
Comment by Vino — March 27, 2008 @ 10:52 am PST
I got the MFC 240C. Of course, the scan part does not work like I thought a scanner is supposed to. I want to scan a document, have it appear on the computer screen, then be able to type on it, erase stuff on it, etc. Going to the site is a major pain in the butt. It takes forever to get anywhere then you can’t get where you want to go. Does ANYONE make a product that works out of the box without having a techie spend a couple hours and $$$$ to get it to do what you bought it to do? I swear, I think programming an old time VCR is simpler!! You’d think in this day and age, they would make a non-techie user friendly product that you could just plug in and use!!! What a concept!!!
Comment by Stan C — April 9, 2008 @ 7:24 pm PST
I am looking for directions to instal my MFC240C. I can not find the installation cd. Beginner here.
Thanks if you can help.
Comment by Liam Harney — April 18, 2008 @ 6:51 am PST
Would like to use adobe acrobat to scan on my Brother 420-CN. When I scan it comes out in jpeg which is ok but would like to use Adobe acrobat for an editable file.
How can I do this?
thanks, Bob
Comment by Robert Baggett — August 10, 2008 @ 2:21 pm PST
like everyone else, i cannot seem to get the scanner eworking. have the vista cd, but had to disable vista and return to windows xp for use. help?
Comment by mark stringer — August 10, 2008 @ 2:40 pm PST
Hi, I just purchased the Brother MFC-240C. I need help in getting the scanner to work. No one seems to be able to give directions. Thanks Beverly
Comment by Beverly — August 15, 2008 @ 4:50 pm PST
I am beyond frustrated. I’m not a stupid person, but absolutely nowhere in any of the documentation does it tell you how to move th metal bar that is smack in the middle under the glass so you can scan full pages. Do you know? (Soon to be tossed gift Brother thing otherwise.)
Comment by Ed Glorius — September 1, 2008 @ 1:32 pm PST
I have the MFC230 C and I can not get the blinking thing to scan period. It prints faxes and copyies but will not scan to document. Anyone help?
Comment by Jacob — September 5, 2008 @ 9:01 pm PST
GOT A BROTHER MFC 240C FROM BEST BUY $39.99 GREAT PRICE. WHEN I SCAN A DOCUMENT AND TRY TO ERIT IT BY USING THE FORM TYPER IT WON’T WORK. TRIED USING WORD AND IT WILL SHOW THE FORM BUT EVERYTHING IS CHANGED AROUND. TRIED USING DIFFERENT FORMATS BUT STILL NO HELP. NEED HELP
Comment by BOB FETTERMAN — December 1, 2008 @ 9:31 am PST
Yeh You guys are lucky it even works…. I spent hours on the phone with a teck to no avail.
Comment by Jacob Of Alberta — December 2, 2008 @ 5:09 am PST
Hi All,
I just got a Brother printer for $30 bucks. Had to buy stuff for $20 for free shipping or had to spend $10 for shipping. Anyway I got an installation cd with the printer. Once I did I got an interface when connected to the computer. On the interface there are options for custom scans. When you see that press configure and you will be able to set the scan to pdf or any format you want. I hope I answered the question. The printer is allright.
Comment by Bala — December 3, 2008 @ 1:38 pm PST
I have a Brother’s all in one printer. Model MFC-420CN USB Printer. When I hook it up to my HP Compaq 9630s Laptop everything works except the scanner. It gives the message “Scanner Cannot Communicate”. When I click on the printers control center to scan it says MFC-420CN USB cannot be found. Now, when I hook the printer to my gateway laptop everything works including the printer. I am running windows XP Home on both computers. Can you help me with the scanner problem on the HP computer??
Comment by Priscilla — February 9, 2009 @ 9:54 am PST
Hey there… I had the exact same issue. It never did work and I went through all the help desks. My computer really needed to be over hauled so completly started over and reinstalled windows. Now it works awesome and am so pleased. Even though the help desks could not help me.
Comment by Jacob — February 9, 2009 @ 1:13 pm PST
Your full of shit, the junk brothers crap does not ADF and will only scan as a pic.
Anyone who reads this - DO NOT BUY THIS JUNK.
Comment by Mark Emberger — September 16, 2009 @ 1:44 pm PST
Hey Mark I bought this really nice shiney printer as well. It still is really nice and shiney in the box. I had two issues; one that it didn’t scan as everyone realized that it wont. I spent 4 hours on the phone trying to get it to work with a brothers agent. FAILURE. Then I bought brand new ink cartriges and installed them. It was printing nice for about 2 weeks. (80.00) I paid. Then I moved and for some reason the printer was telling me that it is out of ink. I thought that is impossible the ink is new and I have only printed about 4 pages. So I reset the printer and tried everything I could think of. I took the ink out and looked in the little windows. It was right full of ink. This printer is a scam. I am going to deposit it into the nearest land fill and buy a real 4 in one printer. Don’t buy this printer!!! don’t get scammed.
Comment by Jacob — October 1, 2009 @ 5:43 am PST
Well, when I first bout my MFC-240C from Staples, the disc included was made for XP. I had VISTA. I wnt on line and it was no problem to change to VISTA. The software package contained the PDF format and I could scan up to 12 pages as one document.
Dell replaced my computer with a new computer. I had to install the software all over again, but this time THERE is no OCR software for the MFC-240C. I thought I was nuts, now I guess not. What is up with this. It is a pain in the you know what. I have lots to scan and save, but do not want to do it one JPEG page at a time.
Comment by Claudia — February 12, 2010 @ 8:38 am PST