Scanning business cards (check), organizing data (check) bugging you to death (check)
Written: Oct 13 '09 (Updated Oct 13 '09)
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Pros: It is easy to scan any business card and the OCR is very useful
Cons: The software company e-mails, calls, and snail mails you to upgrade for only $99
The Bottom Line: It scans, recognizes, and makes your data searchable. You can export and sync. In the end the ONLY problem is, not the hardware or software, but the marketing department.
jckatz's Full Review: I.R.I.S. s.a. IRISCard¿ Mini Pass-Through Scanner
Background At my last job, several office assistances had business card scanners. This was a useful tool in their job since they would receive 20 business cards a day or more. They could then scan the business cards, leave notes and search for company name or subject matter and find the relevant contact information in seconds.
While this technology was nifty and useful for office use, I would have had a hard time justifying the $130 price tag for personal use. That all changed when I entered the job market. I would attend a networking event and pick up 20 business cards. Carefully writing notes on the back, I now had to organize them. You could organize them by alphabetical order, but when you need to contact someone you might not remember their name. Organizing them by company might be the solution if you remember what company they worked for. The best solution is organizing them by category, but in my case I am looking for a job in a specific field so 90% of my business cards would end up in the same category.
I needed something a little more robust, excel. I started typing the names into a spreadsheet. Category, Notes, phone numbers, e-mail address etc. It was a chore, but it was worth it. Then I remembered the scanners at work. They were not cheap, but I found one that had good reviews and free shipping.
The Advantage The first advantage is simple, speed. Plug the unit into your USB slot, and place the business card in the slot face down, and instant black and white scan of your contact. BTW the unit does request to be calibrated using the "calibration card" but if you lose it, the back side of a blank white business card works well.
Repeat until your pile is done.
Now, press the "RECOGNIZE" button and the OCR kicks in. OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition, it is a fancy way of saying it will "read" the business cards and COVERT it into text that you can later search.
The unit will also attempt to but the text into the correct field. Names go in name field, address in the address field, Etc.
You can also scan double sided business cards, change the settings and flip the card over after the first pass.
LIST OF AVAILABLE FIELDS Company: First Name: Last Name: Title: Address (with mapping) Address 2 City: St: Zip: Phone: Phone 2: Cell: Skype: Fax: E-mail: Website: There is also a NOTES section (useful for what you wrote on the back of the card) and an EXTRA section where OCR'd data that didn't fit the form is stored.
If you want, you can highlight areas of DRAG and drop the OCR directly into the correct form.
Searching Now you can search all your cards, any field. It is not the best search, but it works. Also you can scroll through and look at the scanned images of the business cards, because sometimes a visual clue is all your brain needs.
Exporting and Sync The final useful feature is the ability to export your database, in excel format, bringing me full circle. While having the image is useful, having the information available is the most important feature. After I update my cards I export it, and load it to Google Docs and e-mail it to my backberry. It exports to 12 different format include Outlook. It would be nice if I could auto update it to my address book software, but I no longer own a Palm Pilot and have never owned a Windows Mobile Device so I can't vouch for the Sync software.
Is it perfect?
As is true for any OCR program, no. The scanner is of high enough quality that simple business cards will scan very well. But the fancier the font, or the more graphics on the card the less accurate it will be.
The Program
To be honest I hate to give this product a bad review. The hardware is excellent, the software is great. The problem lies with the software company. IIRIS,
Just today I got this e-mail
[Dear registered I.R.I.S. user,
The IRIScan Express 2 is an incredibly powerful mobile scanning solution to organize your papers, receipts, business cards, photos wherever you are.
http://link2.irislink.com/u.d?cnlSCpOgNuc_SYA5tG=961 instead of $149 and instantly save $50 off the regular price. Hurry up as this exclusive offer is only temporary and for registered users only!]
Not counting the ones I deleted, which is probably most, I have 21 versions of this e-mail in my inbox. This is not including the letters in the mail I got, and a phone call from a guy in India asking me to upgrade for the low low price of $99.99!
As I said earlier, the software it comes with is fine. It does everything I need it to do, and I only paid $130 for the software AND hardware. Why would I now spend $100 more to improve something that doesn't need improving, and why get me so upset that when I do replace the hardware, I will NEVER purchase from this company again.
When you’re on the go to multiple countries you need a business card scanner that can handle the load. The IRISCard Mini 4 supports card formats fr...More at Newegg.com
Scan Resolution: 300 dpi Optical Media Type: Business Card Ports: 1 x USB 1.0 USB, Platforms: Windows Vista Windows 2000 Windows XP, ESRB Rating: Ever...More at Amazon
Intuitive and affordable, the IRISCard Mini 4 provides the ideal space-saving business card scanning solution. It quickly scans your paper business ca...More at Apple Store
The IRISCard Mini 4 is incredibly fast, super portable and totally accurate! Quickly scans business cards in grayscale, captures the information they ...More at Buy.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.