I have a pile of business cards I need to scan so I have access to them all the time. I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a app that works well. I tried some android solutions, most don't work well.
Something Joplin based would be cool! I can scan them all and put them into a separate notebook. does anyone know of a nice templates for Joplin for scanned business cards?
Hi,
I have used the Microsoft Lens app in the past, when business cards were more commonly used than they are today. The app has or had a business card feature that allows you to scan and translate using OCR to create a contact file. It's not perfect, and depending on the card, you may need to correct some numbers or names after scanning. This isn't directly related to Joplin, but it might be helpful for you.
Thanks! I'll give it a try.
Just for the record, Microsoft Lens may do a great job, but it is 100% proprietary (in contrary to the title asking for FOSS applications).
Understood, at least it's the free. At least for now. I expect that MS will dump it soon after a few rounds of upgrades for features no one wants. Just like they do most everything else.
I tried this and it is actually pretty good. Scanning and exporting them as a PDF or PNG and Joplin's OCR is making the cards searchable.
I hate to admit that a MS product is actually useful
Take into account that in the past, when I performed a similar task as you mentioned using MS Lens, I exported the scanned file as a VCF file through OneNote. I don't remember if I used a specific corporate OneNote feature that I had at this time, or if it is possible to achieve this using a free OneNote version. At this time was useful for updating my personal contact app as well.
I've found CamScanner to be quite handy on Android. It's user-friendly and does a decent job. As for Joplin, I haven't tried any business card templates specifically, but you could try searching online or maybe even create your own simple template within Joplin.
Speaking of scanners, I am looking for an ID analyzer to check our customers IDs at work.
I have also used Microsoft lens to scan business cards and you can then take those business cards and put them inside Joplin so the OCR engine can scan them.
Many years ago back in the old days business cards were very simple and scanned into apps very well with high reliability. Today a lot of business cards use fancy laminates and all kinds of fonts and the scanning of them and importing is nowhere near what it used to be.
I would try Microsoft lens and also on Android the Google Drive app can scan a card and directly import into Google Drive just like Microsoft pulls it into OneDrive. Compare the results and see which one works better for you. Nowadays cell phones have very good cameras and scanning capabilities many times they are better than the inexpensive business card scanners you can buy.
If my recollection is correct you can take the business cards and leave them out on your desk separated far enough apart from each other so that you can scan each one. One right after the next. The software can determine the borders of the business card and eliminate the desk from the scan.
I'm still in the process of migrating from Evernote to Joplin and the Evernote app on Android also can scan a business card into Evernote and then you could export that into a file that you can import into Joplin. That's what I have done in the past. A free Evernote account is all you need to give it a whirl.