scanning with OSX 5.8

[Ferrel Christensen]

Do not Macs have built-in scanning software (for jpg files and the like), as PCs with Microsoft do? What is the simplest way to scan into a Mac?

 

[Kaveman]

Yes, its call Image Capture. May be found in the Utilities Folder.

 

[Ferrel Christensen]

Thanks very much for the response. But my troubles continue. First, there IS no .app labeled Image Capture in my Utilities Folder. But I entered that title in the Help search window (where entering 'scan' and 'scanner' had previously proved worthless) and a window describing it came up. (Oddly, the window's link to it would not work until I re-started the computer.) THEN I ran into my current problem: the Image Capture window (which properly identifies my Brother all-function equipment at the top) has lots of settings to set, but no place to START the scanning process, And pushing the Scan Image button on the scanner itself, which brings up a window to start the scanning when my PC is the computer that is plugged into the scanner, has no effect on the Mac.

Any idea where I can go from here?

 

[Kaveman]

Might be in your Apps Folder, it moved around a bit through the different OS X versions.

The reason the buttons on the Scanner don't work is because they requires separate software drivers from the Manufacturer, this software is terrible as all it does is run all the time asking "Did you press the scanner button". This cause lots of beach balling and slowed down the Macs.

Once you have the scanner selected down the sidebar, there should be a large overview and scan button at the bottom of the right sidebar. Check the Menus too. IC has changed over the years, not sure what version you're working on.

 

[Ferrel Christensen]

Retraction--Sort of.

After I posted my last message, I kept randomly fiddling with the Image Capture window and all its menus. At some indeterminate point, where there had been only blank white space in the window two buttons appeared labeled 'Options'....and 'Scan'. So it finally worked. And, yes, the Image Capture file turns out to be in the Applications folder. I guess I had previously assumed from its name that it was just connected to Grab. Many thanks for your help and patience. FC

 

[Ferrel Christensen]

When I asked for help a few days ago re scanning, the missing "Scan" button (and one marked "Options") finally appeared for no apparent reason in the lower right-hand corner of the Image Capture screen, and I was able to scan the page in my Brother document feeder and store it on my Mac. But it has never happened again--I keep opening and fiddling randomly with the settings, but no Scan button ever appears on the Image Capture screen. Has anyone a clue about this problem?

FC

 

[Kaveman]

Is the Scanner in the Devices List selected?

 

[Ferrel Christensen]

Thanks for replying again. But the only place I can find the word 'devices' is at the left-hand top of my hard-drive page, and it cannot be selected, much less opened to find the word 'Scanner'. As I noted when I first joined this list to post my problem, searching for the word 'scanner' in the usual places on my Mac yields nothing of any value

Your message did inspire me to go to System Preferences, and I noticed that my Brother multifunction machine is listed there under Hardware--Print and fax. But there is nothing about scanners there either. (Even though the Image Capture screen DID allow me to scan by displaying the scan button that one time only.)

Still hoping,
FC

 

[Kaveman]

The "Scanner" is your scanner name, must be in the list otherwise the scan button won't appear.

With the Software open, unplug the USB cable and replug it.

We've had nothing but problems with MultiFunction Printer/Scanners, they are all the cheapest end-of-life components, put in one box. We stopped selling them.

 

[Ferrel Christensen]

Thanks again, but (unless I misunderstood what you meant) it only made things worse. Unplugging an re-plugging the MFC machine's USB cable had only the effect of (1) making *all* the settings instructions disappear on the Image Capture window--it was all just blank white--and (2) bringing up an error message (which won't respond to its own "close" button--it won't go away unless I restart the computer, and won't let me RE-open Image Capture after closing the current window for Image Capture). That message says to stop and re-start the MFC machine itself, which also did not help at all.

Did I get this right? The scanner has always worked fine (with or without OCR) with my old PC, and the printer has always worked fine with my Mac. Are there perhaps multi-function machines that work better with Macs? (I just have no space for a separate printer, scanner and fax.)

Because the scanner puzzlingly did work once (i.e., the Scan button finally appeared) with the Mac, I keep thinking there must be some little thing....

FC

 

[Ferrel Christensen]

After the previous exchange over my scanner problem, I went to Brother support for help but they couldn't solve the problem either. It occurred to me that there may be a conflict between Mac's resident Image capture.app and the Brother Control Center program. (Though I never had such a conflict on my PC.) Since the Brother program is an "application bundle", I understand that it can be uninstalled just by moving it to Trash. But each time I try that, I get a message saying that it can't be removed because--this is plainly false--it is currently in use.

PLEASE, can someone help me?