IRIS IRIScan Book 3 Executive review

Many mobile document scanners need a PC to work, but the IRIScan Book 3 Executive is different. It’s a thin, lightweight scanner that takes its power from four AAA batteries and it saves scan data directly to a microSD card. Even better, a 2GB card is supplied with the unit so you can save data to it straight away. Scans can be transferred to a PC using the memory card, a USB connection or the Iriscan Book 3 Executive’s built-in Wi-Fi adaptor.

The built-in Wi-Fi adaptor is also a convenient way of sending scanned documents to devices other than PCs, such as smartphones and tablets. There are free Android and iOS apps, but you need iOS 5.1 or Android 4.0 or later to use them. The scanner works in access point (AP) mode only, so to connect a device you must temporarily disconnect from whatever wireless network you’re using. Once connected the app lets you download and view scans then email them or open them in another app. You can also crop scans or paint on them using your finger. It makes scanning and sharing documents very easy if you’re in a location such as a library and don’t have a PC to hand. It also means you can cut down on the amount of heavy machinery you need to carry with you.

You can view scans using an Android or iOS device, and it has basic editing functions

You can also connect to the Book 3 Executive using its web interface, which is handy if you’ve connected to it with your PC. The web interface lets you download and delete scans, and you can also upload files.

Computer users can access scans stored on the Book 3 Executive over Wi-Fi via this basic web interface.

Despite its compact size, the Book 3 Executive feels like a sturdy device, although we weren’t too impressed with its rattly WiFi switch and dim LED status lights. There are two buttons to let you toggle between 300, 600 and 900dpi scan resolutions and change the output format between colour or black and white scans, while a third starts and stops scanning. You can save scans as PDF or Jpeg files.

The software for direct scanning over USB is extremely simple, but it does work well

Unlike most other document scanners, the Book 3 Executive foregoes a powered document feed. Instead, you must move it across a stationary document yourself. While this can be cumbersome, it does allow you to scan thick or curved originals that would defeat a typical sheet-fed scanner. It took a few attempts for us to learn the right movement speed for the different resolutions and formats, but most A4 scans took less than 10 seconds. It took 15 seconds to create a colour PDF at 900dpi. Going too fast or losing contact with the page generates an error, which means you’ll then have to start again.

The supplied Direct Mode software lets you scan to a PC over a USB connection. It’s very basic, only having options for language, colour and horizontal or vertical scan orientation. Scans are transferred to the Clipboard only, so each must be pasted and saved in graphics software such as Paint.

The included optical character recognition (OCR) software is the excellent Readiris Pro 14. This software retails at £65, which adds great value to the IRIScan Book 3 Executive. It performed well. Only a few words weren’t properly recognised, and these were located in a section of small print.

IRIS bundles Readiris Pro 14 software with the Book 3 Executive, and it’s a good OCR package

We wondered if we could get the same OCR results if we shot a document with our smartphone’s camera and then fed it through Readiris Pro 14, but this method was much less accurate the character recognition process much slower.

While not great, the Book 3 Executive’s image quality was fine for archiving documents and for optical character recognition (OCR) with the supplied Readiris Pro 14 software. It’s a useful device, and its built-in Wi-Fi adaptor makes the scanning of documents while out and about much easier. If you need a highly portable scanner that you can use with your tablet or smartphone, the IRIScan Book 3 Executive is for you.