The Mac Lawyer Using Macs in Law Firms | Attorney Ben Stevens

How to Use the PC Version of the Fujitsu ScanSnap With Your Mac

By J. Benjamin Stevens on Posted in Hardware, How Do I ... ?, Technology
Scansnap
I previously posted about my fondness for the Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner.  What I didn’t mention was that my particular ScanSnap (model 5110EOX2) is actually a holdover from my old PC-using days.  I had this scanner for roughly a year before I moved my office to Macs two years ago.

Some time after that, Fujitsu released a Mac-specific (white) version of the ScanSnap.  However, many people want to use the PC (black) model with their Macs — either because they already owned one before the Mac version was released or or because the PC version is slightly less expensive than it’s white cousin.

Both models work basically the same.  They both come with the full version of Adobe Acrobat, and they both work quickly and efficiently.  However, there is a difference that I want to address in this article.  The Mac driver for the black (PC) version is only available in Japanese.  Domo Arigato! 

All of the features work just fine, but nothing is in English, which makes it a bit tricky figuring out certain things.  Fortunately, all of the dialog boxes are in the same places as shown in the English manual, but it’s not practical to keep that on hand in case you need it.

Never fear though, there is a solution to this situation which enables you to load the Japanese drivers and then convert them to English.  The following instructions walk you through this process step-by-step:

  1. Download the English and
    Japanese versions of the ScanSnap software from Fujitsu (be sure to
    download the correct version for your Mac, Intel or PPC).
  2. Mount the Japenese disk image (V20L22.dmg) and install (just keep
    clicking the blue button on the right hand side to advance the
    installation).
  3. After installation, unmount the Japanese image to avoid confusion later on.
  4. Mount the English disk image (V20L20.dmg) but DO NOT install it.
  5. Open the English disk image (you should see a file named "ScanSnap_V20L11" or "ScanSnap_V20L11.pkg").
  6. Right-Click (control-click) on that image and select "Show Package Contents".
  7. Open the "Contents" folder and open the "Resources" folder.
  8. Locate the file called "ScanSnap_V20L11.pax.gz" and double-click on it.
  9. After it has unarchived the file, a ScanSnap folder should now appear on your desktop. Open it.
  10. In this folder, you should see the "ScanSnap Manager" which shows
    the WHITE version of the scanner.  Right-Click (control-click) on the application and
    select "Show Package Contents".
  11. Open the "Contents" folder and open the "Resources" folder.
  12. Locate the folder called "English.lproj" and copy this folder to a safe place (like your Desktop).
  13. At this point, it will help you avoid clutter and confusion by closing all of the various open windows.
  14. Go to your Applications folder, find the ScanSnap folder there, and open it.
  15. In this folder, locate the "ScanSnap Manager" which shows
    the BLACK version of the scanner, which is the Japenese version that needs to be change. Right-Click (control-click) on the application and select "Show
    Package Contents".
  16. Open the "Contents" folder and open the "Resources" folder.
  17. Copy the "English.lproj" that you just extracted to this folder.
  18. Voila! You should now have support for multiple Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners with English localization!

Source:  "ScanSnap fi-5110EOX for Macintosh" thread in the MaxOSXHints Forums.

  • Max

    Thank you thank you thank you!
    My office is mixed: the office is Windows (since the whole network is Windows), though my laptop is Mac. I need the Windows one for my office, but I’ve been holding off buying once since I didn’t know how to make it work with the Mac, too.
    You just answered that. Gracias.

  • http://theinspiredsolo.com Sheryl Schelin

    Believe it or not, this post is EXACTLY what I needed, and very timely!

  • http://www.BKPracticePro.com Jay S. Fleischman

    As a Mac newbie, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to use my trusty ScanSnap. There are a bunch of tutorials online, but none are as coherent as this. Thanks a million!

  • Curtis Bisel

    Mr. Stevens wrote “Both models work basically the same. They both come with the full version of Adobe Acrobat, and they both work quickly and efficiently.”
    Does this mean IF I buy the black S510 model, it will come with software that I can install on the Mac? I am a bit confused whether the CD that comes with it has the Mac AND PC version of Acrobat on it [or can I download the other version off the Fujitsu website].
    I have a PC and a Mac in my office and prefer the black color. I would like to buy the PC Scansnap but am hoping I won’t have to pay extra for Mac software to run with it.
    Thanks for any help.

  • Thomas Tran

    How is OCR accomplished using S510 on the Mac? Granted that the Japanese version works, FineReader for the Mac is no where to be found. FineReader from ABBYY is included with the S510M and is intergrated with ScanSnap Manager for automatic OCR after scanning.
    Please reply with any solutions for automatic OCR.
    Thank you!

  • http://www.TheMacLawyer.com J. Benjamin Stevens

    I use Adobe Acrobat for OCR. It works great.

  • Mike M

    Ben, thanks for the tip. This is working for me. One app closer to assimilation.

  • hamad

    any idea how to do this the other way around: use a Mac version of the S500 (mac software, etc) with a Windows XP machine?
    I am guessing it could be possible if we could just locate the drivers.

  • emile alline

    Excellent instructions, however it did NOT work with my discontinued S-500 model and Mac OS 10.4

  • hd

    I followed the instructions and everything works ok except for the Quick Menu on ScanManager. It still appears in Japanese. Any suggestions?

  • Aaron

    I can’t thank you enough! This was xactly what I needed and these directions worked like a charm.

  • SuitCase

    The link to the english software version is crippled. The correct link is:
    http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/drivers/5110eoxm.html

  • tjlt

    I did what is said in the article but there are new versions and it is said i am not qualify to make the substitution with “English.lproj” !
    Did you try with those new versions ?
    ScanSnap_V21L20.dmg (jap)
    ScanSnap_V22L11.dmg (english)
    Thanks for help
    TJLT

  • Ramon

    Thanks..it works…however!! if i use de quick menu i still get text in Japanese…any solution??
    2Bclear only in the quick menu rest is in english
    i used V21L20 (JP) and V22L11 (eng)
    thnks R

  • Mike

    Do these instructions work with the S510? What features will I be missing by not using all the sw that comes with the S510M?
    Thanks for the easy to follow instructions.

  • Daniel

    This information is exactly what I needed! Works like a charm, scanning directly into Preview. I appreciate this post.

  • http://www.mypunchbowl.com Matt

    I found this article very useful during my switch the Mac. I wrote about my whole experience here (it includes some useful information for those who are having trouble getting their black scansnap to work on Mac). See http://www.mypunchbowl.com/blog/2008/09/28/the-day-i-switched-back-to-a-mac/

  • http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/support/downloads_service-packs.html Jose
  • Roger Massey

    Thank you for this very useful tip. A relative gave me a Fujitsu S300M from Japan. It would only work on my Mac with the original Japanese drivers not the US version. However swapping around the package contents now provides English menus. Fantastic!

  • Kirk Huizenga

    If you are still getting Japanese with all the QuickMenu items, you can follow the same procedure of going to the resources of each of the individual .apps (i.e. scantofile) and add the English location files. This worked for me. Took a few minutes to do, but once you’ve done one the process is the same for all the others. I think there were 7or8 other apps in the ScanSnap folder

  • Mike W

    Does anyone have the files that they can send to me. I’m still getting the japanese language. when I do this it stops recognizing the scansnap program.

  • http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=32046&page=10 E

    That solution is a lot of work and isn’t worth the trouble IMHO, plus it won’t work for the S300 scanner.
    I decided it was just easier to get the latest version of ScanSnap Manager V2.2 L11 and create a patch to support all the different ScanSnap PC-based scanners: S300, S500, S510, fi-5110EOX/2/3.
    Take a look at this thread instead for how to get the patch and hope to install it (it’s only 1 step vs. 18!!!):
    http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=32046&page=10

  • John Chang

    Here’s how to get an S500 (and supposedly S500M or S510 or S510M or S300 or S300M as well) to work under Snow Leopard:
    First, if ScanSnap manager is running, quit it. Delete your old ScanSnap and Abbyy application folders, or at least move them out of Applications.
    Next, download these two files:
    http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fcpa/scanners/drivers/ScanSnap_V30L20W_S1500M.dmg and http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fcpa/scanners/drivers/fr4ss.dmg
    That’s right, download the S1500 file, not the one labeled for your scanner. This is not a typo.
    A. The ScanSnap driver will not install unless you disable the installation check. Here’s how:
    1. Drag ScanSnap_V30L20.mpkg to your Desktop.
    2. Right click on it, and select “Show Package Contents”.
    3. Open Resources, and right click on InstallationCheck.
    4. Select “Open With…” and click on “Other…” Then scroll down to “TextEdit”, select it, and click Open.
    5. Click the beginning of the second line (filled with #’s), and type “exit(0); ” It should look like this:
    #!/usr/bin/perl
    exit(0);
    ########################################################
    Then save the file.
    6. Finally, double-click ScanSnap_V30L20 on your Desktop (not on the dmg) to install the driver.
    You should now be able to use your scanner. But OCR doesn’t work yet. That’s next.
    B. Now, open the fr4ss.dmg image, and double-click FR4SS.mpkg to install it.
    C. To get OCR to work on a scanned image:
    1. Right click on the ScanSnap icon in the dock.
    2. Select “Settings…”, then deselect “Use Quick Menu”.
    3. Click on the “Application” tab, then select “Scan to Searchable PDF”.
    4. Also make sure that the default OCR is disabled: click on the “File Option” tab and make sure that “Convert to Searchable PDF” is not checked.
    5. Apply your changes.
    D. To smoothen the OCR workflow, change the default settings for Abbyy Finereader:
    1. Go to Applications, open the ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap folder, and double-click “Scan to Searchable PDF”.
    2. Click on “Scan to Searchable PDF” and select “Preferences…”.
    3. Click on the General tab, then click on the appropriate checkboxes at the bottom.
    4. You may also wish to modify the setting for Quality in the “Scan to Searchable PDF” tab. High will make a nice-looking but large PDF file, about double the size of the original scan; medium will create a legible though grainy-looking one that is 1/6 the size of the high-quality file, and less than half the size of the original scan.

  • ariel

    I spoke too soon! It worked once and then stopped. Any thoughts?

  • drewery

    John Chang you are my hero!
    This solution worked for my S300M. Note: You need to restart scansnap manager after installing FR4SS.mpkg to get the Scan to Searchable PDF option to appear.
    I have spent way too much time trying to get other solutions to work.
    DId anyone figure out how to get OCR working using the “File Option” tab option “Scan to Searchable PDF”? I get an OCR Engine Initiate Error.

  • ngomarty

    My problem is reverse! I have a new S500M still in the box but need to install it on a PC. Woudl anybody have the S500 installer for Windows! The MAC version is freely available but not for the PC!

  • E.J.

    Thank you, John Chang. That worked perfectly on my ScanSnap S300. I really appreciate the guidance!

  • Bruce

    Anyone know how to get a S300M to work with my XP laptop.
    Cheers,
    Bruce

  • Matthew Loel T. Hepworth

    Thanks to Ben Stevens and John Chang! You two just made my day! My S510 works perfectly with my Mac Mini Server running 10.6.7. I was all set to buy a Mac-compatible Fujitsu scanner. But then I realized they still owe me a $50.00 rebate. The rebate company they were using went bankrupt, so I’ll never see the $$$. Recalling that situation made me upset, so I did a Google search and found this page. Thanks again for sharing this information. I really appreciate it. ~Matt