Thanks for the update, Fujitsu!

When Leopard came out, I blogged about a bug in Fujitsu's ScanSnap Manager software. I was unable to get anywhere with Fujitsu and almost forgot about it. However, today in trolling through their website, I saw that they had an article specifically about the software running under Leopard along with a download to a new version of the ScanSnap Manager. Yeah, I downloaded the software, gave it a try and found that it fixed my problem. However, they added a stupid feature called "Quick Menu" which brings up a half baked feature allowing you to send stuff to email, a folder, iPhoto, etc.

Too bad Fujitsu has never heard of VersionTracker or MacUpdate to post updates so that customers can actually find out about updates without having to dig through their site (which actually doesn't have a direct link to the Mac software under their downloads area).

Comments

December 16th, 2007
Michael Sidejas

Hi there, this is Michael Sidejas, product manager for the Fujitsu ScanSnap. Just wanted to thank you for your post on the availability of the new ScanSnap Manager software for Leopard, as well as your suggestion on how Fujitsu can communicate these types of updates to a wider audience. We’ve taken your feedback and have posted the ScanSnap Manager to MacUpdate while we look into some of the others as well.

Also, wanted to let you know that the new Quick Menu can be de-activated if you prefer ScanSnap to operate in its traditional manner. Just click-hold on the ScanSnap Manager located in the Dock and select “Use Quick Menu” from the menu that appears. The check mark will be removed from the feature and the Quick Menu will remain hidden until re-selected.

Thanks again for your feedback!

December 19th, 2007
Scott Gruby

Ah, I was wondering how it go onto MacUpdate soon after my post! I’d also recommend VersionTracker as some people like one over the other. As for the Quick Menu, while this may sound like a good idea, it has been poorly implemented. None of the apps that it launches has a proper about menu or other proper menus. While I’m ranting about the user interface, please see my post from about a year ago: http://blog.gruby.com/2007/01/19/lets-play-find-the-ui-issues-in-the-scanner-software/. Also, please add a dock menu item that shows the list of applications that have been configured; this would eliminate the need for my ScanHelper http://blog.gruby.com/2007/01/20/a-solution-to-an-annoying-scansnap-issue/ application.

Feel free to contact me offline if you’d like to hire me to fix the user interface; I love the scanner, but the user interface on the software is very un-Mac-like.