Flatbed is used to scan items that are placed on the glass surface of a scanner, while Document Feeder allows multiple pages to be stacked in a feeder and scanned all at once. Scan Mode usually has two settings for most all-in-one printers. The sidebar lists the devices, the center pane shows a thumbnail of the page being scanned, and the right pane displays setting details. There are three areas of the app window visible in the image above. Those devices may appear on the Image Capture app sidebar under Devices, Shared, or both. When you launch Image Capture the first time, it discovers applicable devices. When your Mac identifies your all-in-one printer over Bonjour (Apple’s implementation of zero-configuration networking), it recognizes that the device not only prints, but has other functions like scanning and fax send/receive. It also didn’t load up my Mac with bloated software. That driver works each and every time with no issues.įor scanning, I started using the macOS Image Capture app and quickly found it was more functional than the Epson software. Instead, I let macOS find my printer and supply its own internal driver. Frustrated, I deleted all of the Epson apps. The drivers included often kept me from printing unless I reloaded them each and every time! The scanner software was usable, but required hand-cropping of images smaller than a full page in size. I decided to try the Epson software with the new device, and that was a mistake. For example, last year I purchased an Epson ET-4760 EcoTank printer because I was constantly changing print cartridges in an HP laser printer I owned. With my past two all-in-one printers, I’ve found that the software and drivers that come with them are problematic. Why use Image Capture instead of my printer/scanner apps? Fortunately, Apple provides a macOS app that works with most all-in-one printers: Image Capture.

However, most of these printers come with software and drivers that can be infuriatingly bad. I like that I can print documents when I need to, and I’ve found that document scanners save a lot of time. I have a love-hate relationship with all-in-one printers.

Hp scan and capture for mac