Handheld Scanner

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What Does Handheld Scanner Mean?

A handheld scanner, as the name suggests, refers to an electronic device that performs the same tasks as that of a flatbed scanner. It is used to scan physical documents into their digital forms that can be stored, edited, transferred and emailed digitally. This device is especially useful when space is a concern, as flatbed scanners tend to take up a large amount of space.

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Techopedia Explains Handheld Scanner

Handheld scanners are small helpful electronic devices that are widely used for digitizing printed documents. Although considered lower quality scanners, they are still very popular because they are small and less expensive than their flatbed counterparts, and they are able to scan items that could not fit in a flatbed scanner due to size or location. Their function includes moving them over the material being captured with the aid of a tray to keep it in a straight line. Experience is required to operate and handle the device since it is very important to keep the scanner straight so that a distortion-free scan is possible.

Some handheld scanners are now available with added features and functionalities such as definitions, translations and reading printed text aloud, as well as storing and sending scanned content to computers and other devices.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.