The 9 Best Large Format Scanners

For maps, drawings and school art up to tabloid size, the Plustek OpticSlim 1180 captures the whole sheet in one pass. Its thin body sits flat on a desk, the light is ready the moment you press a button, and Plustek has sold it for years, so drivers and help pages are easy to find. The catch is focus. Anything that lifts off the glass, like the spine of a thick book, comes out soft.

Closing the lid starts a scan on the VIISAN VF3240, and VIISAN says a full A3 color page at basic quality takes about four seconds. That pace suits anyone working through a pile of sketches or class projects in one sitting. The glass runs right to the edge, so a sheet that's too big can hang off one side for a second pass. Results can vary from scan to scan, and the maker's top resolution claim is hard to confirm.

Bound books, photo albums and creased plans need a scanner that can see a little past the glass, and the Plustek OpticPro A320E is built for that. Its sensor keeps raised pages in focus far better than a slim scanner does, and the lid hinge rises to rest flat on a thick volume. A full sheet takes around eight seconds. The body is deep and heavy, and the software setup can take patience.

Offices sitting on boxes of ledgers, spreadsheets and folded plans should look at the Plustek S30, a feeder scanner that pulls in up to 100 sheets and scans both sides at once. It accepts tabloid and A3 paper, can scan a single page many feet long for strip charts and printouts, and stores upright when the day is done. The build feels light for the money, and the bundled software has crashed for some.

Architects and builders with rolled plans can feed sheets up to 24 inches wide through the Colortrac SmartLF Scan! 24, and it works without a computer. Pick a setting on the scanner, and the file goes to a USB stick or across the office network. A wider version takes the largest drawing sizes. It reads only thin, flexible paper, so mounted boards and bound sets need a flatbed or a camera instead.

Built for a records room, the Epson WorkForce DS-30000 takes a stack of A3 sheets and can scan both sides of 70 pages a minute. Epson rates it for tens of thousands of sheets on a peak day and backs it with a three-year limited warranty. It also captures extra-long pages, such as survey printouts and charts. Its cost only makes sense for heavy daily use, and Epson's own store shows it sold out.

Mixed piles of thin receipts, card stock and tabloid forms are where the Ricoh fi-7460 earns its keep. A sound sensor stops the run when two sheets slip through together, and a microphone listens for crumpling paper so it can halt before a page tears. Ricoh took over the Fujitsu scanner line and still sells this model, with an image cleanup driver offices rely on. There is no Mac driver, only Windows and Linux.

Photographers, print studios and museums pick the Epson Expression 13000XL when color accuracy matters more than speed. It pulls detail out of deep shadows, its lamp needs no warm-up, and an optional film unit scans negatives and slides across most of the glass. Epson built it to replace the long-running 12000XL. The cost puts it out of reach for casual use, and the film unit is sold separately.

Old ledgers, scrapbooks and maps too fragile to press under glass are safer beneath the VIISAN S21, an overhead camera that shoots from above. It covers an area about twice the size of a tabloid sheet, and its software flattens curved book pages and erases the fingers holding them down. Detail is softer than a flatbed scan gives, and the Mac software is made for older Intel Macs.