We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use.

Canon CanoScan LiDE 400

 & William Harrel Former Contributing Editor

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

Our Expert
LOOK INSIDE PC LABS HOW WE TEST
65 EXPERTS
43 YEARS
41,500+ REVIEWS

Taking a Stand for More Desk Space

The LiDE 400’s kickstand not only makes this flatbed scanner look cool, but it also gives back premium desktop surface area.

To Stand or Not To Stand

On crowded desktops where only a few inches to mouse around in here and there are valuable, the LiDE 400’s kickstand can help.

Automated and Straightforward

You can perform some of the more common scan jobs from the scanner.

IJ Scan Utility

Using the LiDE 400 on your computer starts and ends here, with Scan Utility.

Document Scan Settings

Behind each Scan Utility function resides a configuration dialog box. Every aspect of the scan session and its results are handled from the Document Scan settings dialog box.

ScanGear

A powerful TWAIN interface designed to work with Canon scanners and third-party apps, ScanGear provides intricate controls over your scans.

About Our Expert

William Harrel

William Harrel

Former Contributing Editor

Bill's Experience

For nearly a decade, Bill focused on printer and scanner technology and reviews for PCMag, and wrote about computer technology since well before the advent of the internet. He authored or co-authored 20 books—including titles in the popular Bible, Secrets, and For Dummies series—on digital design and desktop publishing software applications. His published expertise in those areas included Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, and QuarkXPress, as well as prepress imaging technology. (Over his long career, though, he covered many aspects of IT.)

In addition to writing hundreds of articles for PCMag, over the years he also wrote for many other computer and business publications, among them Computer Shopper, Digital Trends, MacUser, PC World, The Wirecutter, and Windows Magazine. He also served as the Printers and Scanners Expert at About.com.

Bill's Expertise

  • Imaging and prepress technology
  • The SOHO, SMB, and enterprise printer and scanner markets
  • Printer and scanner technology (and accompanying software)
  • Consumer-grade and pro-grade photo printing
  • Mobile printing and scanning
  • Optical character recognition (OCR)
  • Document management

Read full bio