The Canon imageFormula DR-F120 ($399) is somewhat different from most document scanners aimed at personal and micro-office use. It goes beyond scanning stacks of pages through an automatic document feeder (ADF) by adding a flatbed so you can also scan bound material and delicate originals that you don't want to risk damaging. It doesn't come with any applications, but it's designed to scan easily to an assortment of cloud sites. If you already have all the scan software you need—or simply prefer working with your scans in the cloud instead of on your own PC—it's a notable bargain.

Aside from its lack of software, the DR-F120 ($380.00 at Canon) is a close match to—and strong competition for—the Canon imageFormula DR-2020U , which is our Editors' Choice for personal or micro-office use if you need a document scanner that includes a flatbed. Both models offer a 50-sheet ADF, duplex (two-sided) scanning, a flatbed, and similar rated scan speeds for gray-scale and black-and-white scans, as well as similar speeds on our tests.

The three key differences between the two are their prices (the DR-F120 is a lot cheaper), their flatbeds (letter size for the Canon DR-2020U and legal size for the DR-F120), and the software they come with. The Canon DR-2020U includes highly capable programs for document management, optical character recognition (OCR), business card management, and working with PDF files. The DR-F120 doesn't come with any applications. However, its CaptureOnTouch scan utility lets you send scans to an assortment of websites, including Evernote, which offers excellent document management and business card management in the cloud.

The utility also lets you send scans to several popular websites—including Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and SugarSync—that let you share files or simply keep backups in the cloud. It also lets you save files to a local or network drive or to a Microsoft SharePoint folder.

Setup and Software

Because of the flatbed design, the DR-F120 is necessarily bigger and heavier than most personal and small-office document scanners, at 4.7 by 18.5 by 13.2 inches (HWD) and 10 pounds 2 ounces. Although it needs more flat space than most document scanners, setup is standard. For my tests, I connected it with a USB cable, its only connection choice, to a system running Windows Vista. According to Canon, the software will work with both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP 1 or later, Windows 8 and 8.1, and Windows Server 2008 and 2012 R2.

In addition to the CaptureOnTouch scan utility, the installation program installs a combination ISIS and Twain driver, which lets you scan from virtually any Windows program that includes a scan command. If you want applications, you'll have to buy them separately. However, the scanner's price is low enough that even if you need to buy one or two programs, the total cost may still save you money compared with buying the Canon DR-2020U.

Scanning

The Canon CaptureOnTouch scan utility is notably easy to use. You can scan either by choosing a type of document to scan and a destination, or by choosing a profile that's already defined with a document type and destination. You can also assign any of the profiles to one of four buttons on the front of the scanner, so you can start the scan by pressing the appropriate button.

See How We Test Scanners

By default, the choices for Document type are Text, Full Auto, and Photo mode. The options for destination include all of the websites previously mentioned, plus Desktop, Print, Send to Application, Attach to Email, and Pictures Folder. You can edit any of the definitions—to change resolution or file type, for example—and add more document types, destinations, and profiles if you need them. One important limitation is that the only file types you can save to are several common image formats (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, image PDF), PowerPoint (inserting the scan into a PowerPoint slide as an image), and searchable PDF.

Results

The optical resolution for the DR-F120 is 600 pixels per inch (ppi), which is typical for document scanners, and more than you usually need. For my tests, I used the default 200ppi with Black and White mode. Because the DR-F120 doesn't come with any applications, the only tests I could run from our standard suite were for scanning to image PDF and to searchable PDF formats, using the ADF.

Scanning our standard 25-sheet test document to image PDF format, I clocked the scanner at 17 pages per minute (ppm) for simplex (one-sided) scans and 34 images per minute (ipm) for duplex scans. That's just a little slower than the Canon DR-2020U's speed on our tests, at 18ppm and 36ipm, respectively. Scanning in duplex to searchable PDF format slowed the scanner down by only 9 seconds, to 1 minute 38 seconds, compared with 1:23 for the Canon DR-2020U.

If you don't need to scan bound material or delicate originals, be sure to consider a model without a flatbed, like the Canon imageFormula DR-C225 ($435.64 at Amazon) , which is our Editors' Choice moderately priced document scanner for personal or small office use. Not only will a scanner without a flatbed take up less desk space, in most cases it will give you faster scans for the price.

If you need a flatbed, and also need applications, take a careful look at the Canon DR-2020U. You may find that the more expensive scanner is actually cheaper than buying the Canon imageFormula DR-F120 plus any programs you have to get separately. That said, the DR-F120 can still be the right choice. It will give you much the same scan speed as the Canon DR-2020U, it's impressively easy to use, and if you already have all or most of the scan-related software you need, it can give you essentially the same capability at a significantly lower cost.

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Further Reading

• How We Test Scanners
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• Microsoft App Turns Your Phone Into a 3D Scanner
• Get Organized: Choose the Right Scanner for Going Paperless