Problems/Bugs with Kofax VRS 4.5: unable to duplex scanning despite SP1

Although Kofax VRS is great software it only does 50% of what it's supposed to: There's an annoying bug that results in single-sided scans even though Kofax "officially" supports duplex (like any basic TWAIN software should).

The video clearly demonstrates how Kofax's VRS Twain driver doesn't properly fulfill Acrobat Pro 's request to do duplex scanning. If I bypass Kofax VRS and use Fujitsu's TWAIN driver and Acrobat "asks" for a duplex scan it works just fine.

Kofax is aware of the bug and supposedly fixed it with the release of VRS Pro 4.5 service pack 1, but the video confirms that it still doesn't work!

At the moment the only way to do duplex scanning via Acrobat with Kofax is to manually do a "Custom" each time so as to show the Kofax dialog, then manually change the setting to duplex. That is about 4 clicks for each document (we have hundreds per day).

Kofax is hardly saving us time at the moment, it's actually making scanning more difficult. I wouldn't recommend using VirtualReScan until they fix the bug for real... unless of course you only need 50% of your pages :)

BTW this is a Fujitsu fi-5120C scanner with Windows 7 (64 bit) and Kofax VRS 4.5 Service Pack1

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Kofax
• Problems
• VRS
• VirtualReScan
• Bugs
• Duplex
• Scanning
• Adobe Acrobat

[MrBrivett]

What can I say.... you're using VRS in a very strage way... It's aimed at high end fast processing systems scanning thousands of pages a day through a production system like KC9, Captiva etc..and you are using it with an on-demand desktop app. Big miss-match and a lack of programming by Adobe.

This is like taking the trailor off a large articulated (semi) truck and trying to hook it on to a VW Golf.... The Golf just ain't designed to take the connections...

[bigmacincali]

continue...

In addition, listen closely to the sound the scanner makes during the 2 scans. When using VRS (at 1:49 into the video) you hear a certain pitch. When you listen to the Fujitsu TWAIN driver scanning (at 2:52) the pitch is lower. That tells me the settings to the scanner are different.

Again, showing the native VRS TWAIN interface should show this as well.

[bigmacincali]

I agree with @Cheevoah. If you show the native VRS TWAIN interface you can get it to work. While I was on the VRS Engineering team we had many scanning problems with Acrobat (as well as the MS Office apps). If you show the VRS native interface you can do many other things to like changing some of the VRS settings.

more....

[redbeers]

@Cheevoah Show native Interface and make your duplex selection there.

[redbeers]

Hi,

VRS is a very complex and powerful middleware. It isn't designed to have the interface completely hidden unless the application is written to take full advantage of the VRS API. Adobe is a great application but it is a one pony show, TWAIN. You are hiding a meta layer as well as the VRS profiles.

Give Fujitsu a call and we can help you out with the set up and show how to edit the xml if you need to.

[Cheevoah]

Here it is Jan 2011 and I still have this same problem as the initial video poster. WTF? Kofax Pro is awesome but not if I can't use it for duplex scanning in Acrobat. By the way, I have noticed that the Fujitsu scanning program called ScandAll Pro does use Kofax scanner driver in duplex just fine. So now is it really Kofax or Acrobat? I considered upgrading to Acrobat X in an attempt to fix this issue but don't want to spend the money if I've already bought Version 9 without a known cure.

[twinimaging]

Try black and white and see what happens. If your just scanning for gray scale, you don't need VRS. VRS is for image cleanup of black and white documents. 

However, it should still scan in duplex.

[SamPabloKuper]

Thanks for uploading this. I'm thinking of adopting Kofax VRS, but I wanted to be aware of any problems before I commit.