VueScan is intended to work with a large number of image scanners, excluding specialised professional scanners such as drum scanners, on many computer operating systems, even if drivers for the scanner are not available for the OS. These scanners are supplied with device drivers and software to operate them, included in their price. A 2014 review considered that the reasons to purchase VueScan are to allow older scanners not supported by drivers for newer operating systems to be used in more up-to-date systems, and for better scanning and processing of photographs than is afforded by manufacturers' software. The review did not report any advantages to Vuescan's processing of documents compared to other software. When compared to SilverFast, a similar program, the reviewer considered the two programs to be comparable, with support for some specific scanners better in one or the other. Vuescan supports more scanners, with a single purchase giving access to the full range of both film and flatbed scanners, and costs less. The Vuescan program can be used with its own drivers, or with drivers supplied by the scanner manufacturer, if supported by the operating system. Vuescan drivers can also be used without the Vuescan program by applications software that supports scanning directly, such as Adobe Photoshop, again enabling the use of scanners without current manufacturers' drivers.
Overview
VueScan enables the user to modify and fine-tune the scanning parameters. The program uses its own independent method to interface with scanner hardware, and can support many older scanners under computer operating systems for which drivers are not available, allowing old scanners to be used with newer platforms that do not otherwise support them. VueScan works with more than 2,400 different supported scanners and digital cameras on Windows, 2,100 on Mac OS X and 1,900 on Linux. VueScan is supplied as one downloadable file for each operating system, which supports the full range of scanners. Without the purchase of a license the program runs in fully functional demonstration mode, identical to Professional mode, except that watermarks are superimposed on saved and printed images. Purchase of a license removes the watermark, with a standard license also providing updates for one year, and a professional license with some additional features. As distributed VueScan supports opticalcharacter recognition of English documents; 32 additional language packages are available on its Web site. In September 2011, VueScan co-developer Ed Hamrick said that he was selling US$3 million per year of VueScan licenses.
