What it does
NAPS2 is free open-source scanning software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It provides scanning profiles, page cleanup, OCR, and PDF or image export.
Create a scanning profile for the device, page size and resolution, then reuse it for the remaining pages. In the Windows guide, WIA and TWAIN use a manufacturer driver; ESCL connects to supported modern network scanners without one. Interleave manually scanned front/back pages, reorder and clean them up, then save the PDF to a chosen filename. OCR adds searchability. Current Windows builds target Windows 10/11; Mac and Linux editions are also offered with their own scanner setup.
Strengths
- Combines scanner input, manual-duplex organization, cleanup, and OCR.
Best for
- Creating searchable PDF packets from paper documents
Sources
- NAPS2 - Scan documents to PDF and more (Oct 26, 2026)
- Windows Scanning - NAPS2 (Oct 26, 2026)