Epson WorkForce DS-1730 scanner A4, colour, 1200 dpi, USB

The DS-1730 is a colour scanner, so besides black-and-white text it also preserves coloured stamps, signatures, notes and logos. That matters for contracts, invoices and official documents, where a blue signature or a coloured stamp confirms authenticity. Colour leaflets, diagrams and photos can be digitised too, with tones that remain recognisable.

Optical resolution is 1200 × 1200 dpi. Archiving ordinary documents and running text recognition usually needs far less, so 1200 dpi leaves headroom for fine detail: small print, a drawing or a photo you may want to enlarge later. Scanning at a lower resolution produces smaller files.

The largest scannable format is A4, which covers most office paperwork: letters, contracts, invoices, reports and forms. Larger sheets, such as A3 drawings, call for a different scanner. In daily office work and home document management, however, A4 is the format used most often.

The scanner connects to a computer with a USB 2.0 cable. It is a simple setup for one workstation: the scanner sits on the desk next to the computer and is always within reach. The manufacturer data does not list a network interface, so if several people need to share the scanner, a networked model is worth considering.

Accountants and office staff who digitise invoices, contracts and letters every day; small businesses and home offices that want to turn a paper archive into electronic files at one computer; and anyone who needs a colour A4 scanner with enough resolution for photos and diagrams as well.