Evernote Scanner Conversion
Overview
How to change your Scansnap Evernote Edition scanner into an ix500 and keep it working… (Still works July 2025)
A brief history of Evernote scanner breakages
I don’t know when, but a couple of years ago I started noticing at some point that when I used my Evernote scanner, which I love, it wasn’t scanning into Evernote. I put up with it for ages, then one day thought it would be a good idea to fix it!
That’s when I came across the news that Evernote were no longer supporting the scanner with their newer versions of the app, and for various reasons, I wasn’t upgrading. I had missed the deadline to perform a workaround. I had somehow missed this news. To be fair, Evernote didn’t know I had one of their scanners, I had purchased it from eBay.
With a lot of research, I found the conversion tool that had been issued, hung onto by some very helpful people and linked to. One day I took the plunge, ran the tool and it uploaded firmware to the scanner that turned it into a bog-standard ScanSnap ix500. Yay.
Now, this scanner would no longer work with the application software known as Scansnap Manager, Evernote Edition. You need to download the current software called Scansnap Home, which now works with the ix500. You can create your own profiles for scanning into Evernote, it works a treat. Not as nice as the ‘Manager’, but it works.
A later problem…
I saw another scanner one day on eBay. A thoughtful chap was selling for a starting price of £5, saying he just didn’t want to junk it as it could not be updated. I thought I knew better so bought it for under £15 with shipping, what a bargain!!!
But, when I came to run the conversion, I hit a brick wall, one which led to hours of searching…
The problem was, when you run the firmware upgrade tool, it looks for Scansnap Manager Evernote Edition being installed. Problem – that is uninstalled when you do the conversion/install Scansnap Home (somewhere in there). So mine was gone due to my having upgraded my first scanner!!
Well that’s easy, just find a copy of Scansnap Manager Evernote Edition and install it for the duration of the conversion. Easy. Not. It seems to have been scrubbed from everywhere.
Except one link I found. Now if you’re reading this, it could be this one sentence you are waiting for, here’s that link:
https://lite.evernote.com/note/b4e456be-7dcb-4fa1-b278-9a2da95df384
I won’t draw any more attention to it than to say, look at the top grey bar. I arrived here a few times while searching and just read the paragraphed text. Look up! It works, it is the answer you are looking for!
So I am now the proud owner of a second Evernote branded ix500, which I am using on my desk at work and is a backup for my other at home!
Let me know how you get on 🙂