How To Scan On Mac

1. Connect your scanner to your Mac, plug it in and turn it on. Click the Apple icon in the top-left corner, then select 'System Preferences' followed by 'Printers and Scanners.'
2. No Anti-Virus software or so-called 'cleaning' apps are needed or recommended for Mac OS. They can conflict with Mac's own built-in security. At best they will slow your Mac by using unnecessary resources and at worst will bork your entire system. Your Mac has all the built-in protection you need. MacOS - Security - Apple.

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This detailed guide will show you how to install, configure and use free software to scan your Mac for viruses, malware and spyware.

Security Software for macOS

Learn how to scan and edit documents and photos from your HP printer to your Mac computer.Learn more about scanning on your Mac OS X computer on our support.

I'll keep this introduction brief. Here's how I feel about Mac security software –

If you have critical, can't-live-without stuff on your Mac, it's worth paying for security software. None of the free apps offer complete coverage. This guide uses the free version of Avast Security – which includes a full antivirus/malware scanner. However, the free version does not offer ransomware protection. Ransomware on a Mac is still quite rare, but it does happen, and if you regularly install software that doesn't come from the Mac App Store the odds of being infected go up.

If you're going to shell out your hard earned money, I would recommend Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac. It offers more features than Avast and it's less expensive.

With all of that said – if what you're looking to accomplish is to scan your Mac for viruses and malware, Avast (and this guide) is for you.

Installing & Setting Up Antivirus Software

1. Installing and setting up Avast isn't particularly complicated, it's just a bit more involved than a regular 'drag to the Applications folder' type of installation. Start by downloading the installer file. Once the download has completed, open the .DMG file and double-click Install Avast Security.pkg
2. Click the Allow button when asked if program can be run to determine whether Avast will work on your Mac.
3. If you're using macOS Catalina or Big Sur, you'll get a warning message about a System Extension being blocked. Click the Open Security Preferences button when you see that message.
4. This will open the Security & Privacy section of the System Preferences. Click on the ‘lock' icon in the bottom left corner and enter your password when prompted. Then, click the Allow button next to the System software message (see screenshot below).
5. During the installation, you may be asked if you'd like to install Google Chrome. You do not need to install it, and can skip that step entirely.
6. If you're asked to allow Avast Security.app permission to access your Downloads folder, click the OK button.
7. After you click 'Next' a bunch of times, click the Close button on the last of the installation screens.
8. With the installation complete, now it's time to setup and configure Avast – which mostly consists of granting various permissions. To gets started, click the CONTINUE button.
9. Click the OPEN CONFIRMATION DIALOG button.
10. Click the ALLOW button.
11. Confirm that it says DONE! above the CONTINUE button, and then click that same CONTINUE button.
12. Avast needs to be able to access all the files on your Mac so that it can scan them, which means it needs to be granted full disk access. Click the OPEN SYSTEM PREFERENCES button.
13. This time the Privacy & Security window will open up with the Privacy tab displayed. If it isn't already selected, click Full Disk Access from the column of options on the left side of the window. Place a check in the box next to Avast Security
14. A message will pop up letting you know that Avast won't have those access permisions until it has been restarted, so click the Quit & Reopen button.
15. Avast will close down and reopen itself. When it's open again, you'll probably see a big 'This Mac is not fully protected' message. No problem. Click the Core Shields button.
16. Toggle the File Shield switch from OFF to ON
17. Confirm that all 3 'core shields' have been turned on, and then click the ‘back arrow' located in the upper-left corner of the Avast window.

Check Your Mac for Viruses, Spyware & Malware

1. Now let's scan your Mac for viruses, malware and/or adware. Click the RUN SMART SCAN button now.
2. Avast will do a quick check to make sure you have the very latest virus definitions installed and everything is completely up to date.
3. Once it's done, click the NEXT button.
4. The actual scan can take a while – the length of time is determined by the number of files you have and the overall speed of your Mac. It's probably a good time to go grab a cup of coffee or tea.
5. With a bit of luck, hopefully nothing was found. If that's the case, click the Next button. If Avast did identify something bad, follow the steps it suggests in order to remove any infected files.
6. This part of the ‘scan' is an upsell. Avast wants you to buy their software so you're completely protected, but again – if you're going to pay for security software, I recommend Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac over Avast.

   Click the Skip for now link in the bottom-right corner of the Avast window.

7. Click the Done button.
8. There is one set of settings you may wish to change – click the Menu button in the top-right corner of the Avast window, and select Preferences from the list of options.
9. Choose the Scans tab. The options you may wish to change (they're disabled by default) are: Scan whole files, Scan all Time Machine backups, and Scan archives. Each of these items will increase the time it takes to scan your Mac, but the scan will be even more comprehensive. Just let it run overnight if time is a concern.
10. That's it! Your Mac is that much safer now :)

If this guide helped, be sure to check out our other Mac content.

Considering all the technological progress made by our computers, monitors, and smartphones in the last decade, it might seem like printers and especially scanners got left behind. Apart from adding touchscreens and WiFi capabilities, they are still being thought of as mysterious, clunky devices somewhere in the corner of the office.

Good news is, if you have a Mac, you don't need to learn anything new to know how to scan documents — macOS makes it nearly automatic and even offers a few ways to choose from. So how to scan a document on Mac? Read through this guide to find out all the information you need.

Best Ways For How To Scan On A Mac

When it comes to Mac scanner software, all you need to do the job could either be downloaded (often automatically) at the time you install your scanner or you could also use Mac's default, but still excellent, Image Capture app.

First thing first, though, let's see how to set up your Mac scanner:

1. Plug your scanner and make sure it's turned on

2. Go to System Preferences ➙ Printers & Scanners

3. If you see your scanner, select it from the list in the sidebar. If you don't, click the plus (+) icon below and add the scanner from the list there.

Most scanner software for Mac will be installed as soon as you add the scanner, so there's no need to search the web for drivers or try to install them from a CD like we used to do years ago. Now you're ready to scan on Mac!

How to scan on Mac using a flatbed scanner

The easiest and most straightforward way to scan any document is by using the scanner's flatbed:

1. Open up the top part of the scanner

2. Place your document face down on the glass and make sure to line up all the sides carefully

3. In System Preferences ➙ Printers & Scanners, select the Scan tab and then Open Scanner…

4. Wait for the scanner to warm up and show you the preview of the document, then adjust any settings to correct

5. Click Scan when ready

You might be surprised by how many settings there are. But don't worry, most of them are quite good by default.

In Scan Mode, for example, make sure to leave Flatbed. In Kind, choose whether you want Color or Black and White. For Resolution, try to go somewhere around 300 dpi to not lose any details. Finally, in Scan To, select the destination folder and in Format what extension you'd like your scans to have. JPGs are popular, but sometimes PDFs make more sense, especially if you're scanning text documents.

Occasionally, you might need to scan dozens of pages at once. How to scan from printer to Mac then, since using a flatbed scanner will take forever? The answer is document feeder.

How to scan on a printer using a document feeder

A document feeder is perhaps the best pro-level hack for anyone who needs to scan or print vast numbers of files often. Instead of meticulously lining up every page on a flatbed, you can simply load a dozen or more into the feeder and let it do all the work for you.

Here's how to scan documents with a document feeder:

1. Ensure all pages you need to scan are in a stack of the same size

2. Put the stack tightly against the barrier of the document feeder

3. In System Preferences ➙ Printers & Scanners, Open Scanner from the Scan tab

4. Set your preferred settings, the same way you'd do with flatbed scanning

5. In the Scan Mode dropdown, select Document Feeder

6. Hit Scan

How to scan on Mac with Image Capture

If you're not a fan of Printers & Scanners default way of scanning on Mac and would like to find a third-party app, rather than settling for something like HP scan software for Mac, try Image Capture first.

Image Capture is one of the default, but often overlooked, utilities on your Mac. Too bad, since it might as well be the best Mac scanner software around and is very simple to use:

1. After your device shows up in Printers & Scanners, open Image Capture from your Applications folder

2. Right away you'll see the preview of your file and be able to select the destination folder as well as size

3. If you need to tweak more options, choose Show Details, which will bring up the same menu you've seen in Printers & Scanners

4. Adjust all the parameters, including using or not using the document feeder, and click Scan

How to extract text from PDFs

Once you know how to scan from printer to Mac, what do you do with all those newly digitized files? Some can be sent around as they are, but most need some sort of adjustments. Especially when we're talking about text-heavy PDFs.

PDFpen is one of the most powerful PDF editors around. You can make adjustments directly in your files just by opening them with PDFpen: change page numbers, alter words, add signatures, etc. Moreover, PDFpen's OCR (optical character recognition) capabilities let it read any text and get it ready for exporting, say, to Microsoft Word or any other text editor.

Making PDFpen your default PDF reader will instantly turn your PDFs into the most versatile documents on your Mac — perfect formatting equipped with the features of your favorite writing app.

How to extract text from images

Since not all files are text-based and scanned as PDFs, you'd greatly benefit from using a professional OCR utility that's able to recognize text from any image whatsoever.

How To Use Iphone As A Scanner

Prizmo is the best-in-class companion for your Mac scanner. First, it converts images to searchable text in more than 20 languages. Second, it integrates with the most popular online services, from Evernote to Dropbox, to share the results with your team (or provide an extra backup). Finally, it lets you connect from any device and even reads the documents back to you out loud in a few dozen languages and nearly 100 voices that you can choose from.

Using Prizmo is just as easy. All you need to do is drag and drop the document onto its pane and click the OCR feature in the menu bar at the bottom. Voila!

Now you know not only how to scan on a Mac, using both the flatbed and document feeder (either via Image Capture or not), but also how to process the documents after with PDFpen and Prizmo to make the process 10 times more useful in your everyday work.

Best of all, PDFpen and Prizmo are both available to you completely free during a seven-day trial of Setapp, a curated platform of more than 160 top Mac apps, for anything from better document processing to project management. Try every app via Setapp with no obligations today and see for yourself. At least now you know how to scan a beast of a novel using a document feeder in no time!

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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