CardScan Review - by Joe

How often have you come back from a networking event, emptied out your pockets and "goodie bag" and briefcase and ended up with a veritable pile of business cards?

If you're doing the right kind of networking, this should happen fairly frequently!

The problem is getting this information filed so you'll be able to really take advantage of it.

The CardScan(R) card reader is one of the best tools we've found to simplify this part of the job search. Yes, it's another electronic gadget, but it's small and easy to master, and has been a real boon to us.

We regularly take our CardScan with us to conferences. At the end of the day, in our hotel room, we feed in all the business cards, transfer any comments we've made on the backs of the cards to our Outlook or to a spreadsheet, and then leave that pile of cards behind!

The scanner plugs into your computer, and comes with software, easy to install. You simply feed a card (horizontal or vertical layout) into the scanner, and it comes up on your computer screen for you to edit. We have found that 9 of 10 cards read perfectly. A few of the "creative" cards may need a correction or two -- but it's a lot less work than copying everything yourself! When the file looks perfect on your screen, you transfer it to your Outlook Contacts or other database. From there you can transfer selected entries to spreadsheets, for example, for merged mailings.

If you can afford it, we recommend you buy the CardScan Executive v8 . This model is still less than $300 and will give you maximum flexibility.

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