Fast, native, bloatware-free scanner software for Windows
English | Español
SimpleScan is a clean, lightweight, native Windows desktop application for scanning documents without bloatware, advertisements, background telemetry, or mandatory cloud logins. It works with any scanner or multifunction printer compatible with WIA 2.0 / eSCL (HP, Canon, Epson, Brother, and others).
Proprietary scanner utilities (such as HP Smart, Canon IJ Scan Utility, or Epson Scan) have become bloated, slow, and increasingly require mandatory user accounts and cloud connectivity just to scan a sheet of paper. SimpleScan gives you back full control:
| Feature | Vendor Apps (HP Smart, Canon, etc.) | SimpleScan |
|---|---|---|
| Account / Sign-In | ❌ Mandatory cloud login | ✅ None (€0 account / 100% offline) |
| Telemetry & Tracking | ❌ Background analytics & telemetry services | ✅ Zero background services or telemetry |
| Startup Speed | ❌ 10-20 seconds (heavy web wrapper) | ✅ Instant (< 1 second native .NET 9) |
| Installer Size | ❌ 200 MB – 500 MB+ | ✅ ~45 MB standalone (zero dependencies) |
| OCR & Searchable PDF | ❌ Often gated behind subscriptions | ✅ Included free via native local Windows OCR |
| Privacy | ❌ Scanned documents may touch vendor clouds | ✅ 100% local — data never leaves your device |
- Fast and Lightweight: Instant startup with minimal memory and CPU usage.
- Auto-Detection: Automatically detects scanners connected via USB or local network via WIA.
- Multi-page Management: Scan consecutive pages, preview thumbnails, reorder pages, rotate 90°, and delete unwanted pages before saving.
- Configurable Quality: Adjust scan resolution (75, 150, 300, 600 DPI) and color modes (Color, Grayscale, Black & White).
- Native Windows OCR: Integrated optical character recognition using the hardware-accelerated Windows OCR engine (
Windows.Media.Ocr). Completely local and private, with no cloud communication required. - Searchable PDF Export: Creates PDF files where recognized text can be selected, searched (Ctrl+F), and copied in any standard PDF reader.
- Copy Text to Clipboard: Instantly copy OCR text from scanned pages with a single click.
- Flexible Export Formats: Save as a combined multi-page PDF or individual image files (PNG, JPEG).
- Zero Bloatware: No account requirements, no background services, no subscriptions, and no telemetry.
- Operating System: Windows 10 (version 19041 or higher) or Windows 11 (64-bit).
- Scanner: Any WIA 2.0 or eSCL compatible scanner or multifunction printer supported by Windows.
- Runtime: Portable and installer releases are self-contained and require no additional runtime installation.
Download pre-built packages from the GitHub Releases section:
SimpleScan-Setup.exe: Standard interactive installer (Inno Setup) with setup wizard, desktop and start menu shortcuts, and clean uninstaller.SimpleScan-Installer.msi: Windows Installer (MSI) package for system installation or enterprise deployment.SimpleScan-Portable.exe: Standalone portable single-file executable. Runs without installation.SimpleScan-Portable.zip: Compressed archive containing the portable executable.
Building from source requires the .NET 9 SDK:
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/jorjanion/SimpleScan.git
cd SimpleScan
# Restore dependencies
dotnet restore SimpleScan.sln
# Run automated tests
dotnet test SimpleScan.sln -c Release
# Run the UI project in development mode
dotnet run --project src/SimpleScan.UI
# Publish self-contained portable executable
dotnet publish src/SimpleScan.UI/SimpleScan.UI.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained -p:PublishSingleFile=true -o dist/portableThis project is licensed under the MIT License.