The term ADF stands for Automatic Document Feeder. It is a technology that relieves a person from the burden of having to manually feed each document into a scanner.
With an ADF, all you need to do is place all the documents to be scanned onto the scanner’s tray and the scanner will automatically take care of the rest.
While you can get standalone ADF scanners, having an ADF built in with printers just makes the deal all the more lucrative.
Hence, in this article we will look at the best printers with ADF scanner built in.
Two kinds of ADFs exist. One is the Single Pass ADF which scans both sides of a document in a single pass and the second is a Reversing ADF which scans one side of a document, flips it, then scans the other side.
While the RADF doesn’t require manual intervention either, it takes more time to scan double sided documents compared to a Single Pass ADF.
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Image | Product Name | Type | ADF | Duplex | Connectivity | Check Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Inkjet | 35 | Printing and Scanning | USB, WiFi, WiFi Direct, Ethernet, USB Thumb Drive | |||
Inkjet (reservoir tanks) | 20 | No | USB, WiFi, WiFi Direct, Ethernet, USB Thumb Drive, SD Card, NFC | |||
Inkjet (5 ink System) | 20 | Printing | USB, WiFi, Bluetooth, SD Card | |||
Inkjet (Wide Format Scanner) | 35 | Printing and Scanning | USB, WiFi, WiFi Direct, Ethernet, USB Thumb Drive | |||
Laserjet | 35 | Printing and Scanning | USB, WiFi, WiFi Direct, Ethernet, USB Thumb Drive |
Benefits of an ADF
This comes in handy especially when there’s a lot of work to do.
The manual way would be to insert every single document into the scanner and then press the scan. This will need to be repeated for each page that needs scanning.
This can be very tedious to the person doing the scanning, more so when there are bulk printing jobs needed.
A flatbed scanner needs to have the documents placed on the scanning surface manually for each scan. This can be very inefficient.
An ADF will be more efficient to use in cases such as these as it handles the repetitive tasks faster. This can help minimize time wastage and mistakes that may occur.
An ADF is a lot faster at handling scanning jobs.
Thus ADF scanners are generally beneficial for office environment where you have to scan loads of documents on a regular basis.
Compared to flatbed scanners, ADF do have a disadvantage. A flatbed scanner is great for scanning photos due to their higher DPI and Tonal capture.
List of Best Printers with ADF Scanner
We have selected the following as the best in this category:
- 1HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 – Affordable Printer with Duplex ADF
- 2Brother MFC-J995DW – INKvestment Ink and Low Operating Costs
- 3Canon PIXMA TS9520 – A Wide-Format Photo Printer with the 5-ink System
- 4Epson Workforce WF-7720 – Office Printer with Wide Format Scanning
- 5Canon Color ImageClass MF644Cdw – Affordable Color Laser Printer with ADF Scanner
1. HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 – Affordable Printer with Duplex ADF
- Main functions of this HP color inkjet photo...
- Easily print when and where you need to from...
- Ink delivered to your home: get your first 2...
- Built for business; produce fast...
If you are in the market for a budget inkjet printer with an ADF scanner then this model is a great option. It not only looks great, but offers plenty of features to make this one of the best valued options in the market.
The printer has a 255-sheet paper tray capacity. This is not so high, although it is reasonable, especially when compared to the Brother MFC-J985DW which has a 100-sheet printer input capacity.
In addition to the printer input, the device has an ADF with a 35-sheet input capacity. This lets it scan documents automatically without the need for constant human intervention. This printer can support double-sided scanning and offers fast scanning speeds.
The printer is moderately fast. It can do 20 pages per minute (ppm) for monochrome prints and 11 ppm for colored prints. Furthermore, it has support for automatic print duplexing and this lets you print on both sides of a paper automatically.
This printer is good for small offices as it has a 20,000-page maximum monthly duty cycle. This number shows the number of pages that the printer can print in a month without any significant issues.
However, the recommended monthly print volumes lie somewhere between 200 and 800 pages.
In addition to that, this printer also hastwo important features that make it highly suitable for office use. Firstly, it has a fax modem. Therefore, for old school communication, you can use this feature in your office.
Secondly, it has a color touchscreen which helps in setting up the printer easily.
Connectivity wise this printer is great. It offers Standard USB connection, WiFi, WiFi Direct, Ethernet and USB Thumb Drive support.
All in all, if you want a robust printer with a budget price tag then this is one of the best printers with ADF scanner that we can suggest.
Dimensions and Weight
2. Brother MFC-J995DW – INKvestment Ink and Low Operating Costs
- Up to 1 year of ink in box: Using the...
- Inkvestment tank system: Reengineered ink...
- Eliminate ink replacement guesswork: Brother...
- Mobile device printing: Desktop and mobile...
This printer makes use of Brother’s INKvestment tank technology. This makes use of four ink reservoirs inside the printer.
Once a cartridge is inserted into the printer, the ink is collected into the reservoirs. This way, the you get more ink out of the cartridge and subsequently high ink savings.
The machine has a 101-sheet input tray. This is shared between the 100-sheet main tray and a 1-sheet multipurpose tray. Compared to models like the Hp OfficeJet Pro 6978 with its 225-sheet capacity, the MFC-J995DW is falling behind.
While the printer does have an ADF scanner, it does not support duplex scanning. Therefore, this printer is good for limited needs.
This printer offers good connectivity options. It supports Ethernet and USB for when you need a wired connection. It also has WIFI, WiFi Direct and NFC for wireless connections and can scan and copy documents to and from SD cards and USB drives.
Therefore, when it comes to connectivity, this printer is a complete package as it leaves no stone unturned.
For ease of use, the device comes with a color display and a well-detailed control panel.
Printing on this device will see you reach speeds of 12 ppm with monochromatic prints and 10 ppm for colored prints. This is no way fast, but it isn’t too horrible for an inkjet printer either.
Taking into account the 1500-page maximum monthly duty cycle, this printer is not built for busy offices. However, it costs less to use than many similar models, mostly due to the INKvestment tank.
In the end, this is a printer useful for those who are looking to save up as much as possible on their ink costs. Due to its low operating cost, we find this to be among the best printers with ADF scanner.
Dimensions and Weight
3. Canon PIXMA TS9520 – A Wide-Format Photo Printer with the 5-ink System
- The PIXMA TS9520 has a 5 Color Individual Ink...
- You can print from all your favorite devices,...
- With 11 inches x 17 inches paper support,...
- For numbers listed in product description see...
The Canon Pixma TS9520 is a feature-rich photo printer that supports wide format printing.
So basically if you want an ADF scanner but also a photo grade printer, then this is the option that we would recommend.
The machine doesn’t cost much compared to the rest of the dedicated photo printers out there, but still manages to offer decent results.
It has a 5-ink system which enables it to print really good pictures. A 5-ink system uses 5 different ink cartridges that work together to produce a good color output that is essential for a photo printer. As compared to the normal 4 ink system, a 5 ink system has a much better color fidelity.
The device has a paper input capacity of 200 sheets that’s composed of two 100-capacity trays. This gives you the option of loading both trays with the same kind of print media or having two different media types for different purposes
There’s also a 20-sheet ADF. The TS9520 can do borderless prints and supports printing on papers up to 11 inches x 17 inches.
The printer supports print duplexing but unfortunately does not not support double sided scanning. It has a printing speed of 15 and 10 ppm for monochromatic and colored pages respectively.
Canon offers a variety of connection methods such as Ethernet, USB 2.0, WIFI and Bluetooth. One can also print from an SD memory card. There’s also a good supply of image editing and other software that comes bundled with this device.
You must also note that this is a smart printer. The device supports IFTTT scripts that automate printing tasks. With IFTTT, it is possible to carry out hands-free printing as the printer can be programmed to work under certain conditions.
Unfortunately, while this is a wide format printer, it is NOT a wide format scanner. It can only perform scans up to A4/Letter in size.
In short, if you are a photo studio looking for an affordable machine, then this is among the best printers with ADF scanner.
Dimensions and Weight
4. Epson Workforce WF-7720 – Office Printer with Wide Format Scanning
- Epson strongly recommends the use of Genuine...
- Get performance beyond laser — the...
- Print-shop quality — borderless prints upto...
- Economical — uses upto 80 percent less...
This device should come to mind whenever you’re thinking of an office printer that can perform wide format scanning up to 11 x 17 Inches.
The Workforce WF-7720 has a large 501-sheet input tray that is made up of two 250-sheet capacity trays and a 1-sheet override tray.
While this is a large capacity, the Brother MFC-J6935DW has a slightly larger capacity at 600 sheets. The WF-7720 also has an auto-duplexing ADF that can carry 35 sheets of paper.
The WF-7720 printer has a 20,000-page maximum monthly duty cycle but the recommended number is 1300 pages. This shows that it can handle moderately large printing volumes easily.
It comes with a generous array of connectivity options such as WIFI, WiFi Direct, Ethernet and USB. It also has support for NFC. This makes it easy for the printer to serve an office.
To make this a complete package for office use, it also offers Fax modem.
The printer can do 18ppm for monochrome pages and 10 ppm for colored pages. It is not the fastest nor the slowest. It is neither the cheapest in terms of operating costs nor expensive.
The printer strikes just the right kind of balance between everything. A monochrome page would cost 3.2 cents to print while a colored page costs about 11.4 cents.
If you are looking for a reasonably priced printer with a good array of features, then we recommend this as one of the best printers with ADF scanner.
Dimensions and Weight
5. Canon Color ImageClass MF644Cdw – Affordable Color Laser Printer with ADF Scanner
- Standard Dimensions (Desktop): 16.9" W x...
- USABILITY: A unique, customized device...
- QUALITY AND RELIABILITY: Canon's signature...
- WORKFLOW EFFICIENCY: Supports mobile...
With this device, Canon has provided a cheap AIO color laser printer that can be used both at home and in the office.
You must note that while the procurement cost for this printer is low, the same cannot be said about the operating cost. The operating cost is just average. It costs about 3.2 cents to print black and about 16.4 cents for color printing.
This AIO has many desirable features for its price range. It has a 250-sheet capacity input paper tray. Despite being smaller than that of the Epson Workforce WF-7720 which has a 501-sheet input capacity, this is enough to let users print easily without the constant need to always refill the paper tray.
Additionally, the device has an inbuilt fax and a scanner. Scanning on this device is made easier and much faster with the use of a single-pass ADF. This lets you scan both sides of a document automatically in just one go thus reducing scanning times significantly.
Besides scanning speed, printing speeds are also decent. The MF644Cdw can print monochromatic and color documents at 22 ppm.
To facilitate the ease of use, the device comes with a display on its control panel which lets the user set up the device.
In addition to that, connecting to the printer can be done through USB, WIFI, Ethernet and WIFI Direct. It also supports printing via Thumb Drive. This lets you print from many different devices.
Basically, if you want an AIO color laser printer for your office, then this is among the best printers with ADF scanner that we can recommend.
Dimensions and Weight
Wrap Up
ADF scanner is generally used in an office environment where you have a very high volume of document scanning.
ADF scanner is also useful for home users who want to digitize their loads of documents quickly. Since ADF allows batch scanning, you can scan plenty of document in a single go.
In this article we checkout out some of the best printers with ADF scanner. The point here to note is that ADF can be found on a vast array of printers.
You can find ADF on inkjet as well as laserjets. You can find them on budget as well as on expensive machines.
You must also note that not all ADF scanners on printers are duplex scanners.
Andrew White is the founder of TechGearoid, a leading technology review & information website that is designed to help consumers make better decisions when it comes to their IT purchases. As a specialist tech writer (nerd) with over 10 years of experience, he enjoys writing about everything there is to do with modern technology & the newest market innovations. When he isn’t providing value for his readers, he’s usually drinking coffee or at the beach. Andrew lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and family.