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The Queen of Paperport is now the Bane of Paperport! I had to download version 11 and it really sucks. Version 9 worked with almost perfection and 11 is very, very slow and buggy. All of us in the office now hate it and I will be looking for a replacement document manager. So Bert, where do I send my crown?

Welcome to our world!
Leslie, we have spent many, many hours making Paperport work for us. I used your earlier posts as a reference, and with the help of my IT support, we have it configured in a usable way, but I really find it to be far from ideal. Here is a sample of what we now know:
1. Paperport is "buggy in a network environment"...Nuance says so themselves
2. Paperport v11 does not work well with Windows 7.

We are still working with it, and with an add-on fax program, but I really think UpDox is the way to go. We are actively investigating that now.

Let me know how you come out. I am so crushed

This probably means nothing, but in over six years on here, it seems that one by one users talk about UpDox and then end up not using UpDox. Just an observertion.

Leslie, you can send your crown to www.crownsRus.com

Leslie, you're lucky as crownsRus.com is for sale.

We are using paperport 12 professional. It seems to be working ok, there are things that could be better but I would probably say that about anything that didn’t flow the way I think it should:). It is slower when I’m linking into a network folder and if I try to convert several documents at one time or do other things in bulk it's really too slow to use. Normal activity of stamping and making notes on the document, saving, printing and faxing seem to be ok. We are currently working around bulk conversion issue by having the front office staff do our conversions when the fax comes in. We have a dedicated machine hooked to our brother MFD. It’s only function is to accept incoming faxes and hold the shared folders for document management. It doesn’t even have AC on it. They use this machine to do all the conversions through a remote-desktop.

I’ve thought about several options around the networking issues. Use remote desktop to allow the user on the machine where all the shared folders are located. This would work well but it’s not really practical for everyone in the office to do. My next step will be to move my shared folders to the pc where they will be needed most. Physician folder on the physician pc, nurse call back/follow up folder on the specific nurse pc and so on… I’ve not tried this yet but I’m making the assumption my speed will increase and the only delay might come if you try to move things from one folder to the other in bulk.
Paperport 11 came with our Brother and I originally put it on several of our 32 bit vista machines with a 2 GHz processor running 4GB of ram and it was horribly slow. We received a new 32 bit 3GHz window 7 pro machine running 4GB RAM today. I elected not to install PP 11 and went straight to PP12, it is much much faster on the new device.
--- We just started using this software; they may tell me it’s too slow once we get through the “new” stage. I know many of you have much more experience but I already have the software and we are not seeing a big slow down. It appears like it might work for us.

Bert... I am one of those who has been looking at Updox intermittently for months. Keep in mind, the current version (since around January) is radically different from the prior versions. We have had some trouble getting it working on our server, but once that issue is resolved, I will let you know how it works. I remain optimistic.

Greg... How much did Paperport 12 Pro set you back?

You can find it for about any price. I've recently seen it on newegg for 70$. I'm embarrassed to say I paid more than that, I should have shopped around more. That's one license.

Started using Paperport 9 today in a Windows XP peer to peer networked environment with faxes coming in on a networked Brother All in one machine, based on Queen Leslie's suggestions at the ACUC 2010. So far so good.

I contemplated using updox, but my fax number is not portable, and there is no local number even for me to forward my current fax number to. (although I realize one could use paperport to then export to updox printer, like shown at the ACUC) What is the big advantage of using updox like this as opposed to Paperport alone?
...Ken

I plan on getting UPDOX when I return from vacation. I had looked at it, and then concluded it did nothing that my current, cobbled together system with WinFax, Adobe, etc is able to do. HOWEVER UpDox provides a patient portal. That is, it is the device you need to Legally, and HIPPA compliantly send an e_mail to your patient. It appears that it will open faxes, separate the pages, let you label them, (you can see them just by hovering the mouse over them) and then send them to AC or to a coworker or attached to an e-mail, (Hi Frank, here is your CXR, all is well, you can continue smoking).
For us the patient portal and e-mail function is a critical part of having e-visits which we hope to have up this year. The HIPPA compliant e-mail is a critical part of meaningful use in the Advanced Medical Home.
Sounds like the cost is about $35.00 per month, with an additional $10.00 for every 500 FAX/month. (e-mail is free).
If we get it running I will report on it. There was some talk between UpDox and Instant Medical History, they might collaborate on some software to allow the two to plug right in for e-visits in AC. If they did it would be a huge benefit, (don't tell Leslie).
Martin

we use a mailbox called labdoctor and import using paperport straight from the brother all in one, into the patient chart and it is forwarded to me for sign off. Then I can use the messaging system to ask others to do things based on what I want to do regarding the labs. We are a very small office and have not had the problem of two people needing the same chart and not being able to access it due to imported item waiting to be signed off. My mailbox is empty at the end of every day. I skipped the updox part at ACUC as I don't see the advantage at all. No matter...if it is imported it is not searchable whether you use updox or paperport. We will worry about searching on labs when we get lab interfaces. I make a notation in encounter if I want to be able to search a lab entry at this point.

I hesitate to jump in here since I am not up and running with Updox yet, but I hope to be soon. Here is my two cents:
There are multiple advantages, the end result of which is many fewer steps and keystrokes. Faxes are received as .tiff files and they must be converted to pdf's. This takes a few steps in Paperport, and is done automatically by Updox. Updox directly interfaces with AC, and so there are several fewer clicks to import the item. More folders for imports are available with Updox. Multiply all of this by umpteen faxes a day, and it saves you (or your staff) significant time and repetitive work.
Our plan is to use a free program that converts faxes to emails. The advantage is that you don't need to change/move/forward your fax number. Also, emails are free with Updox, so there is no cost for all those incoming faxes.

I think the Updox folks have a challenge, since it is difficult to easily demonstrate the program's advantages, though there are clearly many.

I, too, will report back when we are fully up and running.

Why isn't your fax number portable? Updox has an option for porting it. In any case, you can get an 800 number through Updox that should be a free fax for anyone in the US or Canada.


I have only been using Updox for about 3 weeks, but I agree with Martin's observation that it brings together all the components of receiving and sending documents by fax, email & scans, importing into AC, posting on a patient portal, electronically marking up documents including signatures, etc. There is no equipment investment except your present computer and internet connection, and no software upfront cost, it's pay as you go.

Since Updox is a Java program, I can sign on anywhere I have an internet connection (including on my Mac at home) and review documents, mark them up and re-fax or email them out. However, you must be at a computer running AC to import documents into AC.

I have also found their tech support the equal or better than AC, both email, chat and even telephone support, including extended hours -- even when I was doing the free trial.

The Updox web page reminds me of AC's website -- minimal information and tutorials on how the program works. I suggest doing the 15 day free trial to see if it meets your practice's needs.

I was one of those with reservations, having used the older version last year. I am now 3 weeks into using the newer version, and it's substantially better. See my prior post.

Greg,

I was using PP12 on my W7 machine as the "main computer" ie where the faxes came in off the fax machine. All the other computers (vista and XP) found the files on the W7 machine. It kept freezing up and became virtually useless. I did find that the tool to automatically change Tiffs to PDFs about which I was so excited was a major part of the problem but even after disabling that feature, it kept crashing. I finally gave up and went back to using my XP machine running PP9 as the "main" computer and everything is working fine. I have PP12 on 2 of my computers which are both running W7 and all is well. I think PP12 is fine as long as it is not used as the core of your network.

I will be watching closely to see how everyone's experience c Updox goes and how much it actually costs them.

Just thought I would share my experience. BTW, Nuance technical support was absolutely 0 help. I wasn't even sure if the guy had ever seen PP12 before. Ahhh, if technical support everywhere were what we have here at AC, the world would be a better place.

Hey, thanks for the info. I will be watching as well.

I did forget to say that the fax PC is running pp11 which came free with the brother. Only the physician and the nurse are using pp12.

I totally agree with you on the support..

>Our plan is to use a free program that converts faxes to emails. The >advantage is that you don't need to change/move/forward your fax >number. Also, emails are free with Updox, so there is no cost for >all those incoming faxes.

What is that program?
...Ken

I don't know why my number isn't portable. I put it in the updox page and it said it wasn't portable. I heard a quote that only 1/2 the numbers in USA are portable. I am with an old small phone company. The 800 number could be an option. Seems like updox would have an optional program that you could install on your computer with a faxmodem, and have it securely send updox the faxes over the internet.

I do see some benefit of having fewer clicks and a patient portal with updox.
...Ken

You can. I do this all the time using Updox from my Mac at home (since I can't run AC on a Mac) to import documents into AC on my work PC. You don't need to have a separate program, just fax the document from your computer to the fax # Updox assigns you, and it shows up in the Updox workspace. From there it can be signed, amended, faxed, emailed, saved as a PDF, printed or imported into AC.

Ken,
Once again, I have to qualify this by saying that we are not fully up and running. I also may be wrong about it being totally free. The Updox people say they have several people who successfully use Snappy Fax with AC. (We already have Fax Talk which will do the same thing). It looks like you buy the Snappy Fax server for $69; would check with Updox to see if there is a free version. They do have a free trial. That converts all of the faxes you recieve to emails and puts them in a folder on your server. They show up in your Updox workspace.

As I said above, among other things this cuts your Updox cost because you essentially only pay for outgoing faxes.

The document approach I have taken is that faxes are our friend and paper is the enemy. Mail has to be scanned in, but faxes can go right into Updox (and then to AC) with minimal time and work expended. We have tried to convince any lab (e.g. our hospital) or radiology company that cannot directly interface with AC to send us faxes. With Updox, I really hope to have a process far easier than Paperport allows.

Well, as a temporary fix I found the paperport 9 file in the old Brother CD and am uninstalling 11 and reinstalling 9 on all my stations. It however really does not work well with Windows 7 so this may become more of a problem again as one must update operating systems down the road. I am leaving the drivers for the new machine alone. But, I am also going to try Bert's FAP. I suspect I will be trading my crown in for a FAP tiara.

Jon,

UpDox sounds great and seems like a great solution for most. I just always have a problem with recurring charges. I just sent a 565 page document last night which cost me no paper and no outbound fees. What would the fees have been? It took five hours to send.

Leslie,
I have no experiance with paperport or any other document management software. I was about to buy one since it seems like a must have software to organize the work. I noticed that you changed your position and it seems like other members sharing your frustration with paperport slow function. I looked at their web site, I wounder if paperport enterprize for networking is a solution. Also I searched for other softwere. I found edocorganizer (www.edocorgizer.com) may be a similar product. I am not sure about the speed. They offer 30 days free trial. I am willing to try. However I can not tell the differance between this one and paperport. I though you would be a better judge.

Some of my (adult) patients do have complex medical histories, but wow, you must do one heck of a thorough H and P on your kids!

M.S.
Thanks for the link. I will check it out but, right now I am looking into another fax program from Bert.

OK, I just looked at edocorganizer and it would not suit me. The only way to mark up documents is to open them with another program such as Paint. So, I am uninstalling this one.

At least Microsoft finally listened to me and improved Paint. I also think they need change the name.

I always bash them for including the same type of applications one can get 3rd party but not doing them as well. See:

Go Back --> System Restore
Any backup program --> ntBackup or Windows Image
Adobe or whatever editing software --> Paint

But, then someone on the net pointed out if they include a great app within the OS, Europe or the DOJ will sue them.

I have simply never understood Brother. Unless it is a conspiracy between them and Nuance. Why do they import the file as a .tif or whatever but not a pdf. Then, you have to use Paperport to convert them.

I would be on the phone with them daily asking them what they have against pdf. As everyone knows, it has been the industry standard forever. There are very few print drivers which convert to .tif. Almost all software companies make their manuals in pdf. Almost any other hardware fax machine that imports to the desktop does so in pdf.

Agree Bert. At least with paperport you can "select all", right click and batch convert to pdf, Then right click and batch delete the tiffs. Perhaps there is some adobe licensing fee Brother is ducking? I don't know, just guessing.

Ok we use paperport in our office. Probably for about a year now.
Hard wired network with 2008 SBS (this is new for our office, we were previously peer to peer).

All of the paperport folders are on the server. The version is the free version 11. We have updated a couple of computers to Version 12 standard, because of claims of increased speed and stability. However, I just don't see it. Even with the hardware update to the 2008 SBS server the paperport did not seem to speed up.

It is painful to go through faxes on the paperport. We are trying our best to prevent going backward to just printing out everything, but honestly I can sign off paper sitting on the table much faster. Well, the staff would probably not be happy because they would have to spend extra time scanning and destroying paper.

I did sign up for the free Updox trial. Faxed a document to the fax server and tried annotation and faxing. It works, but with my limited experimentation, it feels slower than paperport.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Does anyone have a different "solid" document management solution?

Thanks

Jay

I have been researching where one can purchase Paperport 9...not many options out there but I did Google a few sites. PP9 is great. Fast, few bugs, intuitive, can be networked, cheap. Versions 11 and 12 suck and I would not use Paperport at all if I had to use either of those versions. I have also looked some at other offerings for document management...not much to brag about there either. I have looked at Updox but did not like the price. So, if there are any programmers out there, this seems to me to be a wide-open area where someone could make a killing.

There are several versions of 10 on sale at ebay, no V9s that I saw. Lot of 11 and 12 versions for sale.

Anyone successfully using V9 with Windows 7? That may impact your plans. We had issues with that combination.

Does Adobe Acrobat serve the needs of document management in a manner similar to paperport?

I have one computer with WINDOWS 7 and Paperport 9...definitely not working as well as on those with XP.

My windos 7 machines are having problems too. Crashing, printer, and pc-fax problems.

I have the "full" Adobe Acrobat Standard version 9, which comes free with the Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners. Although it is possible to edit PDFs and sign them, the process is tedious with a lot of mouse clicks and dialog boxes. Also Acrobat reminds me of Microsoft Word, in that you have a lot of arcane menu items that need tweaking for even simple tasks.

I'd suggest trying one of the shareware PDF editors or UpDox if you are wanting to mark up and sign documents electronically to fax or email back.

Thanks John.

I will try that out. Still really want to make paperport work for us.

Could it be the difference between versio 12 and version 12 pro.

AC recommended updox as well. But the work flow on updox dosent seem to work for our office like paperport does.

Jay

I have been using Ring Central for my faxing with PDF Xchange viewer on a tablet for about a year. PDF Xchange viewer is a free PDF reader that allows annotating. I just started using Ring Central with UPdox and it is working fairly well. I am unable to port my number from Ring Central, so I may continue using both. Ring Central works well as just a fax manager, but does not work well to file documents in AC. Using the two together seems to work. It allows me to annotate the faxes fairly well, refax and file in AC without too much trouble. Ring Central is about $20 per month for 1,000 faxes. I cut down to 500 for about 10 a month and I will use Ring Central for incoming and Updox for most outgoing. It is not perfect but the work flow is the best I have been able to find. If anyone is interested I would be happy to explain further.

Wendell, Leslie-

Hi! Good news- you just weren't looking for PP9 in the right way. If you want Paperport 9, do a search for "Visioneer Strobe software" or simply go to this eBay link -> http://cgi.ebay.com/Visioneer-Strob...QcategoryZ51087QQcmdZViewItem#vi-content

It comes with PP7 as well as the PP9 upgrade. It installs in less than 10 minutes. Cost: $14.99 (plus S&H cost of $2.77). You don't have to rush- they have 10 available. I got one of these about 6 months ago. They work well with Win XP and no, I don't use a Strobe Pro (I have an HP Multifunction for scanning).

The seller has 2650 sales with a 100% satisfaction report card. Really can't beat that deal...

Cheers,
Al