OfficeJet 6700: Scan to PC unavailable

[Ed Santiago]

[Documentation issue, not a bug in hplip itself]

This page:

   http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/models/officejet/officejet_6700.html

...claims that "Scan to PC" is supported. Following the footnotes takes me here:

   http://hplipopensource.com/node/334

...which claims that my printer's embedded web server will have a "Scan - Digital Filing" section. It doesn't. I can find no such tab or menu or config setting. No "Network Folder Setup" anywhere either.

Pressing the Scan button on the control panel results in: "No Computer Found", with further instructions referring to Windows/Mac "HP Utility" (presumably on supplied CD-ROM).

Distro: Gentoo
hplip version: 3.12.4 (built with USE=X acl hpcups hpijs libnotify policykit qt4 scanner snmp -doc -fax -kde -minimal -parport -static-ppds)
Printer: HP OfficeJet 6700
Printer firmware version: MPM3CN1204AR

Action requested: would you update your support info on the 6700, and indicate that "Scan to PC" is *not* supported?

[Ed Santiago (78luphr0rnk2nuqimstywepozxn9kl19tqh0tx66b5dki1xxsh5mkz9gl21a5rlwfnr8jn6ln0m3jxne2k9x1ohg85w3jabxlrqbgszpjpw-launchpad)]

Response from HP:

  Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.
  Ed, I regret to inform you that scan to network will not work in Linux. It works with Windows and Mac.

[Sanjay Kumar (sanjay-kumar14)]

Hello Ed,

"http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/models/officejet/officejet_6700.html#note3"
Scan to PC supported means that PC initiated scan using a SANE compatible software application is supported over parallel, USB, or network (depending on I/O connection).

In Linux you can do Scan to PC by doing following things.
=> Download and install the latest HPLIP release from http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/install/index.html
=> Reconfigure print queue with the commands mentioned below.
       =>system-config-printer (remove all print queues)
       =>hp-setup (for adding print queue, make sure you select ppd name having "hpcups" substring, This queue is needed for scan also)
      =>hp-toolbox (In the UI select scan option to start scan and the scanned image should be saved in Linux machine)

[Ed Santiago (78luphr0rnk2nuqimstywepozxn9kl19tqh0tx66b5dki1xxsh5mkz9gl21a5rlwfnr8jn6ln0m3jxne2k9x1ohg85w3jabxlrqbgszpjpw-launchpad)]

Hi Sanjay,

Thank you for your response. Yes, I have been able to scan using sane. I am sorry for not making that clear in my initial report.

This is looking like a terminology issue. The term "scan to PC" used in [1] is very close to "Scan to Computer" used on the control panel of the device. The word "to" also makes one assume that the action is initiated on the printer. And the rest of footnote 3 mentions "digital sending products", linking to a footnote that implies that the 6700 includes this functionality. Perhaps hplip should instead use "PC initiated scan" or "scan from PC"? And not link to a KB article that implies that I can use this functionality.

 [1] http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/models/officejet/officejet_6700.html

Bottom line: if I had known that I couldn't use Scan to Computer with this printer, I wouldn't have bought it. There may be other Linux users out there who will experience the same thing. They might appreciate a heads-up.