Computer Highlighter. Now you can take notes from your textbooks easily!

Pen-size scanners — literally about the size of a pen — are not only highly portable, but they let you scan originals like magazines and books that won’t fit through a sheet feeder.The category breaks neatly into two groups. The first is actual pen scanners that you use like a highlighter, scanning across the page one line at a time. The second is pen-sized scanners that can scan an entire page in a single sweep.

Some people prefer true pen scanners, precisely because they want to capture small snippets of text — much as they might use a highlighter. For most people, however, thesecond category is the better choice: it’s far faster at scanning a full page, it’s easier to learn how to use, and it eliminates the risk of wandering above or below the text line as you sweep across the page, an issue that will usually force you to rescan.

When you’re choosing a pen-size scanner, keep in mind that although being able to scan without a computer and then transfer the scans to your computer later can be a major convenience, since you don’t have to carry your computer with you, there’s also a downside: if a scan doesn’t come out well, you won’t know about it until you transfer it to your computer later. Whatever your preferences, here are your best choices for pen-size scanners

If you’re looking for a true pen scanner that reads one line of text at a time, consider the IRISPen 6. Thescanner is only a little bigger than a fat highlighter, and it feels like a highlighter in your hand as you sweep across each line. A triangular arrowhead near the bottom of the scanner gives you something to aim at the text line to help keep you from wandering above or below the line, but it still takes a fair amount of practice — count on spending at least an hour — to be able to read text reliably.

The IRISPen 6 scanner is available in several versions that vary only in price and in what software comes in the package. Regardless of the version, the scanner works as a supplement to your keyboard, inserting scanned text into virtually any program, with the characters showing up at the cursor position, just as if you had typed them in. Once the software is installed, you simply connect the scanner’s cable to your computer’s USB port, open a file in any program that can accept text, and scan. If a scan comes out garbled, you’ll see it immediately, so you can rescan the line.

The version of most interest for college use is the IRISPen Express 6. However, you might find thesoftware in the IRISPen Translator 6 a useful tool if you’re studying French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, or Russian, with English as your first language, or if one of those languages is your first language, and you need some help translating into English. The Translator version is available for Windows systems only. The Express and Executive versions include software for Windows and the Mac.