Photograph a card and it fills in the name, company, title, email and phone for you.
A business card is a lead you have to type in — unless you photograph it. The Business Card Scanner reads the card, fills in the record, tags it, writes you a follow-up Task, and can start a Workflow, from one photo.
This guide covers using it on your phone, choosing what the card becomes, and the two things it does afterwards that most people never notice.
Go to Database Management › Business Card Scanner. It is built for a phone, so open it there and add it to your home screen — the whole point is that it is two taps away while you are still standing in the room.
Lay it flat, fill the frame, and keep the light off the shiny ones. Foil and gloss finishes are the only cards that give it real trouble; a slight angle away from the light fixes most.
Name, company, title, email, phone and address come back already filled in. Read them before you save — it is very good, but a smudged mobile number is still a smudged mobile number.
You choose: a Web Lead, a Prospect, a Client or a Contact. Most cards from an event are Prospects or Contacts. Nothing stops you moving them later.
The record arrives in your database tagged Business Card Scan, which means every card you have ever scanned is one filter away — on the list, in a report, or as the audience for a Campaign.
A Task is created against the new record so the follow-up is already on your list, with the photo of the card attached to it. You did not have to remember to make one.
Filter your task list to the Business Card Scan Task Type and you have every card you have photographed, with its follow-up. See Search Your Task History.
This is the one people miss. The scanner can enrol the new record into a Workflow at the same time.
Set that up once and the card you photographed this morning sends a nice-to-meet-you email this afternoon, on its own. You met somebody at nine and they have heard from you by two, without you touching a keyboard.
Add it to your home screen. A scanner you have to go looking for is a scanner you will not use at a conference.
Scan it in the room. The value is capturing the card while you still remember the conversation — which is also when you should be dictating the note.
Read what it read. Ten seconds checking beats a wrong email address in your database forever.
Set up the Workflow once. It is the difference between a pile of cards and an actual follow-up system, and it only has to be built a single time.
Everything shiny needs an angle. Foil and gloss reflect the light straight back at the lens. Tilt the card, not the phone.
One photo touches four parts of the program: a record in your database, a code on that record, a Task on your list, and optionally a Workflow already running.
The same trick works on receipts. Those become Journal Entries in your books — see Receipt Scanner.
It misread the card. Every field is editable before you save. Shiny stock and unusual fonts are the usual culprits.
Nothing happens when I take the photo. Your browser needs camera permission. On a phone that is a one-time prompt you may have dismissed.
I cannot find the record afterwards. Check which Database Type you chose. A card saved as a Contact will not be in Clients.
No Task was created. The Task Type used for scans is set in your Task Settings. If none is flagged for the scanner there is nothing for it to use.
No Workflow list appeared. Only Database-Specific Workflows that are active and flagged for the card scanner are offered, and they must match the Database Type you picked.
It is awkward on my laptop. It is designed for a phone camera. Use the phone.
Almost all of them. Heavy gloss, foil and very stylised type are where it struggles, and you can correct anything before saving.
Name, company, title, email, phone and address.
It checks for matches as it saves, so a card for somebody you already have does not have to become a duplicate.
Filter by the Business Card Scan code on the list, or by the same Task Type on your task list.
Yes. It goes on the Task, so the original card is there if you need to check something.
Only if you attach a Workflow. On its own it captures and files — nothing is sent without you setting that up.
Yes, with the Receipt Scanner, and those become Journal Entries in your books.
Yes. The reading happens on the server, not on the phone.
A business card is a lead you have to type in. Unless you photograph it.
Database Management, Business Card Scanner. It is built for your phone, so open it there and add it to your home screen. Lay the card flat, fill the frame, and keep the light off the shiny ones.
And it reads the card. Name, company, title, email, phone, address. Already filled in. You decide what it becomes. A Lead, a Prospect, a Client or a Contact.
It lands in your database tagged Business Card Scan. Which means you can pull up every card you ever scanned, in one filter.
And it writes a Task, so the follow-up is already on your list.
One more feature, and it is the one people miss. The scanner can start a Workflow too. Set that up once, and the card you photographed this morning sends a nice-to-meet-you email this afternoon, on its own. One photo, and the typing is done.
The same trick works on receipts, and those become journal entries in your books.
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