OS X Mountain Lion – Improved Scanning and Printing

Last week, Apple released details of OS X Mountain Lion, notice they dropped the “Mac” from the title, that was probably deliberate. Most of us will still call it Mac OS X 10.8.

Anyways, while I know I will be sticking with VueScan for my scanning needs, it looks like Apple is working to improve the printing and scanning interface for OS X.

AppleInsider has a full report on the changes, complete with screenshots. Among the changes: A more simplified interface/menu. In the Printer view, you can see a thumbnail of your current print job. You can double-click on it (or CMD-Y) and do a Quick Look for a preview of the print job.

There is also a “Sharing Sheet” in the Quick Look window, allowing you to email it, send it through Messages or use it with AirDrop.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion’s scanning interface has also been changed, and improved. There is a simple, automated interface when you click on the scan button of supported multifunction device (MFD). When you click on Details, you see the entire scanner interface – scan mode, media type, resolution, image correction, safe location, orientation, format, etc.

For a lot of genealogists using Macs, it’ll be handy for a lot of the types of scanning they do. For the most serious, or those who are working with important film or prints, I think they’ll stick with VueScan or SilverFast for those images.