Question :
Back in the good old days of MacOSX we used to have direct access to our scanners using a one-click link (or ‘alias’) on the Desktop or in the Dock that was easily recognisable through a custom name and custom icon… most of the time this was referred to as the Desktop Scanner feature…
But with the introduction of macOS 13 Ventura that changed, Apple decided to make everything worse and more complex… access to Scanners was now hidden behind layers of multi-clicks… [click] Apple menu [click] System Settings [scroll down] Printers & Scanners [click] preferred scanner [click] Open Scanner…
And then the Image Capture application will open…
Anyway… in macOS 13 Ventura it was still possible to create a customised link in the Dock to have some kind of Desktop Scanner… but in macOS 14 Sonoma even that does no longer work… with some hocus-pocus you might be able to create a working link with a customised name, but the icon won’t be customisable, so quickly finding the correct scanner isn’t easy…
Utter & unnecessary bogus… Why ???
Isn’t there any option to have a ‘good old’ Desktop Scanner ?
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Updated Answer :
There is a better solution for this problem in this newer post :
fixed : create a Custom Desktop Shortcut for your printer, scanner (or any application)
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Answer :
Yes, it is still possible to get a Desktop Scanner with a customised name and icon… but it’s no longer possible to get it in the Dock, you can only get it on the Desktop… and it takes some work to set it up…
Note : since macOS 14 Sonoma uses the Signed System Volume (SSV) to protect original Apple Apps from being tampered with… it is no longer possible to even customize the icon of alias to an original Apple App and put that in the Dock…
To create a Desktop Scanner for an already installed scanner, do this :
- in macOS, click on the Apple-icon (top-left) in the upper menu bar
- in the pulldown menu that appears, click on System Settings
- in the window that opens, scroll down the menu bar on the left and click on Printers & Scanners
- then, on the right, in the Printers chapter, click on the scanner you want to create a Desktop Scanner for
- in the window that opens, click on Open Scanner and the Image Capture app will open and the Image Capture app icon (an icon of a generic grey photo camera in front of a black background with tiny photos on it) will appear in the Dock ; if you did not have it installed in the Dock previously, it will be in the ‘recent apps’ chapter of the Dock (between the ‘docked apps’ on the left and the ‘docked files, links & folders’ on the right)
- in the Dock, CMD-click on the Image Capture app icon and a finder window will open highlighting the Image Capture app (in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder)
- now, CTRL-click on Image Capture in the Dock
- in the popup menu that appears, click on Make Alias
- in the smal grey popup Finder window that appears asking for your password, typ your computer password (the password you use to unlock your Mac from sleep) and click OK
- then, drag&drop the “Image Capture alias” that was just created and highlighted in the Finder window onto your Desktop
- then, on your Desktop, CTRL-click on the alias named Image Capture and in the pulldown menu that appears, click on Get Info
- in the Image Capture Info window that opens, at Name & Extension, change the name to the name of the printer you want to have the Desktop Scanner for
- then, find the custom icon you want to give to your Desktop Scanner and drag&drop it onto the tiny icon top left, if it’s an .icns icon file, or copy-paste it from another Get Info window it it’s a JPG, PNG or folder icon
- >> if you already have a custom icon for your scanner, use that one
- >> if you do not have a custom icon for your scanner yet, search in Google Images for “icon [name of your scanner]” and download that as a .icns icon file or as a .jpg, .jpeg or .png picture
- now, if you don’t already have one, create a new folder on your Mac (e.g. inside your Documents folder), name it “Custom Icons” and save your custom scanner icon there, as you will probably need this again for every mayor upgrade of macOS from now on…
- now, back in the Image Capture Info window, make sure you put a checkmark at “Locked” (just above the “More Info” chapter) to make sure you do not accidentally delete the Desktop Scanner
- then, close the Image Capture Info window using the tiny red button top left
- and in the Applications (Finder) window that is still open, you will see the “Image Capture alias” is still there… so, CTRL-click on it, choose “Move to Bin” and type your computer password in the popup window to remove it… then close the Applications (Finder) window
- now you have a one-click Desktop Scanner on your Desktop, just like the old days !
- move the Desktop Scanner to the most convenient place on your Desktop and you’re done…
That’s it !
enjoy 😉
MacManus.nl 