Adobe Photoshop 22.1.0 - Epson Scan 3.925 - customer support

[carl-1]

Dear everyone,

I hope that by telling my very bad experience with the Adobe Photoshop product and the customer support, I will avoid others to suffer from the same fate (and maybe, possibly make Adobe a better company).

The problem is simple: we use

- software: Adobe Photoshop 22.1.0 20201125.r.94 2020/11/25: 4b16c876033 x64
- software: Epson Scan 3.925 (07-2018)
- hardware: scanner Epson Perfection V370 Photo

The only way to scan from Adobe Photoshop is: File > Import > WIA. We need to scan from Adobe Photoshop with the Epson Scan software.

We pay Adobe because we need a premium product and a decent customer support (otherwise free open-source alternatives like GIMP would do). Scanning and editing images is one of the main use of Adobe Photoshop. Epson is one of the main international manufacturer of scanning equipment. Epson did their share of the work:

- they manufactured the Epson Perfection V370 Photo scanner

- they programmed the firmware

- they programmed the Windows driver

- they programmed the scanning software (Epson Scan) with standard communication protocols built-in

I tried to find a solution on the Adobe Help Center, the Adobe Support Community forum and on the web. I didn't find any.

I tried to find the Adobe Support e-mail address. I didn't find any.

I contacted the Adobe Support chat. After the chatbot, the first human (Ali***), explained the procedure:

1. I submit my initial request on the chat

2. The case is transferred to a specialized english-speaking Photoshop agent

3. The specialized english-speaking Photoshop agent starts an e-mail conversation

I followed the procedure to the letter. Despite having asked 8 times to continue the conversation via e-mails, the second human (Him*****) kept on answering me on the chat. On top of that, he didn't solve the problem and tried to shift the reponsability onto Epson despite the problem being entirely within the Adobe Photoshop software. Why (and how) on earth would (and could) Epson modify and Adobe software source code ? Completely ridiculous.

Adobe Photoshop is not a finished software and Adobe customer support is inefficient and disrespectful.

I am sorry to remind Adobe of something very basic it seems to have forgotten: we are the customers, we are paying and we deserve minimal standards regarding software quality and customer support level.

Adobe should remember that it is nothing without its customers.

Best regards,

Carl-1

[kevin stohlmeyer]

The issue is not with Adobe - your version of the Epson scan software is from 2018.

You've upgraded your Photoshop past the point of compatibility with the older software.

[kevin stohlmeyer]

You should be going back to Epson and asking them to supply compatible plugins for current software.

[carl-1]

Dear Sir,

There are some basic standards in the IT hardware and software industry. One of them is to (at least) allow backward compatibility, especially when it comes wih inter-hardware or inter-software technology and protocols.

Most IT users are not tech enthusiasts or geeks who live only to see the next innovation for the sake of innovation itself. Most users are regular people or SME (small and medium-sized entreprises) who need IT tools to execute a task in a stable and long-term IT environment. This is why innovation must always come hand in hand with backward compatibility.

General examples of backward compatibility despite several innovations :
- hardware (connector): USB-A plug is used since 1996 from USB 1.0 to USB 3.2 and is still used by most manufacturers in 2021 (25 years and counting)
- hardware (data storage): CD optical discs were introduced in 1982 and most current optical drives can still read them in 2021 (39 years and counting)
- software (file): Microsoft Word 97 DOC format was introduced in 1996 and can still be read by text editors in 2021 (25 years and counting)
- software (communication): plain text e-mails are sent since 1982 (RFC 822, RFC 2822, RFC 5322) and can still be read by e-mail clients in 2021 (39 years and counting)
- software (networking): SSH was introduced in 1995 and is still available on most server OS in 2021 (26 years and counting)

And the list goes on and on.

Epson Scan 3.925 (07-2018) is a 2 years old software with standard communication protocols built-in. With all the money we pay Adobe (monthly subscription), I think we can ask them to allow that kind of minimal backward compatibility in Adobe Photoshop.

As for Epson (one-time price), they have already done their share of the work:
- they manufactured the Epson Perfection V370 Photo scanner
- they programmed the firmware
- they programmed the Windows driver
- they programmed the scanning software (Epson Scan 3.925 from 07-2018) with standard communication protocols built-in

It is up to Adobe (monthly subscription) to program the last mile within Adobe Photoshop and maintain it, with backward compatibility if necessary. Wether it is inside the core program source code or in a plugin doesn't change that fact.

Best regards

Carl-1

[kevin stohlmeyer]

Hi Carl,

When it comes to peripherals, keeping backwards compatibility is a noble cause but not entirely feasible when it comes to software. Keeping things within a two year window is pretty standard.

Your examples are more universally accepted standards - not an isolated plugin from a single vendor.  The issue you are having is Epson has decided not to invest anymore time into keeping the plugins current for this scanner.

It's not up to Adobe to fix all the possible equipment compatibilities, its the vendor who should be updating the plugins to meet current standards. Epson has chosen to discontinue this product and no longer support the software.

This scanner and its related software were release in 2012.

It had a good run from 2012 - 2019, but upgrading your Photoshop has pushed it beyond compatibility limits.

[D Fosse]

All of this is outside Adobe's control.

Scanning from within Photoshop hasn't been an option for at least ten years. It was possible through the TWAIN plugin, which hasn't been maintained or developed for a long time. It was very buggy and unreliable, causing crashes and other problems, and for that reason Photoshop dropped all support for it around CS4 in 2009.

In addition, there never was a 64 bit TWAIN, so for that reason alone it became obsolete.

The Epson scanning software works independently from Photoshop. Scan to TIFF and open those TIFFs in Photoshop. No need to use WIA either. Just open the Epson standalone scanning application.

In short, this is all long gone. There hasn't been much demand or request for it since.

[piccic]

I take the opportunity to pick up this discussion as I wished to scan from within Photoshop.
At work I have a new Mac Studio, just bought, with Monterey 12.4, and I use Photoshop 2022.

Since a few days ago I used the last EPSON drivers for my scanner, an Epson Perfection v550 Photo, and was able to scan within Photoshop using the Epson Scan interface, which is very precious as it saves a lot of time as opposed to scan with Epson Scan from the desktop.

Now, having updated all the drivers to the last versions (the V550 is a relatively recent model, still on sale) there is no way I can make the Epson Scan driver appear in the "Import" menu in Photoshop: it just uses Apple's own "Image Capture" plugin which is basically useless for me.

Did I skip something? How’s that I was able to scan within Photoshop 2022 until a few days ago with a Mac OS 10.x version, and now I no longer can, with Monterey 12.4?

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

Read my post again, directly above this one. This was TWAIN, and TWAIN no longer exists. It is not developed, not supported, not 64 bit native (which is an absolute requirement in MacOS). TWAIN is dead.