How do I change default Scan folder?

[JH_North1250]

Why can't I find where to change the default Scan folder destination?

[GOLD_MASTER]

Hi @JH_North1250, welcome to the HP Support Community.

The folder you are looking for is set inside the scanning software you use, not on the printer itself, which is why it is easy to miss.

1. Open the HP Smart app on your computer, select Scan, and look for the Settings or gear icon in the scan window.

2. In the scan settings, look for the destination or "Save to" option, select the folder you want, and confirm it. The next scans from HP Smart should then go to that folder.

3. If you scan with the HP Scan software on your computer instead, open HP Scan, select Advanced Settings, go to the File or Destination section, and change the folder listed there.

4. If you are using Windows Scan or another program, open that program's settings and look for its own save location, since each program keeps a separate default folder.

5. Check that the latest driver for your Officejet 5740 is installed from the official HP drivers page, so the scan settings work correctly: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers

Enter "Officejet 5740" in the search box and install the driver package listed for your computer.

Could you let us know which program you scan from — the HP Smart app, HP Scan, or another scanner app — and whether you are using Windows or a Mac? That will let me give you the exact menu for it.

[JH_North1250]

The new version of HP Smart/Settings does not offer a default Scan To folder. I normally hit Scan to Computer on my printer when I load the documents in the Document Feeder. They all end up in the root folder Documents which is very messy.

[GOLD_MASTER]

Hi @JH_North1250, thank you for the update and for the screenshot — it shows the problem clearly. Your HP Smart scan settings show Source: Scanner Glass, Presets: Photo, Scan area: Entire, Output: Grayscale and Resolution: 300 dpi, with no destination folder anywhere to change.

The honest answer is that the new HP Smart does not offer a default scan destination folder, which is why everything lands in the root of your Documents folder.

1. After each scan in HP Smart, please use "Save As" to choose a folder for that scan, instead of accepting the default location.

2. For the document feeder, please change the Source in the HP Smart scan settings from "Scanner Glass" to "Document Feeder" before scanning, so multi-page documents feed through instead of scanning one page at a time.

3. If you would rather choose a folder each time, please use Windows Fax and Scan (or the printer's Webscan through the printer's Embedded Web Server), which let you pick the save folder before scanning.

Are you on Windows or a Mac? That decides which of the two alternatives in step 3 is the best fit for your Officejet 5740.