Scan to PDF...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Noozer
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Noozer

Are there any free programs out there than can scan directly to a PDF, or
other common file format for Windows XP?
 
Noozer said:
Are there any free programs out there than can scan directly to a PDF, or
other common file format for Windows XP?
Click to expand...

Adobe Photoshop Elements, typically supplied with many scanners, has the
capability of converting scans into *.pdf forms. But it may require a
copy of Adobe Acrobat to manipulate the individual scans into a presentable
format. And there are freeware/shareware products that can also be found
and downloaded for playing with the *.pdf files.
 
Noozer said:
Are there any free programs out there than can scan directly to a
PDF, or other common file format for Windows XP?
Click to expand...
===================================
If you could you please provide a few details
about your project we may be able to offer more
info.

FWIW...you can use the WinXP Scanner and
Camera Wizard to scan to .bmp, .jpg, .tif, or .png.

And the following freebie can be used by any
program that has the option to print to create
..pdf files.

PrimoPDF
http://tinyurl.com/2gkzl7


--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk
 
John Inzer said:
===================================
If you could you please provide a few details
about your project we may be able to offer more
info.
Click to expand...

Right now I scan most of my bills, etc. to archive on my PC. I'm using the
MS Office Document Scanner to scan into multi page MDI files. These files
are coming out about 300kB per page.

I'm not sure how universal an MDI file is. Not very from what I can tell.
PDF is pretty universal, and I'm hoping scans will produce smaller files
that the current MDI ones. I'd also like (but not needed) to search on the
scanned documents, so OCR would be a plus.
FWIW...you can use the WinXP Scanner and
Camera Wizard to scan to .bmp, .jpg, .tif, or .png.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried it, but will it scan a multi page document into a single
file?
 
Noozer said:
Right now I scan most of my bills, etc. to archive on my PC. I'm using the
MS Office Document Scanner to scan into multi page MDI files. These files
are coming out about 300kB per page.

I'm not sure how universal an MDI file is. Not very from what I can tell.
PDF is pretty universal, and I'm hoping scans will produce smaller files
that the current MDI ones. I'd also like (but not needed) to search on the
scanned documents, so OCR would be a plus.




I haven't tried it, but will it scan a multi page document into a single
file?
Click to expand...
If you are on Office 2003, you may create multi-page compressible tiffs.
 
Are there any free programs out there than can scan directly to a PDF, or
other common file format for Windows XP?
Click to expand...



In addition to the other answers you've gotten, note than some
scanners come with software to do this. For example, my Canon LiDE60
does.
 
irfanview <http://irfanview.com> supports "batch scanning" and I have
found that saving as tiff class 3 or 4 b/w file formats provides the
smallest and most convenient way of saving the types of things you
describe...

In addition, these can be saved as "multipage tiffs" which can contain
many scans in a single file... for example, all the bills or checks for
a month.

Finally, depending on what software or method you use, it's fairly easy
to convert these multipage tiffs into multipage pdf's... it's
essentially a one step process using full acrobat and irfanview now
includes pdf output as well.

I assume you know that these documents will not be "searchable" as they
are images and not ascii text.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
Noozer said:
Right now I scan most of my bills, etc. to archive on my PC. I'm
using the MS Office Document Scanner to scan into multi page MDI
files. These files are coming out about 300kB per page.

I'm not sure how universal an MDI file is. Not very from what I can
tell. PDF is pretty universal, and I'm hoping scans will produce
smaller files that the current MDI ones. I'd also like (but not
needed) to search on the scanned documents, so OCR would be a plus.
Click to expand...
===============================================
After you do your scans in MS Office Document Imaging,
you should be able to go to...File / Save As...and choose...
"Tagged Image File Format (.tif)". This will create a multi-
page .tif file that should be much more usable with other
viewers than the .mdi format is.

Also if you have a .pdf program you can go to...File / Print...
choose the PDF program as your Printer and create a
..pdf file. Just click OK on the Print screen and wait for the
PDF screen to open...then choose a save location and press
Enter.
================================================
I haven't tried it, but will it scan a multi page document into a
single file?
Click to expand...
================================================
No,...the program you are using would be your best
bet for multi-page files and OCR.

For additional info it may be worth a try to post
your questions in the MS Office newsgroup:
microsoft.public.office.misc

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk
 
Right now I scan most of my bills, etc. to archive on my PC. I'm using the
MS Office Document Scanner to scan into multi page MDI files. These files
are coming out about 300kB per page.
Click to expand...


This isn't a direct reply to your question, but just in case you're
not aware of it, you may be interested in knowing that the latest
versions of Quicken let you scan bills, etc., and attach the scanned
images to entries in your register(s). Whether Microsoft Money, or any
such products, do the same, I don't know.
 
I'm not sure how universal an MDI file is. Not very from what I can tell.
PDF is pretty universal, and I'm hoping scans will produce smaller files
that the current MDI ones. I'd also like (but not needed) to search on the
scanned documents, so OCR would be a plus.
Click to expand...

Do you already have experience with OCR software? I've had limited success
with it. It works reasonably well if the text in the original document is
very clear and sharp. If it's not then the OCR software produces numerous
unrecognizable characters and the documents require extensive spell checking
and manual correcting. In my experience it's actually been easier to retype
the documents from scratch. Just something to think about <g>.
 
Do you already have experience with OCR software? I've had limited success
with it. It works reasonably well if the text in the original document is
very clear and sharp. If it's not then the OCR software produces numerous
unrecognizable characters and the documents require extensive spell checking
and manual correcting. In my experience it's actually been easier to retype
the documents from scratch. Just something to think about <g>.
Click to expand...



I don't know what OCR software you've tried, but I have used OmniPage
for several years. In my experience, if you have a clean original, it
works a *lot* better than "reasonably well." The results are usually
nearly perfect. Retyping the original is not only much harder and
slower, but also results in many more errors.
 
In addition, these can be saved as "multipage tiffs" which can contain
many scans in a single file... for example, all the bills or checks for a
month.
Click to expand...

I tried saving my scans as TIFs originally and the files always came out a
lot larger than the MDI equivelent, so I haven't really tried using them
much.
Finally, depending on what software or method you use, it's fairly easy to
convert these multipage tiffs into multipage pdf's... it's essentially a
one step process using full acrobat and irfanview now includes pdf output
as well.
Click to expand...
I assume you know that these documents will not be "searchable" as they
are images and not ascii text.
Click to expand...

That's where the OCR comes in. I've also heard that image to PDF software
does a reasonable job of OCR during the conversion process. Whether that's
true or not, I'll find out eventually. Searching is not a big deal anyhow.
Multiple pages and reasonable file sizes are my goals.

FWIW, I usually scan in greyscale at 200 DPI, with fairly high contrast.
Does a good job for most of my documents.
 
I tried saving my scans as TIFs originally and the files always came
out a lot larger than the MDI equivelent, so I haven't really tried
using them much. <<

Thats where the tiff class 3/4 comes in... makes tiny b/w files... under
50k for a full page scan... developed for optimizing fax images.
conversion process. <<

Depends on the quality of the document and the skill of the ocr
software... if you have a serious need for this, I would personally
recommend finereader... not cheap, but the best ocr I have experienced.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
ocr software <<

Take a look at finereader... used the finereader pro version to scan a
sixty year old 350+ page book (among many other jobs) and it did so with
virtually no errors. Think the final count was around 55 mistakes all
of which it highlighted for proofreading... even accurately picked up
the halfsized footnotes and even smaller footnote numbers.

After that, I was scanning some pages containing a mix of printed text
and handwritten notes and, to my amazement, it ocr'd the handwriting
with a high (~80%) degree of accuracy.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
Noozer said:
Right now I scan most of my bills, etc. to archive on my PC. I'm using the
MS Office Document Scanner to scan into multi page MDI files. These files
are coming out about 300kB per page.

I'm not sure how universal an MDI file is. Not very from what I can tell.
PDF is pretty universal, and I'm hoping scans will produce smaller files
that the current MDI ones. I'd also like (but not needed) to search on the
scanned documents, so OCR would be a plus.


I haven't tried it, but will it scan a multi page document into a single
file?
Click to expand...

Did what you're doing for about 2 years. Used Omnipage, also mentioned by
Ken. Later, a little light came on in my head saying I don't need OCR, just
a record to refer to. So, made TIFs. There seemed no apparent reason in
retrospect to keep doing that, so I stopped. The only bills I scan are ones
I paid that are pertinent to IRS. My state has no income tax so, not
pertinent. Continue to use real paper, real folders, and a real filing
cabinet for my personal uses. My medical and dental record from the
military is scanned and placed on CD. I used pdf since its standard use.
No, I did not use OCR since I had no reason to manipulate the typed and
handwritten characters, and xrays.
Dave
 
Depends on the quality of the document and the skill of the ocr
software... if you have a serious need for this, I would personally
recommend finereader... not cheap, but the best ocr I have experienced.
Click to expand...

I've had Acrobat et al on all my systems for over a decade, but I have a
relevant anecdote. A couple years ago my wife, a technical know-nothing,
bought a refurb HP scanner at Staples for $29.99. The software that came
with it was slick...one click and you had either a PDF or a Word doc.
Accuracy was very good, better than the OCR built into Acrobat.

-John O
 
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