5:00 PM. PST, OCTOBER 29, 2010 MORE

SCANNING HARD COPIES TO PDF Daniel Silva offers advice on how to easily scan your documents or book pages directly to formatted PDF files. (cc) 2010 UC Regents, Daniel Silva, October 29, 2010.

Scanning documents to PDF files can be useful, especially when you need to email electronic copies of

your important documents or save pages from a certain source for future referencing. Please abide by all

copyright policies when scanning any intellectual property.

CHOOSING A SCANNER BY SOURCE There are two types of scanners located throughout Instructional Computing facilities:

For printer paper sized documents, double or single sided, and containing multiple pages, it is

recommended that you use the auto feeder on the HP scanner. For documents not from printing paper,

such as pages from a book, photos, it is recommended to uses the Epson or the HP’s flatbed scanner.

Contact: Alx Sanchez The Student Support Center Phone: (805) 893-5252 or 893-2208 Email:help@collaborate.ucsb.edu.

University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106 http://www.collaborate.ucsb.edu/

UCSBCOLLABORATE

HP ScanJet 5590 Auto feeder and Flatbed Scanner

Epson Perfection 3490 or 2480 Photo flatbed Scanner

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Auto Feeder Scan Tips: • Be sure pages don’t exceed 8.5”x14” size

printing paper

• Load sheet face up in the feeder. For multiple pages stack pages from top to bottom. Feeder will grab top page first (one at a time until empty)

• Use documents that aren’t crumpled, folded

or creased in a way that might jam the feeder. For a page that is too badly crumpled, consider using the flatbed scanner

• Adjust the side rails to fit the paper’s width to

ensure that document feeds straight into scanner

Flatbed Scan Tips: • Set pages face down on glass

• Be sure to close lid when scanning

• Any part of the scanning glass not touching

the lid or page will show up as black smudge on the image

• When scanning books press down firmly on

the lid to make sure entire page is pressed to the glass

SCANNING WITH ADOBE ACROBAT There are many formats or programs which you may scan to on IC computers. However, Adobe Acrobat for scanning is recommended for quality. This guide will walk you through using Acrobat with these simple steps:

Opening Adobe Acrobat • From PC: go to [Start]![All Programs] ![Graphics and Publishing] ![Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro]

• From Mac: Select the spotlight icon in the top right corner and search “Adobe Acrobat”

Create PDF • From the top left corner: [Create] ![PDF from

Scanner] ![Configure Presets…]

CONFIGURING THE PRESETS Most of this part can be left at default unless you have a particular document that needs advanced settings (i.e. color photos, different paper size, etc.)

• By default, Scanner: is always set as “Please select a device”. You should select either Epson or HP scanner, depending on which one is connected to the station next to it

• For Presets: you should select based on the type of document you are scanning. Below are the types and recommendations

o Black & White – text documents, or images with no shades between black and white

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o Grayscale – for images with different shades of black and white, or photos you wish to convert from color to gray

o Color Document – text or image documents with color lettering or graphics

o Color Image – High quality photo images

• Sides: For auto feeder scans, you can select “Both Side” for double sided documents in scanner will allow both sides to be read. For single-sided documents, select “Front Side”

• Resolutions: The standard is 300 dpi, which generally works for most scans, However if you think the pdf image is too grainy at that setting, you can raise it

• Paper Size: By default the paper size is “Automatic.” This is usually fine, unless you wish to print it later in a specific sized paper, in which you may select that size in this option

• Make Searchable/Run OCR: Select this option if you have formatted text that you wish to allow selectable by the mouse for highlighting, copying, word find, etc

Note: If the button below says “Scan” you can click that to begin scanning. Otherwise, if it says “OK”, click it to save configuration, and go back to [Create] ![PDF from Scanner] ! then select the type of document you wish to scan

SCANNING YOUR DOCUMENT • The scanner may take a minute to warm up,

please be patient.

• After the document, or set of documents, is scanned, the option above will prompt you

• In this case, if you have no more documents to scan, then select “Scan is Complete”

• If you wish to add more pages to the Auto Feeder or the Flatbed scanner, then do so

and select the “Scan more pages (sheet #)” radio button

• If using a double sided document, select “Scan reverse sides (reverse of sheet #)”

• Once your scan is complete, Adobe Acrobat will generate you file. Verify that all your documents scanned properly

OTHER HELPFUL TIPS • Be sure to name your file and save it to a flash

drive or attach it by email. All data gets erased as soon as our computers are shut down

• If you scanned any personal documents or images, such as a passport, credit card, bank statements, or anything that could compromise your personal information, it is recommended that you delete your file and empty it from the recycle bin. You can also erase it by restarting the machine.

WANT MORE? For more quick reference sheets or to see this one in action visit us at: www.collaborate.ucsb.edu.

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