Scanner is a valuable helper both in the office and at home. However, you may not know exactly how to set it up and use it properly to your advantage. Its settings can bother even experienced users. We will advise you on how to avoid problems with scanning.
Scanners are devices used to scan an object, usually a paper with printed text or an image, and then convert it to digital form. When choosing a scanner, it is important to think about its exact purpose. For example, in most households, a scanner that is part of a typical multifunction printer is sufficient. Alternatively, a basic desktop scanner is an option too.
However, if you need to scan tens or hundreds of documents a day, you will probably look for a specialized scanner with a built-in automatic document feeder. If you are not entirely sure, look for a scanner according to our simple scanner buying guide.
The scanning itself is a process using a complex scanning mechanism composed of an optical system. Under the scanner glass, the document is scanned line by line. And the resolution of the scanner depends on the number of scanning points and lines. The higher the DPI value, the better and sharper the conversion quality. With increasing quality, the file size also increases, as well as time required to complete the scan. You usually find a scanner resolution of 600 × 600 DPI or 1,200 × 2,400 DPI today. The highest quality scanners offer a resolution of up to 4,800 × 9,600 DPI.
The possibility of selecting the output quality of the scanned document is also related to the scanning speed and the resulting quality. However, the individual parameters may differ slightly for different manufacturers.
Type of the document | Type of the image | Resolution | Graphics type |
---|---|---|---|
Photo | Use for scanning photographs | 300 × 300 DPI | 24-bit colour |
Web | Choose this option if you want to use the scanned document as an e-mail attachment or for a web page. | 100 × 100 DPI | 24-bit colour |
Text | Use for scanning text documents. | 200 × 200 DPI | black-and-white |
The choice of the type of graphics also has a significant impact on the scan length, so if scanning a large number of documents, it is good to think in advance what quality will be most suitable.
Connecting a scanner to a computer or laptop is not difficult. However, you need to consider what options your laptop offers. For example, the new Apple MacBook Air has exclusively USB-C type connectors, which cannot be used for scanners at this time.
There are a few basic rules to follow when scanning to PDF. The easiest way is to use the application provided by the manufacturer of the scanner or multifunction printer. Such an application is directly programmed for seamless communication with the scanner. Let's have a look at an example of a scanning device from HP. The HP Scan control app is automatically installed in Windows 10, along with the necessary drivers. Start the scanning process and select PDF as the output file. It's very simple.
Another option is to use the HP Smart application, which is very well designed and available directly in Windows 10, but is also available for Mac or Android and iOS mobile platforms.
HP Smart has a very similar user interface on all platforms, which is easy to understand. The procedure for proper scanning is as follows:
One of the interesting features of scanners is the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) method. If you work with text documents, you have certainly encountered OCR at work, for example. It is a software function which allows you to convert a scanned document into a text form, which you can continue to work with as a normal document in a text editor.
In practice, it is a valuable helper, because sooner or later this feature will come in handy. After all, who would want to manually rewrite a multi-page document, when it can be fully digitized in a few minutes, with a few clicks.
Many scanner manufacturers also provide OCR conversion as part of their software. Most of the time, however, it's just a technology demonstration or a time-limited demo. However, for a fantastic OCR accuracy, we recommend ABBY FineReader , which has the best long-term references in this area.
Each home album contains dozens of older photos with great memories, which you definitely don't want to lose. Therefore, it is advisable to digitize them and save them to a computer, NAS server or some cloud storage. What will you need for that?
First of all, the best possible scanner adapted for scanning fields , cleaning aids and, of course, negatives or slides. Of course, working with them is the most complicated and requires a careful approach. If you only have black-and-white photos, don't worry. These can also be scanned relatively well.
Special scanners designed for working with negatives and slides are equipped with special holders in which the individual fields are placed. However, the work does not end with scanning. Final retouches and corrections are necessary. We recommend using your favorite photo editing software. For example, it will be necessary to sharpen the images, use a retouching brush or a cloning stamp. Only then can the image be finally saved and shown to friends.
As we showed you in the article, the scanner has its irreplaceable place in every household. If you are planning to buy a printer, we recommend you to consider purchasing a multifunction model with a built-in scanner straight away. With a little effort, you will achieve great results.