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  • Scanning question

    Is there an EASY way to improve the quality of a scan, please?

    I sent a scan to a contact and it was so poor he couldn't read it.

    This was my own handwritten work - in jet black ink and perfectly readable as an original.

    OC

  • #2
    Hi OC -

    You should be able to get a scan at least as legible as the original - however, the settings for brightness and contrast will be part of your scanning software, which seems to vary from one manufacturer to another (and possibly from one model to another).

    I have a 6 or 7 year old Canon scanner, and there are controls - maybe under 'advanced settings'? - that let you change the low and high input levels using little sliding triangles (coloured black and white respectively). You can also adjust the degree of contrast between those points as well, but that might not qualify as EASY, depending on your level of comfort. One thing I like about the software I have is that it gives you a preview of what the scan will look like which changes as you adjust the controls.

    Sorry I can't be more specific, but perhaps if you tell us the make/model of your scanner, someone else will know exactly what you need to do.

    Good luck,

    Tim
    "If we're lucky, one day our names and dates will appear in our descendants' family trees."

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    • #3
      The easiest way to improve a scan is to scan in greyscale.
      This because many of the settings are adjusted automatically when using colour and greyscale.
      Cheers
      Guy
      Guy passed away October 2022

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      • #4
        do you have a setting for "document" rather than "photo"

        otherwise I think it means tinkering with resolution/image size (the dpi setting)LOL

        do you know what program he was using to read it - was he trying to print it? (you can get away with a lower dpi if you just want to view it on the screen.)
        Vicky

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        • #5
          Could it be because the resolution of the image was too low? Even if you scanned at a high enough resolution, depending on the settings programs like Microsoft Outlook can automatically reduce the size (and therefore resolution) of pictures sent as e-mail attachments. In that case the image received by the recipient will not be as clear as the original scan.
          Sarah

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          • #6
            I have a HP PSC 1510 All in one. I find it very difficult to use other than for really basic stuff as the instructions are completely incomprehensible to me. It does a perfect scan to print off, by the way. I can also retrieve my own scans to print off and they are fine too.

            I will try the greyscale that Guy suggested, as I was using "text". I also sent the scan as a jpeg file, although I don't have a clue whether that was right or wrong - I just remembered people mentioning jpeg a lot!

            Thanks for the input everyone.

            OC

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            • #7
              Might be quicker to just type it up onto the computer?
              KiteRunner

              Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
              (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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              • #8
                OC...Jpeg is for pictures. If you scan it as a document, it will by default save it as a Adobe Acrobat file and should be quick legible.

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                • #9
                  My scanner gives me the option of saving as .jpg, .tiff, .bmp or as .pdf (which can be opened with Adobe Reader) whether I'm scanning documents or pictures or whatever. I've never noticed any difference in legibility between the different file types. I normally just save as .jpg, unless I'm scanning several pages of text in which case I save as .pdf so that it keeps all the pages together in sequence.

                  OOPS - just realised I made a mistake in my last sentence. Have fixed it now.
                  :o
                  Last edited by Cloggie; 30-06-08, 16:43.
                  Sarah

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                  • #10
                    Kite

                    There's 20 pages of it! I was trying to avoid that option.

                    Ah, so not a jpeg file then. I'll have another go.

                    OC

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                    • #11
                      I always scan document in grey scale as it gives a better image and I always save the images as .jpg.
                      Wendy



                      PLEASE SCAN AT 300-600 DPI FOR RESTORATION PURPOSES. THANK YOU!

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                      • #12
                        I have an HP 2575 all in one and I have just scanned a page from a magazine. The options are to select various formats jpeg, tiff etc. If you look through this list at the bottom select TEXT and continue.
                        After the preview if I am satisfied I then save it to file and it appears in the My Scans folder in note pad format. It often looks gobbly gook so I 'select all' copy and paste into word and edit it from there. Then save as normal sometimes I get an odd word that needs to be corrected.
                        Margaret N
                        DOGS HAVE OWNERS ~ CATS HAVE STAFF

                        Researching:- WILBURN from Yorkshire/Kings Lynn, London. NEWMAN from Dover/Reading. DOUGHTY from Portsmouth. ROGERS from Bethnal Green. Rumbelow from Norfolk

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Margaret N View Post
                          I have an HP 2575 all in one and I have just scanned a page from a magazine. The options are to select various formats jpeg, tiff etc. If you look through this list at the bottom select TEXT and continue.
                          After the preview if I am satisfied I then save it to file and it appears in the My Scans folder in note pad format. It often looks gobbly gook so I 'select all' copy and paste into word and edit it from there. Then save as normal sometimes I get an odd word that needs to be corrected.
                          From your description the TEXT option runs OCR (optical character recognition) on the image to produce a text file rather than an image.
                          This could then be used as any other typed text.
                          Cheers
                          Guy
                          Guy passed away October 2022

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