Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with scan

Free/Open Source Scan-to-PDF Software?

cowbellemoo — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:20:19 -0800

What's the best free or open source software (for Windows XP) which will scan multiple pages in a row and output a PDF with zero fuss? I don't really like the software that came with the scanner and I don't want to pay for Acrobat Pro. Currently I'm using OpenOffice Draw, which works fine except for having a few too many mouse clicks between importing each page as a scanned picture -- which are annoying when I'm trying to concentrate on something else while I scan a bunch of things in.

Ideally I'd like to just place a new page, close the lid, click a button, scan, rinse, repeat. That's basically how Acrobat Pro does it, but is there a free/OS alternative that behaves the same way?

How do I change default scan settings?

MrMulan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:44:46 -0800

How can I reduce the file size of a scanned document in Windows XP? I have narrowed it down to something in the XP OS.

Boss has a Canon MFP that would scan to his PC. Test scan file would be about 300Kb pdf.
Boss got a new PC. I installed the same Canon software and used the same settings his old PC used, except now the actual scan takes longer and the file is over 1,000Kb.
I uninstalled the Canon software on both machines and used the built in Windows fax and scan app...same thing...old PC creates a fast scan with small output file, new PC creates a slower scan with a larger output file.
Again, all settings, resolution, ect. are the same on both machines.

I know there is free third party software to reduce after the fact, but I don't want to go there and give him another step to do.

Can't find anything that applies to this scenario on G. As always, thanks in advance.

1 in 500? I don't like those odds.

ostranenie — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:44:49 -0800

CT scans on children for hearing problems. Worried about radiation risks. Wait? Asking for a friend:

Last year when my son was four years old it was discovered that he has what our ENT called maximum conductive hearing loss in his left ear. A little over two years ago, his older brother had stuck an opened large paperclip into the ear that now has hearing loss. The ENT is unsure if the paper clip incident is related to the hearing loss but has not ruled it out entirely. A CT scan has been ordered to look for "ossicular discontinuity due to h/o trauma, congenital ossicular abnormality, or congenital otosclerosis" (even though he passed his hearing test at birth).

The reason for the CT is so the doctor can determine if my son is a candidate for ear surgery to repair whatever is causing the hearing loss. When my son was tested for hearing the audiologist told me that he is a great candidate for a hearing aid as well, as he could hear well from the ear in question when she had the settings placed at what a hearing aid would acheive for him.

My question is if it's worth getting a CT scan for a five year old. I have read that one CT scan can be the equivalent of 4000 chest x-rays and that a child has a 1 in 500 chance of developing cancer later because of the CT itself. Does anyone know how true these claims are? The CT would be of the temporal bones for conductive hearing loss in the middle ear. I am afraid that unless he is completely sedated he may move and the image will not be clear enough and they will have to take another one, which would only expose him to that much more radiation. I am hoping that if I ask for them to make sure the CT scanner is set for pediatric dosage they will actually put it on that setting.

Thanks for any advice anyone may have. You are not [a / my son's] doctor.

Whats a good way to keep track of members that visit our establishment?

JakeTimberlake — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:39:07 -0800

Help me come up with an easy way to track members at the entrance to our "private club" So I'm helping to open a bar, and North Carolina laws require that we be a private members only club because we serve alcohol but no food. That means every customer must be a member, and must sign in before they can enter.

I'd like to speed the process up for them by giving each member a small card (key chain or wallet sized) with a unique barcode on each. That way, they can just scan their membership card when they enter the bar, and we'll be able to be sure they're counted.

I'd also want to use the system as a way to see who are most frequent customers are, and reward them for being regulars. Occasionally, we might run give-away promotions that would involve coming to the bar on a certain night each week, etc.

I've looked at http://www.card-scanner.com/scanshell-pro.html and that looked like a pretty good solution, but then I started thinking about maybe using a cell phone to record the data and plug it into a database.

Does anyone have any ideas of how we could track this information quickly and efficiently?

Banks with Deposit@Home check scanning services?

sdis — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:02:35 -0800

NOW are there any banks with Deposit@Home check scanning? (That aren't USAA) This has been asked before, but it's 2 years later and one figures that there should be some progress on this front.

For years, USAA has offered (to its military clients only) the ability to scan the front and back of a check, send it to them electronically, and poof, your check is deposited. I'm a private, non-business, non-military USAA customer, and I don't get access to this. It's been 2 years since this was asked on MeFi; any updates?

Googling has so far informed me that some company called Checkfree has made a software package to sell to banks for this purpose in Feb, 2008, but I can't seem to find any banks promoting it. If this is available somewhere, where? If not, why on earth not?

Suggestions for alternate scanning programs?

tdreyer — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:38:02 -0800

Looking for a scanner program that will allow me to set a custom size to scan and remember it for multiple scans. I'm on Windows 7 and I'm attempting to scan in a very large number of documents (600+) that are sub-letter size (8.5"x11"). I've found the the integrated scanning program that comes with win7 is a little inadequate.

Mainly I'm looking for a scanning program that is free and will allow me to set a custom size and remember it for multiple scans (ie. 6.5"x9.25")

APS --> jpeg

plexi — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:34:04 -0800

Is there an online or mail service that will convert/process Advantix or APS film rolls to digital media?

Scanned contract

yoyo_nyc — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:25:16 -0800

Is a contract valid if I only have a scanned version of it? If the state matters I guess I would be interested in the states of California and Nevada. I have the signed contract but not the original, the scan was emailed to me.

digital photos scan resize resolution freeware frame

cuddles.mcsnuggy — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:01:07 -0800

Seeking software for scanning old paper photos into digital format. I'm hoping to find something that will automatically crop to borders of the photo so I don't need to manually crop every one in Photoshop. Bonus points if it will automatically resize all the scanned images into a specific resolution size. Mom's birthday is Wednesday and I have a digital photo frame. I'm planning to spend part of the weekend scanning old family photos from albums and saving onto an SD card to use in the frame. There are dozens, possibly a couple hundred, photos. I don't have nearly enough time to manually crop and resize every single digital pic so I turn to you, o' wise MeFites for guidance! My scanner is a Canon MP600, the frame is an 8" Matsunichi PF800M with 800x600 pixel resolution, and I have Photoshop CS4, but I'd rather not use Photoshop since it's much too slow and complicated for the simple stuff I need to do. I just want something quick and easy that'll let me hit "scan," and tah-dah! I'll have frame-ready photos in a flash. I prefer something free (or very cheap) that I can download from online since I need it right now. Does such a beast exist?

High-Quality Scanning in New York City

DavidNYC — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:29:59 -0800

Where can I have a hardcopy document "professionally" scanned in New York City? I have a twenty-page document that I'd like to scan, and I need reasonably high-quality output. The civilian scanners I've used tend to reduce quality to an unacceptable degree for my present purposes - either they skew things, or introduce too many artifacts, or just plain make things look crummy. (I know that some of these things can sometimes be corrected after the fact, though why not avoid the problems in the first place?) I'm also reluctant to entrust this job to your ordinary corner Kinko's (though perhaps I am wrong to do so).

So I'd love a recommendation for some sort of print shop which will do a top-notch scan job, and then either email me the file or stick it on a USB drive (I need a PDF). The output doesn't need to be perfect (this isn't a commercial venture or anything), just good - so I'm not looking to spend a fortune. And if you've had success with a Kinko's-type place, those suggestions are welcome, too. The east side of Manhattan is preferred. Thanks.

Turning thousands of photos into billions of bits?

killdevil — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:04:04 -0800

My dad has many thousands of photos in 35mm slide and print form (the output of 40 years as a photography hobbyist). He's looking for an archival-quality photo scanner that can handle both formats, as well as provide some degree of bulk-load automation. What should he get?

Auto-crop auto-rotate batch scanning

remi — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:53:12 -0800

I have a MacBook with Mac OS X 10.5.6, Photoshop CS4, and a Canon Pixma all-in-one scanner/printer. I also have a pile of pictures to scan which I'd like to do automatically. I'm thinking of just putting that pile in the feeder and let it scan and save all the pictures automatically. However, pictures will usually get tilted when scanned via the feeder. Is there any method or software that will allow me to scan, crop, rotate, and save them all automatically at once?

If you have Windows-only solutions, let me know as well.

How can I increase contrast on a multi-page PDF?

Outis — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:24:53 -0800

How can I quickly and easily increase the contrast on every page of a PDF? I have a PDF that is 200 pages long in which the paper rendered from the scan somewhat grey and some of the text from the opposite side is still visible. I know I just need to increase the contrast a little and it would taken care of. How can I do this? I have many PDF files like this so it's merely a test run.

I'm also hoping to remove some of the annotations someone made to the text before it was scanned. Other suggestions?

I'm on a Mac using Acrobat and and I've got Photoshop if it's absolutely necessary.

How can I scan a PST file for viruses?

momzilla — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:27:11 -0800

How can I scan a PST file for viruses? That's it. I just need to know how to scan a PST file for viruses.

Scanned mail while traveling

steppe — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:58:08 -0800

Is there a service to which I can have my mail sent to, and then either forwarded to us overseas, or, scanned and emailed to us. We are going overseas from Canada to Central Asia for 3 years. In order to maintain our address as what is called "Permanent Residence" we aren't changing our address to the overseas address.

We heard about some services to which we can have our mail sent to, they scan it and then email it to us. We are looking for such a service because the people who are at our permanent address aren't able to reliably and consistently send it overseas to us.

Does anyone know what service can do this in either Canada or the US?

Is there a program/script for finding passively scanning wireless cards?

bjtitus — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:49:27 -0800

Is there a way to scan for passively scanning wireless cards. I'm looking for a program (command line, gui, any os) that will allow me to be alerted to passively scanning wireless cards. Ideally, it would be something like Look@LAN or even better, a script that might turn off the router when such scans are taking place. This could ensure that a wireless network with a hidden SSID stays hidden.

I'm really wondering if anyone knows if it's even possible to single out laptops which are passively scanning. (Kismet might have a way of doing this, I don't know)

Scanning in 16bit or better colour?

davemee — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:52:18 -0800

Scanning in 16-bit colour. I have a Canon CanoScan LiDE 600F plugged into a Vista machine. The box says "9600 x 4800 resolution! 48-bit colour!". Scanning options in Vista (It's all WIA not Twain these days) seem to limit me to 600dpi and 8-bit colour. Am I missing something, or does anyone else have any experience of pulling off this feat with this hardware, or know why the box would seem to be claiming unfacts?

Inserting exposure metadata into scanned photographs

ztdavis — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:13:12 -0800

Is it possible to (and how would you) add shutter speed, f-stop, ISO, lens, and camera metadata to scanned files saved in a .psd format? I have photoshop, lightroom, and bridge. I know how to add tags and change the usual metadata stuff. I just can't figure out how to change these particular fields when they aren't written into the file to begin with as they are with DSLR files.

Smooth-scrolling PDFs?

cgomez — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:33:04 -0800

What is the best way to scan documents so that they scroll well in OS X? Regardless of which scanner I use, I seem to produce PDFs that scroll/change pages very slowly in OS X, and as a result, applications that use OS X's PDF rendering engine. Is there a particular application or settings I can use in Acrobat Professional that will lead to black and white document scans that scroll "like butter"? I'd like it to be 300 dpi or so just for document clarity.

I'm linking to two documents that are similar in content but perform differently.

Smooth-scrolling: http://rocketsilence.com/mefi/greenstein_pols157_example.pdf
Not so much scan: http://rocketsilence.com/mefi/finstat_deckers_example_118.pdf

scan my books

zeek321 — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:18:01 -0800

Low volume, book scanning service? I want to ship to these people my (recent, copyrighted) paper- and hardbacks, and they scan them, destroy them, ocr them, proof them, and email me back a pdf. I have many books that I want to reference, but I like to move a lot, and they're weighing me down. There are a few places on the web that might go along with this. I'm looking for personal experiences. (As far as I can tell, this is in the fair use gray area, I won't share my digital copy, blah, blah, blah.) Thanks!

automate program clicking

jmd82 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:16:25 -0800

I need to automate a program doing the same task every day. How? We're using Quickbooks Pro 2008 on a network and their new version has a "database finder" which keeps on loosing our databases after a full backup (or so my diagnosis leads me to believe). To resolve the issue, I have to click a little Scan button. Otherwise, our clients cannot properly connect to the database.

Intuit won't help (after all, it's never the vendor's issue), so ask y'all: Is there some way to automate that magic button being clicked?

Scanning Legal Sized Docs?

cmh0150 — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:06:56 -0800

I want to scan all my important papers, including documents which are on legal sized (long) paper. I have a Canon MP830 scanner and while the glass for scanning is the size or regular notebook paper, I thought I would be able to scan in the legal sized document from the automatic document feeder. So far, no go - all my PDF copies are only notebook sized copies. Any suggestions?

Holy Hand-out Help, Batman!

np312 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:31:19 -0800

I'm looking for a high-quality scan of a single page out of any Batman or Superman comic book or graphic novel that I can print out off of the internet. My google-fu is apparently not up to snuff. Black and white would probably be preferable to color since I'm looking for something I can print out and photocopy as part of a high-school hand-out for writing action scenes in film. But it needs to be legible and print-outable for free. I only need one page, but it has to be decent quality.

The optimal page would be from an action sequence with both pictures and words.

Thank you for your help!

I want to scan my comics, in a non-pirating way.

Jonsnews — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:54:15 -0800

I would like to be able to scan in the bar codes on all the comics of my collection into a software that will track and allow me to manage my collection. Scanning being the main requirement. I know there are several software packages out there like collectorz.com that will allow me to track and manage my comic collection, but has anyone used one that will allow me to scan in the barcode with a barcode scanner? I allready have the scanner, and just need the software piece. If anyone has experience with intelliscanner and can tell me that its worth the money, I would even be willing to rebuy a scanner. FWIW I use windows xp.

Money for nothing ...

ouchitburns — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:16:55 -0800

Should I do an uneccessary PET scan for money? There is a opportunity to do a PET scan to help out in a research project. Along with an MRI and some other psychological tests, the experiments will take about 10 hours and pay $300. This money would go straight into a travel to South America fund.

So, it is worth it for me and my girlfriend (both mid twenties) to undergo radioactive tests if they are not for medical reasons?