Need to scan documents to email, best format?

[techwanabe]

I need to scan some documents to send via email. I have an older HP 5300 flatbed scanner and can do the picture files, but I also have Acrobat 5 so I can make PDF files. The receiver will probably not have much other than what comes with windows to open up and print documents and of course can download Acrobat for PDFs. Would it be best for me to scan using Acrobat 5 and sent them that way? Will they be reasonable size wise?

Thanks.

 

[Homerboy]

always scan to pdf.

 

[corkyg]

I usually scan to PDF for such things - it is good for preserving format. However, if my target does not have the full PDF edit capability, and editing is required, I will then scan as plain text.

 

[lxskllr]

always scan to pdf.

Why not .jpg?

 

[corkyg]

.jpg is an image - a picture - to be able to edit or make changes, you have to retype it all or run it through a OCR program.


If all you want to do is convey the info, a picture will work. But if you are passing material to be used in another document, it has to be editable.

 

[techwanabe]

The receiver will not need or want to edit, just print. Its more a matter of ease of printing out same size copies of the documents sent and also hopefully the files not being huge.

 

[stlcardinals]

The receiver will not need or want to edit, just print. Its more a matter of ease of printing out same size copies of the documents sent and also hopefully the files not being huge.

If it's printing they want, PDF is definitely the way to go.

 

[techwanabe]

Is there a recommended minimum resolution if I want the copies to appear close to the originals? Most are Word documents or statements with figures.

 

[kalrith]

Most are Word documents

In that case just use CutePDF printer instead of printing the Word documents and scanning them as PDF.

 

[lxskllr]

In that case just use CutePDF printer instead of printing the Word documents and scanning them as PDF.

Doesn't Word export PDF natively? I haven't used MS Word in a long time, I can't remember.

 

[kalrith]

Doesn't Word export PDF natively? I haven't used MS Word in a long time, I can't remember.

The newer versions might. I know 2003 and prior versions do not.

 

[techwanabe]

Scratch that, they are all printouts of forms. Most are text so I'm using Adobe Acrobat 5 to scan them into a pdf or multiple pdf and attaching them to email. Is 150 dpi overkill?

I'm planning on grayscale.

 

[shortylickens]

Whether for an image or text PDF, I always use Omnipage.
For reading I only use Foxit.

Adobe is for people who like to piss away their money on clunky applications.

 

[AtlantaBob]

Whether for an image or text PDF, I always use Omnipage.
For reading I only use Foxit.

Adobe is for people who like to piss away their money on clunky applications.

I really like Foxit as well, but I've been noticing a few problems with it lately. When I've opened a .pdf file from an email with FoxIt, saved it to disk (Foxit's "Save As..." command), and then emailed it to someone else (invariably opening it up with an Adobe product) they just get a bunch of blank pages (or an error that says "page number out of range" [something like that] and a file that won't open). I've been able to duplicate it a number of times (even on my computer using a copy of Adobe's free reader software). Not to threadjack, but if anyone knows the reason for that, I'd love to know....

Anyway, sorry for the diatribe. As shortylickens says, it's a great product, but if having other people be able to read it is a necessity -- you might want to be aware of that issue.

Re: some other posts....

I think that 150 b/w is probably as low as I would go. Heck, even 300 dpi b/w is pretty small as long as the person isn't on dialup.

 

[AtlantaBob]

Doesn't Word export PDF natively? I haven't used MS Word in a long time, I can't remember.

Sorry, forgot to respond to this one. I'm pretty certain that that's a new feature in Office 2010 (one of the few good new features, IMHO). Previous versions would let you print to .pdf, but you had to have Acrobat (the full version, not just the reader) to do so.

OpenOffice, on the other hand, lets you do this for free (and, I believe has since at least 2.0?)

 

[stlcardinals]

Sorry, forgot to respond to this one. I'm pretty certain that that's a new feature in Office 2010 (one of the few good new features, IMHO). Previous versions would let you print to .pdf, but you had to have Acrobat (the full version, not just the reader) to do so.

OpenOffice, on the other hand, lets you do this for free (and, I believe has since at least 2.0?)

Save as PDF in Office was natively built in during the Office 2007 beta. IIRC, Microsoft took it out of the RTM version on a request from Adobe to do so. You could install the functionality from an update that you had to download manually. Microsoft then included it in the SP1 update.

 

[techwanabe]

I used 150 DPI and could save 3 or 4 pages pdf was about 5mb. I think attachment limits are now about 25mb so its fine for emailing.

 

[kalrith]

I used 150 DPI and could save 3 or 4 pages pdf was about 5mb. I think attachment limits are now about 25mb so its fine for emailing.

That file seems really big considering the resolution. Our 150dpi grayscale scans at work are 100k to 300k per page.

BTW, do you need to do grayscale? If there's a lot of small text, it will be hard to read at 150dpi. 300-400dpi in B&W would be better suited for text. Obviously charts and things like that show up better in grayscale.