Author Topic: Any free way to scan to .pdf?  (Read 3936 times)

jo552006

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Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« on: December 19, 2016, 10:22:04 AM »
I've found "free Advanced Scan to pdf" but the cnet reviews weren't very good.

I am just trying to find a way to scan directly to .pdf.  I can get .jpg multiple ways, and convert that using microsoft word and probably other programs, but it's a pain.

ender

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2016, 10:27:27 AM »
It would probably be better to know your use case.

What are you doing? How often? What OS?

MrsDinero

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2016, 10:27:35 AM »
I've been using the phone app "Cam Scanner" for a couple of year.  I've use it to send PDFs to HR, realtor, bank, etc.  never had a problem.  They only allow you to keep 10 apps in the app file, but I just email myself the PDF when I'm done and clear the app folder. 

Spork

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2016, 10:29:33 AM »
I'm assuming you're running Windows?  (That means I'm clueless.)

On Linux, most of the scanning software I've used will save to pdf.  "simple-scan" is what I use. 

maricela

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2016, 10:30:08 AM »
I use TurboScan on my phone and it's great.


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jo552006

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2016, 10:34:56 AM »
Yeah, usage is:

Windows 7 Ultimate

Have Microsoft office 2013

I find myself scanning documents ALL THE TIME.  I don't have the best scanner (Cannon Pixma 2 in 1 printer, scanner) but it works fine.  I just think scanning straight to a .pdf will be easier, and also will be way better quality than built in windows fax & scan.  I find to do documents I have to turn the brightness down and the contrast up to get acceptable results, but the background is no longer white. 

Daley

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2016, 10:37:09 AM »
Easier solution is to just print the image out to PDF either through the OS itself (Windows 10, *nix, OSX), or using something like DoPDF (Windows 7/8).

Otherwise, at least for Windows, give NAPS2 a try for your scanner front-end.

Spork

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2016, 10:40:23 AM »
Easier solution is to just print the image out to PDF either through the OS itself (Windows 10, *nix, OSX), or using something like DoPDF (Windows 7/8).

Otherwise, at least for Windows, give NAPS2 a try for your scanner front-end.

The problem I see with just printing is with multiple page documents.  You'd probably still have to assemble them in a pile (something like the OP's solution of load them into MS Word ... or use a conversion program to assemble them.)

Daley

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2016, 10:43:19 AM »
Yeah, usage is:

Windows 7 Ultimate

Have Microsoft office 2013

I find myself scanning documents ALL THE TIME.  I don't have the best scanner (Cannon Pixma 2 in 1 printer, scanner) but it works fine.  I just think scanning straight to a .pdf will be easier, and also will be way better quality than built in windows fax & scan.  I find to do documents I have to turn the brightness down and the contrast up to get acceptable results, but the background is no longer white.

It'll help if you're scanning B&W documents to scan in black and white (one bit monochrome) mode at around 300-400DPI. Smaller files, and it automagically takes care of most contrast and adjustment issues. NAPS2 will probably be your best option, but having a system level PDF printer like DoPDF will likely be useful to you as well as a way to round out PDF functionality on your system.

Daley

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2016, 10:45:04 AM »
The problem I see with just printing is with multiple page documents.  You'd probably still have to assemble them in a pile (something like the OP's solution of load them into MS Word ... or use a conversion program to assemble them.)

True, true. More of a single page PDF conversion solution. That's where NAPS2 will come in handy, for the multi-page stuff. :)

shadowmoss

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #10 on: December 19, 2016, 10:56:09 AM »
I have a cannon pixma as well.  The scanning software has a PDF option, as well as scanning multiple pages into one PDF document.  Even the stripped down version of the scanning software on the cannon site has that.  Go download it and scan.  You may have to look around to find all threads proper settings.  If you tell me where you set the type of document it scans to I may be able to help more.

jo552006

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #11 on: December 19, 2016, 10:58:44 AM »
Thanks for the help guys.  I had thought of taking a picture with a camera (Ipad) but hadn't thought about getting a scanning app to make the image better.  I downloaded a free scan software and got acceptable results.

I don't know that Windows 7 will natively print to .pdf, and I don't want to download a program to print to .pdf when what I want is to SCAN to a .pdf... one of the few things I miss about my old job was relatively good CAD software, and Adobe Pro.

I just saw the latest response.  I'll try downloading the cannon software at some point.  Having the ability to do better scans than windows fax/scan has been missing literally since I switched from xp.  Thanks Shadowmoss

Daley

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2016, 11:18:31 AM »
I just saw the latest response.  I'll try downloading the cannon software at some point.  Having the ability to do better scans than windows fax/scan has been missing literally since I switched from xp.  Thanks Shadowmoss

Again...
Otherwise, at least for Windows, give NAPS2 a try for your scanner front-end.

I'm sure and certain the Canon software will work for basic functionality, but NAPS2 is basically the FOSS equivalent to VueScan (so it's free as in beer and speech instead of shelling out $80), which is one of the best scanner agnostic scanner front ends available for pretty much any platform. Do yourself a favor and look into NAPS2. Really and truly. It's a very flexible and advanced scanner front end with multiple format outputs which includes PDF (including OCR embed on the PDF document to make the document searchable), and even has the capacity to automate scanning jobs down to setting a timer between sheets on multi-page documents so you can just swap pages out without pressing additional buttons between scans. (It even does duplex interleaving on scanners that do document feeding.) I've never seen OEM front-end scanner software capable of doing what this can for scan jobs and output.

And trust me, having a PDF printer on the system level using something like DoPDF can be quite useful as well.

MMMaybe

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2016, 11:20:15 AM »
Bullzip PDF is free and good. I've used it for years.

katsiki

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Re: Any free way to scan to .pdf?
« Reply #14 on: December 20, 2016, 07:50:59 PM »
CutePDF is a good option.  It acts like a printer.  As long as you can get the file into your PC in some format, you then "print" it to PDF.

 

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