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Scan a paper document to PDF and use Acrobat to turn it into a smart, searchable PDF with selectable text.
 

Scan a paper document to PDF

You can create a PDF file directly from a paper document, using your scanner and Acrobat. On Windows, Acrobat supports TWAIN scanner drivers and Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) drivers. On Mac OS, Acrobat supports TWAIN and Image Capture (ICA).

In Windows, you can either use the Autodetect Color Mode and let Acrobat determine the paper document’s content type, or use other presets (Black & White Document, Grayscale Document, Color Image, and Color Document) based on your judgment. You can configure the scanning presets or use the Custom Scan option to scan with the settings of your choice.

Note:

Preset scanning is available only for scanner drivers that support Hide Scanner’s Native Interface mode. The scanning presets are not available on Mac OS.

In Windows, if a WIA driver is installed for your scanner, you can use the Scan button on your scanner to create a PDF. Press the Scan button, and then in Windows, choose Adobe Acrobat from the list of registered applications. Then, in the Acrobat scan interface, select a scanner and a document preset or Custom Scan.

To scan a paper document to PDF using Acrobat, go to Tools > Create PDF. The Create a PDF from any format interface is displayed. Choose Scanner to see the options available.

On Windows:

Options for scanning a paper document to PDF
Create PDFs from Scanner interface; clicking the settings or gear icon shows all the settings for the selected option.

On Mac:

Options for scanning a paper document to PDF on Mac
Create PDFs from Scanner interface; choose a scanner and then click Next to see the settings for the selected Scanner.

Scan a paper document to PDF using Autodetect Color Mode (Windows)

  1. Choose Tools > Create PDF > Scanner > Autodetect Color Mode.

    Note:

    If you want to append the document, which you'll scan, to an existing file, do the following:

    1. Choose the Append to Existing File check box.
    2. If you've the files open in Acrobat, select an appropriate file from the drop-down list, or click Browse and then select an appropriate file.

    If you want to scan multiple files into a PDF, click the Settings icon. The Custom Scan interface is displayed. Select the Prompt to scan more pages check box.

  2. Click Scan.

  3. If prompted to scan more pages, select Scan More Pages, Scan Reverse Sides, or Scan Is Complete, and click OK.

Scan a paper document to PDF using a preset (Windows)

  1. Choose Tools > Create PDF > Scanner > [document preset].

    Note:

    If you want to append the document, which you'll scan, to an existing file, do the following:

    1. Choose the Append to Existing File check box.
    2. If you've the files open in Acrobat, select an appropriate file from the drop-down list, or click Browse and then select an appropriate file.

    If you want to scan multiple files into a PDF, click the Settings icon. The Custom Scan interface is displayed. Select the Prompt to scan more pages check box.

  2. Click Scan.

  3. If prompted to scan more pages, select Scan More Pages, Scan Reverse Sides, or Scan Is Complete, and click OK.

Scan a paper document to PDF without presets

  1. Choose Tools > Create PDF > Scanner > Default Settings or My Custom Settings.

    Note:

    If you want to append the document, which you'll scan, to an existing file, do the following:

    1. Choose the Append to Existing File check box.
    2. If you've the files open in Acrobat, select an appropriate file from the drop-down list, or click Browse and then select an appropriate file.

  2. If you want to change the settings, click the Settings icon . The Custom Scan interface is displayed. Select scanning options as needed.

    If you want to scan multiple files into a PDF, select the Prompt to scan more pages check box.

    Note:

    If you specify that you want to use the Show scanner's user interface instead of the Acrobat user interface, other windows or dialog boxes appear. Consult the scanner documentation information on available options. In Mac OS, the scanner user interface is always shown.

  3. Click Scan.

  4. If prompted to scan more pages, select Scan More Pages, Scan Reverse Sides, or Scan Is Complete, and click OK.

Enhance or optimize a scanned PDF

  1. Open a PDF created from a scanned document.

  2. Choose Tools > Scan & OCR > Enhance > Scanned Document.

  3. Select options in the Secondary toolbar - click the Settings icon and choose appropriate options in the Enhance Scanned PDF dialog box, and click OK.

    For more information on the options displayed in the dialog box, see Enhance Scanned PDF dialog box.

Configure scanning presets (Windows)

  1. Choose Tools > Create PDF > Scanner.

  2. Select a preset: Autodetect Color Mode, Black and White Document, Color Document, Grayscale Document, or Color Photograph.

  3. Click the Settings icon next to the preset. Depending on your selection, the Custom Scan or Configure Predefined Settings for interface is displayed.

  4. Adjust the settings as needed.

    If you want to scan multiple files into a PDF, select the Prompt to scan more pages check box.

  5. Click Save Settings to save the preset, and then click the Cross button (X) to close.

Scanning options

After you select a scanner, you can choose or adjust its various scanning options as per your requirements.

Scanner

Select an installed scanner. You must have the manufacturer scanning software installed on your computer. In Windows only, click the Options button to specify scanner options.

Show Scanner's User Interface

Select this option only if you want to see the settings using the windows and dialog boxes provided by the scanner manufacturer. When the option is not selected, scanning starts directly with the settings specified in the Custom Scan or Configure Predefined Settings interface.

Pages

Specify single or double-sided scanning. If you select Both Sides and the settings of the scanner are for only one side, the scanner setting overrides the Acrobat settings.

Note:

You can scan both sides of pages even on scanners that do not themselves support two-sided scanning. When Both Sides is selected, a dialog box appears after the first sides are scanned. You can then reverse the original paper documents in the tray, and select the Scan Reverse Side (Put Reverse Of Sheets) option in that dialog box. This method produces a PDF with all pages in the proper sequence.

Color Mode (Windows only)

Select a basic color mode (Autodetect, Color, Black and White, or Grayscale) that your scanner supports. This option is enabled if your Scanner Options are set to use the Acrobat scanning dialog box instead of the scanner application.

Resolution (Windows only)

Select a resolution that your scanner supports. This option is enabled if your Scanner Options are set to use the Acrobat scanning dialog box instead of the scanner application.

Note:

If you select a Color Mode or Resolution option not supported by your scanner, a message appears and your scanner application window opens. Select different options in the scanner application window.

Paper Size (Windows only)

Select a paper size or specify a custom Width and Height.

Prompt to Scan More Pages

When selected, a dialog box prompting you to scan additional pages appears after every scanning session.

Quality > Optimize Image

Select this option to run the optimization process on the PDF. This option is used to compresses and filter the images in the scanned PDF. Click the Settings icon to customize optimization with specific settings for file compression and filtering.

Quality > Optimize Image > Small Size/High Quality

Drag the slider to set the balance point between file size and quality.

Output > Append To Existing File

Adds the converted scan to an existing PDF. Select an opened file from the drop-down, or browse and select the PDF file.

Output > Create New PDF

Creates a PDF.

Output > Save Multiple Files

Creates multiple files from multiple paper documents. Click the Settings icon and specify whether to create a PDF Portfolio of the files, the number of pages for each file, and a filename prefix.

Recognize Text (OCR)

Select this option to convert text images in the PDF to searchable and selectable text. This option applies optical character recognition (OCR) and font and page recognition to the text images. Click the Settings icon specify settings in the Recognize Text - Settings dialog box. See Recognize text in scanned documents.

Add Metadata

When selected, the Document Properties dialog box appears after scanning. In the Document Properties dialog box, you can add metadata, or information about the scanned document, to the PDF file. If you are creating multiple files, you can enter common metadata for all the files.

Make PDF/A Compliant

Select this option to make the PDF conform to ISO standards for PDF/A-1b.

Optimize Scanned PDF dialog box

The Enhance Scanned PDF dialog box controls the image settings of how scanned images are filtered and compressed for the PDF. Default settings are suitable for a wide range of document pages, but you may want to customize settings for higher-quality images, smaller file sizes, or scanning issues.

Apply Adaptive Compression

Divides each page into black-and-white, grayscale, and color regions and chooses a representation that preserves appearance while highly compressing each type of content. The recommended scanning resolutions are 300 dots per inch (dpi) for grayscale and RGB input, or 600 dpi for black-and-white input.

Color/Grayscale Scans

When scanning color or grayscale pages, select one of the following:

JPEG2000

Applies JPEG2000 compression to the colored image content. (This setting is not recommended when creating PDF/A files. Use JPEG instead.)

ZIP

Applies ZIP compression to the colored image content.

JPEG

Applies JPEG compression to the colored image content.

Note:

The scanner uses either the selected Color/Grayscale option or the selected Monochrome option. Which one is used depends on the settings you select in the Acrobat Scan dialog box or in the scanner’s TWAIN interface, which may open after you click Scan in the Acrobat Scan dialog box. (By default, the scanner application dialog box does not open.)

Monochrome Scans

When scanning black-and-white or monotone images, select one of the following:

JBIG2 (Lossless) & JBIG2(Lossy)

Applies the JBIG2 compression method to black-and-white input pages. Highest-quality levels use the lossless method; at lower settings, text is highly compressed. Text pages typically are 60% smaller than CCITT Group 4 compressed pages, but processing is slow. Compatible with Acrobat 5.0 (PDF 1.4) and later.

Note:

For compatibility with Acrobat 4.0, use a compression method other than JBIG2.

CCITT Group 4

Applies CCITT Group 4 compression to black-and-white input page images. This fast, lossless compression method is compatible with Acrobat 3.0 (PDF 1.2) and later.

Small Size/High Quality

Sets the balance point between file size and quality.

Deskew

Rotates any page that is not square with the sides of the scanner bed, to make the PDF page align vertically. Choose On or Off.

Background Removal

Whitens nearly white areas of grayscale and color input (not black-and-white input).

Note:

For best results, calibrate your scanner’s contrast and brightness settings so that a scan of a normal black-and-white page has dark gray or black text and a white background. Then, Off or Low should produce good results. If scanning off-white paper or newsprint, use Medium or High to clean up the page.

Descreen

Removes halftone dot structure, which can reduce JPEG compression, cause moire patterns, and make text difficult to recognize. Suitable for 200–400-dpi grayscale or RGB input or, for Adaptive Compression, 400–600-dpi black-and-white input. The On setting (recommended) applies the filter for 300 dpi or higher grayscale and RGB input. Select Off when scanning a page with no pictures or filled areas, or when scanning at a resolution higher than the effective range.

Text Sharpening

Sharpens the text of the scanned PDF file. The default value is low and suitable for most documents. Increase it if the quality of the printed document is low and the text is unclear.

Recognize Text - Settings dialog box

Document Language

By default the OCR language is picked from default locale. To change the language, click Edit and choose a different language.

Output

Either Searchable Image or Editable Text and Images.  

Scanning tips

  • Acrobat scanning accepts images between 10 dpi and 3000 dpi. If you select Searchable Image or ClearScan for PDF Output Style, input resolution of 72 dpi or higher is required. Also, input resolution higher than 600 dpi is downsampled to 600 dpi or lower.

  • Lossless compressions can only be applied to monochrome images. To apply lossless compression to a scanned image, select one of these options under the Optimization Options in the Optimize Scanned PDF dialog box: CCITT Group 4 or JBIG2 (Lossless) for monochrome images. If this image is appended to a PDF document, and you save the file using the Save option, the scanned image remains uncompressed. If you save the PDF using Save As, the scanned image may be compressed.

  • For most pages, black-and-white scanning at 300 dpi produces text best suited for conversion. At 150 dpi, OCR accuracy is slightly lower, and more font-recognition errors occur; at 400 dpi and higher resolution, processing slows, and compressed pages are bigger. If a page has many unrecognized words or small text (9 points or smaller), try scanning at a higher resolution. Scan in black and white whenever possible.

  • When Recognize Text Using OCR is disabled, full 10-to-3000 dpi resolution range may be used, but the recommended resolution is 72 and higher dpi. For Adaptive Compression, 300 dpi is recommended for grayscale or RGB input, or 600 dpi for black-and-white input.

  • Pages scanned in 24-bit color, 300 dpi, at 8-1/2–by-11 in. (21.59-by-27.94 cm) result in large images (25 MB) before compression. Your system may require 50 MB of virtual memory or more to scan the image. At 600 dpi, both scanning and processing typically are about four times slower than at 300 dpi.

  • Avoid dithering or halftone scanner settings. These settings can improve the appearance of photographs, but they make it difficult to recognize text.

  • For text printed on colored paper, try increasing the brightness and contrast by about 10%. If your scanner has the color-filtering capability, consider using a filter or lamp that drops out the background color. Or if the text isn’t crisp or drops out, try adjusting scanner contrast and brightness to clarify the scan.

  • If your scanner has a manual brightness control, adjust it so that characters are clean and well-formed. If characters are touching, use a higher (brighter) setting. If characters are separated, use a lower (darker) setting.

Troubleshoot scanner issues

To resolve scanner errors or issues, see the following troubleshooting documents:

Recognize text in scanned documents

You can use Acrobat to recognize text in previously scanned documents that have already been converted to PDF. Optical character recognition (OCR) software enables you to search, correct, and copy the text in a scanned PDF. To apply OCR to a PDF, the original scanner resolution must have been set at 72 dpi or higher.

Note:

Scanning at 300 dpi produces the best text for conversion. At 150 dpi, OCR accuracy is slightly lower.

Recognize text in a single document

  1. Open the scanned PDF.

  2. Choose Tools > Scan & OCR > Recognize Text > In This File.

    The Recognize Text options are displayed in the Secondary toolbar.

  3. In the Secondary toolbar, select a page range and language for text recognition.

  4. Optionally, click Settings to open the Recognize Text dialog box, and specify the options as needed.

  5. Click Recognize Text. Acrobat creates a layer of text in your PDF that can be searched — or copied and pasted into a new document.

Recognize text in multiple documents

  1. Choose Tools > Scan & OCR > Recognize Text > In Multiple Files.

  2. In the Recognize Text dialog box, click Add Files, and choose Add Files, Add Folders, or Add Open Files. Then select the files or folder.

  3. In the Output Options dialog box, specify a target folder for output files, and filename preferences.

  4. In the Recognize Text - General Settings dialog box, specify the options, and then click OK.

    Acrobat creates a layer of text in your PDF that can be searched — or copied and pasted into a new document.

Recognize Text - General Settings dialog box

Document Language

Specifies the language for the OCR engine to use to identify the characters.

Output (PDF Output Style)

Determines the type of PDF to produce. All options require an input resolution of 72 dpi or higher (recommended). All formats apply OCR and font and page recognition to the text images and convert them to normal text.

Searchable Image

Ensures that text is searchable and selectable. This option keeps the original image, deskews it as needed, and places an invisible text layer over it. The selection for Downsample Images in this same dialog box determines whether the image is downsampled and to what extent.

Searchable Image (Exact)

Ensures that text is searchable and selectable. This option keeps the original image and places an invisible text layer over it. Recommended for cases requiring maximum fidelity to the original image.

Editable Text & Images

Synthesizes a new custom font that closely approximates the original, and preserves the page background using a low-resolution copy.

Downsample To

Decreases the number of pixels in color, grayscale, and monochrome images after OCR is complete. Choose the degree of downsampling to apply. Higher-numbered options do less downsampling, producing higher-resolution PDFs.

Correct OCR text in PDFs

When you run OCR on a scanned output, Acrobat analyzes bitmaps of text and substitutes words and characters for those bitmap areas. If the ideal substitution is uncertain, Acrobat marks the word as suspect . Suspects appear in the PDF as the original bitmap of the word, but the text is included on an invisible layer behind the bitmap of the word. This method makes the word searchable even though it is displayed as a bitmap.

Note: If you try to select text in a scanned PDF that does not have OCR applied, or try to perform a Read Out Loud operation on an image file, Acrobat asks if you want to run OCR. If you click OK, the Text Recognition dialog box opens and you can select options, which are described in detail under the previous topic.

  1. Choose Tools > Scan & OCR > Recognize Text > Correct Recognized Text.

    Acrobat identifies suspected text errors and displays the image and text side by side in the Secondary toolbar. (All suspect words on the page are enclosed in boxes.)

  2. Click the highlighted object or box in the document, and then correct it in the Recognized As box in the Secondary toolbar. Click Accept.

    The next suspect is highlighted. Correct mistakes as needed. Click Accept for each correction.

  3. Click Close in the Secondary toolbar when the task is complete.

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