ScannersScanners How to use them to scan pictures and documents

Scanning Photographs Scanners are useful devices which can take a photograph or a document and place it in machine readable form. Each scanner comes with its own software however the functions are basically the same. Lets scan a photograph first.

Scanning Photographs The first step is to lay your picture flat on the glass surface of the scanner. Make sure that you place it in the position indicated by your scanner usually by diagram or by an arrow Notice how my scanner wants pictures in the upper right hand corner There is a little icon there which tells me this (trust me)

Scanning Photographs Next close the cover You now have two options: you can start the scan by pressing a button on the front of the scanner OR you can start the scan through your software. We will use the first method.

Scanning Photographs When you do this a window will pop up on your screen asking you which piece of software you want to use for this action. You can scan this picture directly into any of the programs listed on this screen. For instance mine had Microsoft Publisher listed and, if I had chosen, I could have the scanner start up Publisher and place the scanned picture in it I chose HP Scanning Software and said OK.

Scanning Photographs Several screens with logo marched pleasantly by my screen until I got this one This means what it says and the scanner, after a few seconds sprang to life and scanned the picture

Scanning Photographs This was the next window which popped up. It is showing me a preliminary scan so that I can choose to scan all or a part of the picture in question

Scanning Photographs You can choose a part of the picture by dragging the black squares or handles so that the dotted lines surround just the part that you want. No you can’t choose two different parts that are not joined. To do this you would have to make two scans, save the pictures and join them using picture editing software

Scanning Photographs As you can see, I moved the walls around so that the picture was a little more centered. Then you click on the Accept button

Scanning Photographs After a little grinding, the scanner sent up this screen which is showing me that it saved a picture called scan.jpg in a folder called (Jan) in the folder My Pictures Remember this information or better yet, write it down as you will need it later

Scanning Photographs Now I can do a number of different things with this picture. Across the top, I can: Scan another picture Use the Image Editor to alter the picture Rotate the picture to the left Rotate the picture to the right Print or get Help

Scanning Photographs You can also do any of the other functions on the right hand side as well. However now that you have scanned a photograph we will use many of the same processes to scan a document.

Scanning Documents Scanning a document is essentially the same operation as scanning a photograph except that the scanner will “read” the text and attempt to convert it to a word processor document Generally when the scanner is initially set up it searches for common word processors on your hard drive and uses that list to process any text document it encounters. Here’s how it is done

Scanning Documents First lay your document on you scanner just as you would with a picture Make sure to place it in the position required by your printer.

Scanning Documents Next close the cover and go to START – PROGRAMS and to the program which was installed for your scanner In my case it was the HP Director however each scanner is different – consult your manual

Scanning Documents Next choose the Scan Document button because you are going to scan for text not pictures

Scanning Documents Next it needs to know what to expect on the text The four choices are : –Text and Graphics as Image –Text as Image –Editable Text –Editable text with image The first two will present the text as an image which will not be editable The last two will make editable text out of the words which is what we want If there is no picture on the page with the text pick the third choice if there is pick the fourth

Scanning Documents Note that at the bottom it is asking what word processor we wish to use to edit the text I have left it as Microsoft Word however one can drop the list down and pick any word processing software the scanner found on your hard drive Then click the Scan button

Scanning Documents Next I got that cheerful screen that said it was warming up the lamp After this it sprang to life and scanned the sheet

Scanning Documents Then it sent up a screen showing the preview of the scan. Adjust the size of the scan to include just what you need. If there are any items other than straight text they are likely to be misinterpreted so do your scanner a favor and just include the text you need Then press the Accept button

Scanning Documents Then I was asked whether I would like to scan another page into the current document. This means if you wanted to have a second or third page in the same word processor file then place the item on the scanner and repeat the steps to scan this page as well I just need this one sheet so I said No

Scanning Documents Then you get a screen saying processing Page

Scanning Documents Finally it will present you with your word processor and your document opened up and ready to check Yes you should check it. Run your spell checker through it and read it over because some characters are blurry and therefore are not recognized by the software as a letter. However from now on you are on familiar territory since you are working with your word processor not the scanner and your document will be saved in the manner and in the location of your choosing

Scanning Documents That’s all there is to it Scan picture or scan text, they can all be done easily and fairly quickly. You’re done – take a break