Scanning Tips and Tricks: How to Get the Best Results
Whether you’re new to operating a scanner or your scans aren’t quite living up to your expectations, we’re here to help you achieve high-quality results.
It can take a few attempts to master the art of scanning, but with the effort, you’ll end up with scans that live up to the standards of professional practices.
Explore our greatest tips and tricks below to ensure you always receive the best results. Let's get scanning!
1. Choose the Right Scanner
The scanner you choose has a large impact on the quality of your scans.
For photos or important and detailed documents, a higher resolution of 600 dpi is recommended. This will ensure your scans are more clear and precise.
Flatbed scanners are ideal for books, photos, and delicate items, whilst sheet-fed scanners are best for scanning multiple documents at once. Portable scanners offer versatility and ease of use on-the-go.
When it comes to professional settings, reputable brands such as Epson, Canon, and Fujitsu are the go-to choices. Their scanners are known for their quality and reliability, ensuring professional-grade scans.
2. Prepare Your Documents and Photos
Preparing your photos and documents before scanning can help to prevent smudges, dust spots, and misalignment.
Before scanning, gently clean your photos and documents with a lint-free cloth to remove any dust and dirt. For extra care, use a blower brush to remove dust from photos. Wear cotton gloves to prevent oil from your fingers from transferring onto the documents.
Remove any plastic coverings, as this can cause a glare on your scans and remove any staples and paper clips from your paper. If your documents or photos are bent, straighten them out underneath a book for a few hours beforehand.
3. Optimise Your Settings
By optimising your scanner settings, you can customise your scanner to provide the exact quality you’re looking for.
A DPI of 300 is ideal for document scanning. However, photos and detailed images will require 600 DPI. Use grayscale for documents that are black and white to reduce file size without sacrificing quality.
Scan in colour for documents or photographs to maintain the entire spectrum of tonality and detail. You can adjust the balance, brightness, and contrast of your scans in the settings.
The various file formats include:
- Tiff: Ideal for high-quality images and archives.
- PDF: Best for paper documents as it allows for easy sharing and maintains formatting.
- JPEG: Offers a balance between quality and file size, although it can reduce image quality.
4. Utilise Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) converts various documents into editable and searchable data.
This recognises and converts text on an image into machine-readable text, allowing it to be stored, shared, and edited digitally. Many scanners come with built-in OCR technology.
The quality of the scanned image has a major impact on OCR accuracy. Make sure your scans are clear, with text documents requiring a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Larger resolutions could be required for documents with complex details or small typography.
Avoid shadows and glares when scanning your documents and preprocess your images by adjusting brightness and contrast, straightening tilted text, and removing any visible marks or smudges before running OCR.
5. Batch Scanning and Image Editing
Batch scanning can save significant time for large volumes of documents, especially for businesses and corporations.
Large document stacks can be handled using ADFs found in most modern scanners, which feed the documents through the scanner automatically. Organise your documents by size, type, and condition before scanning to prevent jams and ensure consistent quality.
Always align your documents accurately to avoid skewed scans. Use scanner software that supports batch processing and software that can automatically name files based on predefined criteria (e.g., date, document type).
Once you’ve scanned your documents, use editing software to straighten any images and correct any errors. To enhance readability, adjust the contrast and brightness of the image.
Larger documents or pictures that can't be scanned all at once can be scanned in pieces that overlap slightly and then stitched together using software to create a single image.
6. Regular Maintenance
Like any piece of equipment that is used regularly, scanners require constant cleaning and maintenance.
Clean the scanner glass regularly with a lint-free cloth and mild glass cleaner to get rid of any dust and smudges. Check for any paper jams after each use to prevent wear and tear, and clean the rollers with a lint-free cloth and a bit of isopropyl alcohol.
Ensure your scanner software and drivers are constantly up to date to avoid lagging bugs. Regularly recalibrating your colour settings, resolution, and alignment will also ensure each scan looks clear and professional.
Upgrade your Scanner with The Scanner Shop
At the Scanner Shop, we provide both new and refurbished scanners from top-leading brands to help your business run smoothly.
With brands like Epson and Kodak, you can rest assured that you’re investing in a reliable, high-tech scanner to meet all of your business and personal needs.
Browse by function today to find the perfect scanner for you.
