You can use free utilities to scan documents and create PDF files with them!
Bullzip PDF Printer
IrfanView Image Utility
In this article we will cover the basic steps it takes to scan documents into a .PDF file format using two freeware programs;
IrfanView imaging software and BullZip PDF printer.
Irfanview is an imaging utility that is free for non-commercial use. It is the program that we will use to pull the scans from our scanner. IrfanView is available at www.irfanview.com
BullZip PDF Printer is a free PDF Printer that allows you to “print” a document into .PDF to file format from any Microsoft Windows application. Bullzip is available at www.bullzip.com
When used together, these utilities add up to make a useful PDF scanning tool. The ease of use and capabilities provided by these programs provide a solution on par with if not better than Microsoft Word 2007! (see previous article: http://www.scanner-news.com/scanner-how-to/scanning-documents-into-pdf-format-with-microsoft-word-2007/)
Let’s get started:
Download the programs using the links I have provided above. First install IrfanView then install BullZip.
To keep this article short I’m not going to explain how to install the programs; it should be a simple matter of running the install file provided from each site.
To start a scanning with IrfanView:
1. Run the program.
2. Click “File”, “Select TWAIN source”, and then select your scanner’s driver from within the box that appears. I would suggest trying to use the TWAIN listing for your scanner. The WIA driver may work but you won’t see the native driver dialog for your scanner during step 4.
Pic 1 - this is the option to select scanner in IrfanView
3. Click “File”, “Aquire/Batch Scanning”. This will take you to a dialog box that allows you to choose either single or multipage scanning modes:
a) If you are scanning just one page, use the “single image” option (pic 2).
Pic 2 - IrfanView Single Image Selection
b) If you have an ADF scanner and want to scan a batch of pages, use the option for “Multiple Images” (batch mode). Batch mode will allow you to specify where the images are stored, default file names, and how the files are numbered. Check out picture 3; the default path for image storage is C:\ , the filename is ScanImage, and files are set to be numbered starting at 1 with increments of 1.
Pic 3 - IrfanView Multiple Image (Batch Mode)
4. Once you’ve selected the option for single or batch and made any adjustments, click “Ok”; your scanner’s driver interface should appear. The dialog that appears is dependent on the driver that you chose in step 2; if you selected your scanner’s TWAIN driver then the native driver interface for your scanner will appear. If you have chosen your scanner’s WIA driver then you will most likely see the Windows generic WIA interface (see pic 4).
Pic 4 - WIA generic scanning interface
5. The scanner interface dialog that you are presented with will allow you to change several important scanning options before the scan is made. The major ones of these include color depth, resolution, page size and feeder/flatbed selections. To change the resolution within the WIA interface (picture 4), you need to click “Adjust the quality of the scanner picture”.
Depending on the type of document you are scanning you may need to change the default options. For example, if you want to scan a B/W, text-only, letter size document, then you would change the settings to:
Page Size: letter (8.5” x 11”)
Color Depth: B/W (1 bit)
Resolution (DPI): 150 – 300.
If you need to scan an image or document containing a photo (like an ID card) then you would want to try something like this:
Page Size: (pick one appropriate for the document, example;Business card horizontal)
Color Depth: Grayscale (8 bit, smaller file size but less detail) OR Color (24 bit)
Resolution (DPI): 75 – 300. (the lower the DPI the smaller the file size)
6. Now that you have selected the settings that you like, click “Scan”. Some programs may use the term “Acquire” or “Start Scan”. After the scan completes, it should appear within IrfanView.
a) If you scanned the document as a single image, you will want to save it: Click “File”, “Save As”, and then name and save the document wherever you like.
b) If you scanned multiple documents in a batch then your scanned images will be contained in the folder that you specified before scanning.
7. Let’s use Bullzip to export the scanned image into PDF format;
a) If you just scanned a single image, then you should be looking at it within IrfanView; click “File”, “Print”. Select the Bullzip PDF printer, choose any options that you deem necessary then click “Print” (picture 5). A new dialog will appear (picture 6), click the (…) button to select a directory to save your PDF file to (shown in picture 7). Then, rename the document to something you will remember. Click “Save”. Click “Save” again at the BullZip dialog (picture 6). A PDF will be created in the location that you selected!
Pic 5 - Print Menu - Choose Bullzip as the printer
Pic 6 - BullZip PDF printing options - Choose your PDF Filename and Path
PiC 7 - Select the path to save the PDF to
b) If you scanned multiple documents in a batch then you should be looking at the last image that was scanned: To export the PDF files, you will have to print each document to PDF. Click “File”, “Open” and browse to the folder that your scans were stored in, choose the scan you want to make a PDF out of. Click “File”, “Print”; select the Bullzip PDF printer, choose any options that you deem necessary then click “Print”. A new dialog will appear, click the (…) button to select a directory to save your PDF file to. Then, rename the document to something you will remember. Click “Save”. Click “Save” again at the BullZip dialog (picture 6). A PDF will be created in the location that you selected. Repeat this process to export all of your scanned documents to PDF format.
What have we learned?
Creating PDF files from your scanned documents can be done for free and it’s pretty simple. It’s just about as easy as using MS Word 2007!
