NAPS2 is a free and easy to use scanning application. The main reasons for using this application rather than the scanning application supplied by the scanner manufacturer are:

• it enables an unlimited number of scanning profiles to be set up, which makes repeat scanning quicker,
• language specific optical character recognition (OCR) capability can be installed and applied when scanning documents that will be saved as a PDF,
• if scanning a multiple page document, each scanned page may be saved individually as a PDF and all the scanned pages may be saved collectively as a single PDF. Pages may also be re-ordered after scanning if neccessary before saving the single PDF.

When the OCR capability is applied, the saved PDF file has a separate text layer added behind the image layer, which enables the PDF file to be searched for specified words or phrases by the PDF reader. OCR is very effective on typed text but results can be varied on handwritten text. All documents saved as a PDF file should be subjected to OCR.

OCR Setup

• make PDFs searchable using OCR = checked
• OCR language = English
• OCR mode = best
• automatically run OCR after scanning = checked

General Guidelines

• use a separate profile for each size and type of material to be scanned. The two material types are images and text documents.
• save images using the Save Images option. See below for image settings. Save as jpeg.
• save text documents using the Save PDF option. See below for PDF settings.
• when using a custom size, be as accurate as possible in the dimensions. MM enable the best accuracy. Set the dimensions slightly smaller than the material dimensions if the original edges are not clean lines. This will avoid needing to crop.
• scan in colour, even if the original is black and white.

Profiles

These profiles are not definitive; you may need to modify them for individual scans depending upon the origial material. For each size based profile:

• use the WIA driver if using MS Windows
• use pre-defined settings = checked
• paper source = glass (flatbed scanners)
• page size = set as required
• resolution = 600dpi
• bit depth = 24 bit colour
• horizontal align = right
• scale = 1:1
• brightness = 0
• contrast = 0
• maximum image quality = unchecked. Use image quality = 75%
• exclude blank pages is not applicable on a flatbed scanner
• deskew scanned pages = checked for documents, unchecked for images (this helps the OCR)
• leave all compatability settings unchecked
• WIA version = default

Image Settings

• default file path = set to the top level folder and drill down on individual saves
• jpeg quality = 75% (only increase if necessary)
• tiff options = leave defaults
• remember these settings = checked

PDF Settings

• default file path = set to the top level folder and drill down on individual saves
• skip save prompt = unchecked
• single page files = unchecked
• leave the Metadata settings as per the defaults
• encrypt pdf = unckecked (the PDF will not be readable without the key)
• compatability = PDF/A-3u (this embeds metadata in the PDF for long term future reading)
• remember these settings = checked

PDF Scans

Save each scanned page of a document individually with the page number as a suffix of the file name, then save all pages as a single file. If there is a problem with individual pages, only those problem pages need rescanning and the single PDF can be rebuilt with the good original pages and the new pages.

Last edited on 05 April 2022 by Site Administrator

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