how to scan a book to PDF

[SgtMac2]

i used my multifunction printer to scan pages to pdf.
i basically scanned page by page at 300dpi, saving the output to word. then i converted all the word docs to pdfs, then merged the pdfs. the finished product was a PDF chapter 69mbs in size.
that may work for a first time, but how can i get it done in future in a manageable size? what steps would i need to change?
thanks in advance

[danthony]

pdf books are generally big. how many pages did u scan?

[kilaj1]

Unless that scan had ALOT of color images it shouldn't be that big, what program are you using to convert the word doc, better yet what program are you using to scan the book? most software have the option to scan to PDF.

[Skele Drew]

I think that first you should change the initial settings on scanning, so you'd try to find the lowest resolution that'd still be legible. You can also tweak the quality:compression ratio if you're using the JPG or some other compatible similar image format. If you want to go the extra length, and have the time, you could scan in the maximum resolution and use OCR s/w to convert the scanned images to mainly text instead.

I don't think merging a bunch of PDFs would yield a properly optimized output, so after scanning (and maybe conversion) you can get everything everything into a single document, then print it all to PDF (I use a virtual printer driver called doPDF). All this should theoretically cut down on the final size dramatically.

[Sang]

Skele Drew is correct; The problem you are running into stems from a misunderstanding of the .pdf format.

The scan to pdf and outputting to a word file is simply creating a 300 ppi image in a pdf wrapper of each page and wrapping that image in a word page.

Word then outputs that image wrapped in a page back to a pdf wrapper.

The result is a 300ppi image wrapped in a pdf.

What I suspect you really want to do is to scan each page, run an ocr and retain images on the page in an appropriate image format. You will then have a page made up of text with images placed in the layout. Output this to a pdf and voilà a compact pdf.

[SgtMac2]

ok, here is what i did.

1. i scanned the images using the bundled HP software for my multifunction printer/scanner HP Deskjet F380. i scanned them to word, setting was 300 dpi. i played with the setting a bit. a 150 dpi scan saved at 4.3mbs per page average, a 300 dpi saved at 3.9mbs and a 600 dpi saved at 8mbs. seeing this, i settled on 300 dpi.
i scanned 45 pages this way.

2. when done, i converted them to pdf using PDFCreator.

3. then, i stitched them together using A-PDF Merger. the finished product came in at 69mbs which makes them too big to fit into most peoples email.
it can still be distributed, but for future purposes i need it to be a bit more... convenient.

so what i would need is an easier step by step process as well as links or names of free software that does what i need it to do. at this point, software that can resize what i have already done would also be appreciated.

[SgtMac2]

i subsequently downloaded adobe professional (trial version) and used the optimize setting to compress the file from 69mbs to 10mbs. still could use some suggestions though.

[Sang]

Originally Posted by SgtMac2

i subsequently downloaded adobe professional (trial version) and used the optimize setting to compress the file from 69mbs to 10mbs. still could use some suggestions though.

SgtMac2, using Acrobat Pro to optimise is still only optimising an image in a pdf wrapper; a highly compressed jpeg wrapped as a pdf. In other words what you have are pictures of pages. Not pages of text and pictures in a editable layout.

Here is what you need to do, I don't use your scanner/SW mix so I can't be more specific.

Make sure you have Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software installed, I think you will find it on the cd that came with the MF HP device. Scan using the OCR and make sure it is set to retain images.

The image setting can be adjusted to suit your needs. The resulting file should have editable text with images retained in the layout and can be a word doc.

Output the word files to pdf ( you might even be able to output the pdf direct from your OCR software. You can then use acrobat to join the pdfs together.

Read the manual it will fill you in on the specifics on each step.

If you are stuck you cand send me the scans and I'll optimis them but as I am UK based and charge in £s that might not be an option you want to consider

[Skele Drew]

Originally Posted by SgtMac2

ok, here is what i did.

1. i scanned the images using the bundled HP software for my multifunction printer/scanner HP Deskjet F380. i scanned them to word, setting was 300 dpi. i played with the setting a bit. a 150 dpi scan saved at 4.3mbs per page average, a 300 dpi saved at 3.9mbs and a 600 dpi saved at 8mbs. seeing this, i settled on 300 dpi.
i scanned 45 pages this way.

2. when done, i converted them to pdf using PDFCreator.

3. then, i stitched them together using A-PDF Merger. the finished product came in at 69mbs which makes them too big to fit into most peoples email.
it can still be distributed, but for future purposes i need it to be a bit more... convenient.

so what i would need is an easier step by step process as well as links or names of free software that does what i need it to do. at this point, software that can resize what i have already done would also be appreciated.

A single scan that large would probably indicate that the image was in BMP format, so there'd be pretty much very little or no compression. Have the scanner save to JPEG or PNG format. You could probably save the images directly to disk instead of a document, then run a join then convert utility on them.

[SgtMac2]

@ sang, i will try what you suggest. and no, we will not be spending sterling on this project, we are scanning because we are broke, not because we have money.

@skele, will try what you suggest as well. will report what i learn.