"How to: Scan a Document and Get It Into Adobe PDF Format"
By Ron Stultz
12 December 2009
Summary: via free utilities, you can scan any document and get into PDF format for sharing, distribution.
There are times when only an Adobe Reader .pdf format will do but how do you scan a document and get it into .pdf?
As a part of Microsoft Office, there is a function called "Microsoft Document Imaging." This imaging function is not part of "Word", but rather a standalone function you will find if you look at all functions of Office. This function lets you use your scanner to scan in all pages of a document, one page at a time, and save the resulting document as a .tif file (only format allowed in my version of Microsoft Office). And yes, the document can have embedded images or graphics.
There is a free utility called "CutePDF", you download from the Internet, that converts anything into a .pdf. This handy utility installs a "CutePDF" printer.
So the scan and convert operation goes like this:
- Using "Office Document Imaging, you scan your document and save as a .tif file. (If a large document with lots of pages, I suggest you scan a few pages, save and then review to make sure you have placed each page on your scanner properly.)
- Once you have done a "save" operation of your scanned document, you use "Microsoft Document Imaging" to review the scanned document to make sure you have not missed any pages, that pages are in proper order and that all pages look right for use (was not skewed on scanner.) If you scanned the same page twice, you can move to it inside "Microsoft Document Imaging" and delete it or if a page is out of order, you can "cut and paste" the one page or if you missed a page, you can use "Microsoft Document Imaging" to scan and save the one page and then going back to your original scanned and saved document, insert the missing page into the master document. When all looks right, do another save.
- Now to convert your .tif document file to .PDF format, you "print" your document but select the "CutePDF" printer from available printers. When asked by CutePDF, you specify the name and location of the resulting .pdf file.
- Erase .tif file.