Converting MANY documents to PDF.

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Hi everybody.

I have an iMac G5 2GHz.

Could anyone recommend a FAST and decent scanner without breaking my bank account ?

I need to convert old documents and notebooks to PDF (hence, getting rid of the dust and stuff) but my HP scanner is like hell (from the pre-scan to the end result, it takes at least 1 min, after having to select over and over the same options - image quality, folder to be saved, file format, etc - for each scanned image).

I would not mind spending 1-2 minutes but when I see the pile in front of me, I decided to look for wiser suggestions around.

Thanks,

Sergio

Obs. I couldn't figure it out any Automator scripts to handle
the horrible HP software.
Obs2. There are scanner with auto loading methods but this will
not work for the notebooks.

 

[MisterMe]

Determine which features you want and how much you want to pay for them. Then hie thee to the Apple Store or a similar site and do your research.

 

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Determine which features you want and how much you want to pay for them. Then hie thee to the Apple Store or a similar site and do your research.

If you do not have anything to say, please do not bother.

 

[RideIt]

If you do not have anything to say, please do not bother.

Paul Henry
Corp. Account Executive

Tel: 800-555-6255 Ext. 8325

Fax:310-630-6425


Call this guy at pcmall he should be able to help you.

 

[After G]

If you can use Image Capture, you can just click Scan over and over and it will keep scanning the same selected area with your scanner. The files will name themselves appropriately as well, i.e. file1, file2, file3, etc.

Cheaper than buying a new scanner ... but if you're waiting over a minute per page you might as well buy a new one IMHO.

 

[Moof1904]

This may be way off the path (as the solution probably has nothing to do with a mac), but at my last company, we had a copier that had a PDF function. Simply laying a document on the glass and hitting the PDF button caused the copier to scan the document and deposit a PDF onto the desktop of your computer. (It was a PC, not a Mac.) It was wickedly fast and really cool.

If you have a ton of stuff to copy, maybe you could find a copier broker or dealer or even a sympathetic business that would let you make use of this technology.

 

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Thank you all.

Well, I know that there are some fancy scanners on the market but I am trying to save some dough (after all this is an once in a lifetime event) for my future Quad core machine (thanks Intel for pushing AMD to reduce its CPU prices !).

I decided to post my problem here because there are always someone will real life solutions or good ideas.

If only I could get a better scanner software, I am sure Automator would make life 100x easier !

 

[TheBrazilianGuy]

If you can use Image Capture, you can just click Scan over and over and it will keep scanning the same selected area with your scanner. The files will name themselves appropriately as well, i.e. file1, file2, file3, etc.

Cheaper than buying a new scanner ... but if you're waiting over a minute per page you might as well buy a new one IMHO.

Yes, that a good idea. The problem is that Image Capture saves only in JPEG, TIFF and PNG formats. Hence, there will be a conversion from an image to PDF which is not trivial. I mean, I tried once and the file size for each page is bigger than using the scanner PDF option (which distinguishes text from photos/images).

 

[balamw]

Yes, that a good idea. The problem is that Image Capture saves only in JPEG, TIFF and PNG formats. Hence, there will be a conversion from an image to PDF which is not trivial. I mean, I tried once and the file size for each page is bigger than using the scanner PDF option (which distinguishes text from photos/images).

The only differences between the photos and text should be resolution and color depth. You should be able to sort the photos from the text in batches and keep the PNG setting common between them.

Batch conversion of PNG to PDF should be really easy. There are even tools for that specific purpose... http://png2pdf.sourceforge.net/

B