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How to scan paper job application to Mac

M

Merkava_4

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Hi Everyone,

How would I scan a paper job application for the purpose of filling out the application on the computer?

I could then print out the application and all the entered information would be neatly typed. 🙂

About Mac.png
 
Try saving the application as a PDF and then you should be able to go back in using the Preview app, and add your information.
 
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Have you tried the Image Capture app (stock macOS)? I use it for scanning all the time. PDF, JPG, etc. And you can do OCR as well. Preview (stock macOS) can also import from a scanner.
 
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Do you also have an iPhone? There are a number of free programs you can use to scan a document and save it to iCloud as a PDF so it will sync with your Mac. I believe the Notes app allows for this too. You should be able to use Preview on the Mac to fill out the form so you can print it out.

Please keep in mind that scanning a document will degrade the quality of it even if you use a good quality flatbed scanner. If it's just a regular black and white form it shouldn't be too bad of a quality loss but if there are any images, logos, or shading then it might be more noticeable.
 
9valkyrie said:
Have you tried the Image Capture app (stock macOS)? I use it for scanning all the time. PDF, JPG, etc. And you can do OCR as well. Preview (stock macOS) can also import from a scanner.
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I guess what I'm trying to do is scan the paper documents to a USB drive and turn them into an "active" PDF when I download them from the USB drive to the computer; that way I can enter the text where I'm supposed to instead of using a ballpoint pen.
 
Merkava_4 said:
I guess what I'm trying to do is scan the paper documents to a USB drive and turn them into an "active" PDF when I download them from the USB drive to the computer; that way I can enter the text where I'm supposed to instead of using a ballpoint pen.
Click to expand...
So, I would say open Preview (you won't see any windows) and go File -> Import from [scanner] (whatever your scanner is called). Then you can save to PDF wherever you need it. If you want to go the other way, Image Capture will allow you to specify a where and a PDF. I'd recommend taking a look at "Show Details" as well in Image Capture. Preview can edit PDFs and do exactly what you need. In Preview: Tools -> Annotate -> Text (or ctrl+cmd+t).
 
I would simply take a photo of the form, open it in Preview app, select the text and 'copy'. Then paste it into a text editor, fill in whatever you need, do some text formatting and print.
 
9valkyrie said:
So, I would say open Preview (you won't see any windows) and go File -> Import from [scanner] (whatever your scanner is called). Then you can save to PDF wherever you need it. If you want to go the other way, Image Capture will allow you to specify a where and a PDF. I'd recommend taking a look at "Show Details" as well in Image Capture. Preview can edit PDFs and do exactly what you need. In Preview: Tools -> Annotate -> Text (or ctrl+cmd+t).
Click to expand...
I don't have a scanner, that's why I was going to use the scanner at FedEx Office and load the scanned documents to a USB drive that used be called a thumb drive. From there I would take the drive home and load the documents onto to the Mac laptop that's in the screen shot in the opening post.

Basically circumventing the purchase of a typewriter. 🙂
 
Merkava_4 said:
I don't have a scanner, that's why I was going to use the scanner at FedEx Office and load the scanned documents to a USB drive that used be called a thumb drive. From there I would take the drive home and load the documents onto to my Mac laptop that I'm using right now.

Basically circumventing the purchase of a typewriter. 🙂
Click to expand...
So, if you have a mac laptop, it has a camera. Just figure out how to make the image from the camera to show on the screen while you're holding it, grab a screenshot, and open the screenshot in Preview and use Preview's built-in 'optical character recognition' to select the text in the image, like I described.
 
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Ben J. said:
So, if you have a mac laptop, it has a camera. Just figure out how to make the image from the camera to show on the screen while you're holding it, grab a screenshot, and open the screenshot in Preview and use Preview's built-in 'optical character recognition' to select the text in the image, like I described.
Click to expand...
I.e. Photo Booth.
 
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I would typically use my iPhone or iPad to "scan", the image(s) would show up in Photos app thru iCloud, and I'd go from there.
 
9valkyrie said:
Preview can make the PDF "active" by annotating it. Sorry about the confusion.
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So you're saying I could download a form from the internet and fill it out with Preview? I might try that.

How about Adobe; will that work?

www.adobe.com

How to create a fillable PDF | Make a PDF fillable | Adobe Acrobat

Learn how to create a fillable PDF form or make a PDF fillable with Adobe Acrobat. Add form fields, buttons, and more to your PDFs. Get started with a free trial.
www.adobe.com

Or how about this?

PDF Editor Free - Edit PDF and Form Filler Online - PDFescape

Edit PDF documents, fill PDF forms, and view PDFs online using PDFescape, the free PDF reader, PDF editor, and PDF form filler software. Edit or fill out PDF forms in seconds for free without having to use Adobe Acrobat. Try it now!
www.pdfescape.com www.pdfescape.com

I was hoping Sonoma 14 already had app to make a PDF fillable.
 
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