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Scan Multiple Pages into a single TIFF/PDF file? Chalk one-up for Windows over Mac?NO

WannaGoMac

WannaGoMac

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 11, 2007
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As subject says, is it possible to scan multiple page scans into a single TIFF file?

And, can i do this as a PDF rather than a TIFF file instead?

I couldn't see how to do this with Image Capture.

THANKS!
 
Do you want multiple pages on one wide page, or is it OK if you scan pages one by one and then use an app such as CombinePDF to merge them into a multiple page document?

BTW, some scanners have that ability built-in. My Canon for one, but it is not Mac compatible.
 
theBB said:
Do you want multiple pages on one wide page, or is it OK if you scan pages one by one and then use an app such as CombinePDF to merge them into a multiple page document?

BTW, some scanners have that ability built-in. My Canon for one, but it is not Mac compatible.
Click to expand...

Want to scan multiple pages and have them be in a single multiple page document.
 
Chalk one up for Windows

Well, very disappointing as Windows does this without extra software. I found http://www.scantango.com


So, in Windows this functionality is included in the built-in scanner software. On the Mac I have to pay for it???
 
Actually, there's a clever little trick you can use to make muti-page PDFs out of scanned documents. First, scan in all the images - the format you use isn't terribly important for the purposes of this technique (TIFF is just fine, if that's what you're using). Once all the images are assembled, open TextEdit. Open each image in Preview, copy it, and paste it into TextEdit. Then, print the resulting document to a PDF. Presto, multi-page PDF without having to pay for special software :D
 
multi-page PDF

guess we should start by asking...how many pages is this PDF going to be?

the short answer is: if you have Acrobat Professional (not sure if this option is available in the free reader download) just scan the pages separately as individual .tif images. Then open Acrobat and go to file / create PDF / from multiple files and then select the individual .tif files in the order you'd like them in the PDF.

if you happen to get the order wrong when selecting the files, don't worry. to the left is the "arrange files" option of selecting the file and choosing to remove, move up or move down.

this info is based on the version of Acrobat that I am currently using which is Acrobat 7 Professional. Hope this helps(?)
 
when I need to do this, regardless of using my Mac, Linux or Windows box, I scan each page to an image file and place it on a separate page on Openoffice.org Impress (or Draw). Then I save it all to PDF.

Of course, I'm talking about scanning invoices and single page documents, not books or 150 pages on a tray :)
 
Do you have a modem?

When I want to scan multiple pages into a PDF, I use my Mac's built-in FAX modem. The software can be configured using the system preferences to email me a PDF file of the document it receives. I simply connect my computer to the phone line, and FAX the document to myself.

The quality will be lower than using your scanner system, but has been sufficient for anything I have needed.
 
glp said:
When I want to scan multiple pages into a PDF, I use my Mac's built-in FAX modem. The software can be configured using the system preferences to email me a PDF file of the document it receives. I simply connect my computer to the phone line, and FAX the document to myself.

The quality will be lower than using your scanner system, but has been sufficient for anything I have needed.
Click to expand...

Quality is semi-important due to it's for business document permanent records.
 
Well the problem is that I am scanning like 30 page documents. Doing an image shuffle is kinda a pain with so many pages to move into TextEdit etc...

Any other ideas?
 
WannaGoMac said:
Well the problem is that I am scanning like 30 page documents. Doing an image shuffle is kinda a pain with so many pages to move into TextEdit etc...

Any other ideas?
Click to expand...
Make sure you have the latest drivers. I just checked the brother site and they recently released a new TWAIN driver for the 7020.

As for using Image Capture to scan in, it'll work. After scanning in all of the pages, you can use something like PDFLab to combine the individual pages into a single PDF file. I'm pretty sure PDFLab will allow you to convert TIFF, PNG, and JPEGs to PDFs, but if it doesn't, it's just one additional step (x30).

Open the scanned image in Preview and "Save As..." a PDF file. Then use PDFLab to combine the 30 pdfs into a single file.

Keep in mind that these PDF files will be huge since the source was essentially a "photo". I think it would be the same on the windows side as well. If you want compressed files, you probably need to shell out for the Adobe product (I think it's Distiller).

ft

BTW, it looks like the Brother 7020 comes with the Presto software. Does that scan documents as PDFs? Maybe it's configured to scan multiple documents into a single file.

If so, it would save time on your end.
 
Good news!

Turns out the Brother "control center" software has an upgrade for the new MacOS that I need to download. The CSR said it will control the scanner and will handle scanning multiple page documents into single files!
 
Multiple pages into one pdf file

wrldwzrd89 said:
Actually, there's a clever little trick you can use to make muti-page PDFs out of scanned documents. First, scan in all the images - the format you use isn't terribly important for the purposes of this technique (TIFF is just fine, if that's what you're using). Once all the images are assembled, open TextEdit. Open each image in Preview, copy it, and paste it into TextEdit. Then, print the resulting document to a PDF. Presto, multi-page PDF without having to pay for special software :D
Click to expand...

Greetings. I am trying to copy a series of typewritten letters, written at different dates and varying from one to 3 pages, into one pdf file. I have tried the system indicated by wrldwzrd89. I pasted two separate pages into a TextEdit document as a test, and then made a pdf file. However the resultant pdf file seemed to cut the two pages into portions and I would up with 5 pages on the pdf file, but because of the way they were cut up, it was not legible. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I've asked the same thing many times, and just stumbled on a way to do it easily.

Scan your multiple pages to an image file, like .jpg, I know it's tedious, name them (optional) by page number, put them into an empty folder.

When you're done with all the scanning, open the folder, select all of them, open with: Preview.

Now, you should see one page, with a side bar containing all of the pages. (If they're not in order, you can drag and drop within the sidebar to reorder.) Select all of those (Or Command A)

Command P (Or Print)
In this window, you should see page one, and below that, make sure it says "Page 1 of XX"...this way you know you got 'em all, and it's your final opportunity to page through them all by clicking on the little arrows to make sure they're in the right order.

Click the PDF button
Save as PDF...

See if that helps
 
Scanning multiple images/documents into a .pdf archive in Leopard.

Thanks to the folks in this thread; I've tried Mescalito's method, and it works like a charm. Now I can get rid of Paperport (Now a windows-only App.) to store my copies of account statements etc.
Now if only I could get my Visioneer Strobe Pro to work on the Mac I'd be a happy camper!
 
Preview!

I did just this thing the otherday... (didn't scan but did combine images into one multi page document)

Scan your files in... what ever format. Select them all and open in preview, it opens a window with the first image large and thumbnais down the side, if I remember correctly you then select all the thumbnails with shift and go to print/save as PDF

Tadaa!!!!
 
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