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

[MrSmith]

http://www.bartbusschots.ie/blog/?p=290

That's the first thing I googled.

 

[thanewhite]

Tiger woes

Mescolito's tip works perfectly on my Mac Pro using Snow Leopard, but I can not select all the images in preview on my iMac that is running Tiger.

Any suggestions?

 

[craigl]

Scan to multipage PDF and TIFF

ScanTango supports most workgroup document scanners from Fujitsu on Mac OS X and supports scanning to multipage TIFF and PDF. It also has many extras such as barcoded document separator sheets, auto cropping, redaction, document merge and page-level editing of PDF files. You can automate distribution of scanned documents and do custom auto naming of files during scanning. This is a shameless plug since I am the author Check us out at www.scantango.com

 

[Patrick J]

ScanTango supports most workgroup document scanners from Fujitsu on Mac OS X and supports scanning to multipage TIFF and PDF. It also has many extras such as barcoded document separator sheets, auto cropping, redaction, document merge and page-level editing of PDF files. You can automate distribution of scanned documents and do custom auto naming of files during scanning. This is a shameless plug since I am the author Check us out at www.scantango.com

 

[maryp]

but it ain't good enough!

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

Thanks for this brilliant little trick. But if a want to scan a 10 page doc this will take me an hour! Has anyone found a quicker way using Image Capture (which is the only thing i can use now)? The awful irony is that I just upgraded to Snow Leopard and its new Apple -bundled HP printer drivers overrode the better ones that originally came with my HP phostosmart, which used to ask me if there was another page to scan into the same doc or whether that was all. HP now has all the drivers packaged with the Mac software, and unfortunately they are inferior for anyone who scans documents rather than photos. Does anyone know if Apple is fixing this?

 

[harbea]

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

I'm not sure if this is a result of a newer version of MacOS but when trying to do this using OSX 10.6.5, the simple Print... (Command-P) does not incorporate all of the pages, only page 1. To incorporate all of the pages after you have selected all, there's another command called Print Selected Images... (Command-Shift-P) that you have to use in order to incorporate all of the pages into a single print. Then you can proceed with the normal PDF button, Save as PDF... steps.

 

[ericschmerick]

This is one of the weirdest threads I've read.

The cheapest possible scanner I've ever used - a Canon MP145 (bought in China) - comes with MP Navigator which scans and saves to multiple-page PDF files without any trouble. The HP laser/scan/fax thing at work comes with some kind of program to handle multiple-page scanning. Almost every scanner I'm aware of has some kind of provision for scanning into multi-page formats.

If you're relying only on the built-in software in the OS to do scanning, then yes, it's probably more difficult. But why not drop a whopping $69 US on a Canon MP145 (might be called something else in the US), and get the SW that comes along with it for free?

As for PDF compatibility, I guess OSX is the king of the road here. Absolutely everything you see on your screen can easily be turned into a PDF. PDF is in-fact the native format for OSX.

Random link about that: link

So it seems hard to argue that OSX is somehow inferior to windows with respect to PDF. In fact I've always found the opposite. I find it 1 billion times easier to get my stuff into a PDF in osx than on a windows machine.

Finally, if you somehow wind up using feature-poor drivers / software and you have a bunch of TIFFs / PDFs that you need to combine, then yes, you'll need to go find a script to do that. Any old script will do, since OSX has all the plumbing you need to do that, they just didn't provide a "combine PDF" button or the appropriate features in preview to do it in an intuitive way. Google is your friend.

 

[It-s-Me-Again]

Combine multiple PDF files into single document--So simple!

Hey, guys. I am working on something else right now but I can't keep this to myself: you can combine several separate PDF files into one this way:
1. Select all the files you want to combine--You do that by holding Command as you select the second thru the last file.
2. Open the contextual menu OR Control+Click--Cfr PC right-mouse-click
3. In the Preview program, you should have a column to the right with thumbnails of the documents you are about to combine.
4. Click on the various pages, drag and drop them on the thumbnail that you want to be the first page.
5. The other documents will still be visible in the column, you can send them to trash or just Control-Click then Close them.
6. What else? You now have your files as separate pages of one PDF file.

Oh, and don't forget to Save the combined file.

It's Me Again

 

[PrePressAcrobat]

If you have Acrobat - it is a piece of cake.
File > Create PDF > from Scanner.
Then just go ... page after page.

MSD