Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Scanned Documents garbled when format PDF

T

turtlebud

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 17, 2002
590
45
Seems like something happened recently that cause my scanner + mac to go on the fritz whenever I try to scan a document as a PDF.

Scanner: Brother MFC-L3770CDW
Macbook Pro (2019) running 10.14.6

When I scan a document from either the flatbed or document feeder and select PDF as the format, I get this garbled mess (see attachment) in the documents. However, when I scan to JPEG it scans with no problems.

Any ideas on what might be causing this and what I can do to fix it? I primarily like to scan to PDF because I can scan a whole set of papers into a single document and it tends to be smaller than jpg. I can do it with jpg, but it requires opened all the pages and then merging them into a PDF.

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2020-04-10 at 12.30.36 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2020-04-10 at 12.30.36 PM.png
    956.7 KB · Views: 889
Preview and Image Capture are one and the same when it comes to scanning. Preview simply uses the Image Capture engine to scan, as do many other applications out there.

@turtlebud what are your settings when you scan? Do you have any image correction settings enabled? I have seen something like this before many years ago but don't recall what had to be done for this to get fixed. You could try one thing: create a new account on your Mac, login with that new account, and try scanning as PDF again to see if this is a user issues or a system-wide issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chabig
I am now having problems with Image Capture.
Samsung M2070 Laser printer/scanner.
Brand new Mac mini with Catalina 10.15.4
It will scan as a photo image but not as a pdf.
Samsung sold their printer devision to HP. HP web site implies they know of problems with scanning and provide a new driver. Guess what - it doesn't work
Anyone have any brain waves for an alternative scanner software? I am using my iPhone to scan at the moment, which is OK but not really very professional.
 
turtlebud said:
Seems like something happened recently that cause my scanner + mac to go on the fritz whenever I try to scan a document as a PDF.

Scanner: Brother MFC-L3770CDW
Macbook Pro (2019) running 10.14.6

When I scan a document from either the flatbed or document feeder and select PDF as the format, I get this garbled mess (see attachment) in the documents. However, when I scan to JPEG it scans with no problems.

Any ideas on what might be causing this and what I can do to fix it? I primarily like to scan to PDF because I can scan a whole set of papers into a single document and it tends to be smaller than jpg. I can do it with jpg, but it requires opened all the pages and then merging them into a PDF.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Exactly my problem. Did you ever get a good answer? JPG, PNG, etc. work fine with our 2750DW, but PDFs are just as you show.
 
Updating: No printer driver to download. Brother says: “We recommend using AirPrint. If your machine does not support AirPrint, download Brother iPrint&Scan from the App Store.” And AirPrint produces the garble seen in the original post. Thanks.
 
I have a different Brother printer. I didn't install the printer driver because I use AirPrint. But I did have a specific scanner driver to install. Yours doesn't seem to have that. I wonder if that is why you aren't getting good results.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back