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Book Scanner

An overview of digitization equipment in the Freedman Center with step-by-step instructions.

Setting Up Your First Scan

With the book held firmly in place on the scanner bed, press the Preview button on the scanner.

Preview button on right side of scanner surface

Select What You Want to Scan

A dotted selection window will populate. Drag the dotted rectangle to just outside the book's edge, or inside the book if there is enough space inside of the book's margin. If the binding of the book lays differently for each page, play safer by selecting a larger area (one that will work for all pages of the book) and crop the pages later. Ideally, you should only have to adjust the rectangle one time for the entire book instead of adjusting for each page.

adjusting the rectangle selection window to just outside the book's edge

Scan Settings

Purpose

On the main software screen, Purpose can be found at the very top. The easiest way to use the scanner is to set the Purpose to File Utility which saves one picture at a time.

For instructions on scanning through the PDF Utility, refer to the Scanning Directly to PDF section. Please be aware of the risks involved with choosing PDF Utility before proceeding further with that selection.

red arrow pointing out File Utility from the Purpose dropdown

 

Mode Settings

On the middle right of the software, select the Mode Settings button.

a screen shot of the Book Pavilion software

We need to configure the scanner's settings for each of the 3 modesColor, Gray, and Textwhich correspond to the 3 physical buttons located on the right-side of the scanner.

Because you might scan one page in Gray and another in Color, it is often advised to configure all of the the buttons during setup.

Scanning in Text Mode gives a pure Black & White image which is great for text & line drawings, but not for pictures or older books where the paper isn’t white or uniform. Scanning in Gray Mode is softer on the eyes, but that softness might show some bleed through from the other side of the page. Examples of each are shown below.

example scan in Text modeexample scan in Gray mode

Even though Text Mode's Auto Threshold can help non-white pages, scanning in Gray or Color is often better for clearer images and text.

Again, it is best to configure all 3 modes so that you can scan with any of the buttons without having to return to the software during scanning. 

For the the configurations:

  • On all of the mode settings, Resolution is the first section to adjust. For books that are mostly text, 300 DPI (dots per inch) is fine, but the scanner can go up to 600 DPI.
  • Keep Color Matching or Auto Density unchecked.
  • Leave Gamma at its defaults.
  • All other sliders should remain set to 0. 

Color Mode SelectedGray mode selectedText Mode selected

 

File Save Settings

The Scanning Attributes and Save Setting sections are found in the middle of the software's window. Choosing a File Format, selecting the Destination Folder, and adding a File Name Prefix are found here.

 

File Format

Under Scanning Attributes and from the File Format dropdown, select Uncompressed Aldus TIFF. For instructions on scanning as an Acrobat PDF Image, refer to the Scanning Directly to PDF section.

red arrow pointing out the File Format dropdown

 

Destination Folder

Under Save Setting, click the Browse button next to the Destination Folder. The computer's File Explorer will open. Select your documents or pictures folder as your destination location. We do not recommend that you save directly to an external flash drive, as it could slow down the scan or corrupt the image. 

red arrow pointing to the Save Setting section that contains the Destination Folder and the File Name Prefix prompts

 

File Name Prefix

Still within the Save Setting section and directly beneath Destination Folder is File Name Prefix box.

You can name the scanning project for organizational purposes without having to manually rename each file. Every new scan is named sequentially following the previous scan. If a project is named "mybook" then scans 1-3 will save as "mybook1", "mybook2", and "mybook3," respectively.

Adjusting the Pad, the numeral dial next to File Name Prefix, indicates how many digits are in the number behind the prefix. A pad of 4 would save as “mybook0001." Use more padding numerals than you have pages in the book to ensure easy file-naming.

red arrow pointing to the Save Setting section that contains the Destination Folder and the File Name Prefix prompts

Once all the above settings are complete, you can focus your attention on finally scanning. 

Another Option: Scanning Directly to PDF 

Please be warned if you decide to use this setting. If the software crashes during the scanning process or you forget to press the Transfer button before exiting out of the software, your work will not save.

red arrow pointing out the Transfer button on the bottom right of the software screen

You can scan and save directly into one big PDF file by setting the Purpose to PDF Utility instead of File Utility. Within the Scanning Attributes section, open the Properties button of the File Format dropdown. This button will open into a new window as shown below. Set the PDF Quality (the scanning quality) to the highest setting of 10

red arrows pointing to the Properties button and to adjusting the PDF quality to 10

Scanning is the same process as follows, but at the end of your session you must press the Transfer button for the software to assemble and save the PDF. Not doing this means you will not save any of your work.

Scan

Now you are ready to scan:

  1. Position your book on the scanner in the same place you had it for the preview, and press the appropriate scan button (Color, Grayscale, or Text).
  2. Hold the book firmly flat against the glass and slide as far into the gutter of the book as you can.
  3. You will see the scanner sensor move across the bed; it isn’t too bright and it won’t hurt your eyes.
  4. Remember there is no need to close the scanner lid.
  5. After each scan rotate the book, turn the page, and press the button.

press button to scanhold book flat during scanning