attaching a scanned document to an e-mail.

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Level 1

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attaching a scanned document to an e-mail.

I have had limited intermittent success scanning and attaching documents to e-mails. More often than not, the recipient (often a pc user, or someone trying to open it on a blackberry device) is unable to open the attachment.

Could someone please tell me step by step what is the best way to scan and attach a document so that it is more universally readable?

I'm using a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.5.8. scanning with an HP C4410 printer, copier, scanner. I've scanned several pictures and documents for my own use, and the MacBook Pro opens them with ease, and the resolution is quite impressive. I send e-mails through MSN on Firefox.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mac Book Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 2 years old

Posted on Apr 5, 2010 1:44 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,605 points

Apr 5, 2010 2:37 PM in response to .brian.

If you are scanning a document into an image then start by converting the image from a .tiff to a .jpg using GraphicConverter - VersionTracker or MacUpdate. Then create a PDF by opening the .jpg in Preview and then saving it as a PDF. Alternatively, Preview can input directly from the scanner, then you can save the document as a PDF.

To send to someone via email first select the PDF document then CTRL- or RIGHT-click and select Compress "DocFile" which will create a .zip archive. Attach the archive to your email. Any PC user can unarchive a .zip file.

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Answer 2

Camelot

Level 9

61,049 points

Apr 5, 2010 3:14 PM in response to .brian.

The biggest issue is likely to be one of file format. There are some formats that work well cross-platform, but there are others that work better on either Windows or Mac.

If you stick with the common cross-platform formats such as JPEG and PDF you should be OK. TIFF should work too (although tends to create larger files), but stay away from formats such as BMP (the software you're using to scan should give you options for which file format to save in).

The other issue may be one of file size. Scanned images can be very large - sometimes running into multiple megabytes, and some mail services, especially web-based ones, place limits on attachment sizes, so it's possible that your images are getting clipped by the mail server.
If this is the case your only real option is to reduce the resolution of the image (since resolution directly relates to file size, a lower resolution image will create a smaller file). If you're sending the images primarily for viewing on screen then you don't need anything more than about 100dpi. Some scanners let you scan images as high as 2400 dpi or even 9600 dpi and that's just much more detail than you'll ever see on screen. (Note that compressing an image file likely won't make a huge difference in file size).

You should look at the recipient's message to see if you can understand whether the image is attached to the email (and is the same size as the one sent) or not. If it's there the problem is likely one of format (JPEG/PDF/TIFF/etc.), if it's not there it's may be too large for the mail gateway to process.

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