You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Image Capture Scan--Detect Separate Items

I am scanning 9 post cards which are arranged on my scanner.

When I hit "Overview" with "Detect Separate Items" selected, the scanner shows all 9 post cards which each in a dotted-line enclosure.

When I scan, the scanner only scans the first 3, and then scans the same 3 multiple times. It never scans the others.

If I change the setting from "Use custom size" to Ledger size to accommodate the entire group of cards, I no longer can detect separate items and get a scan of all 9 cards in one scan.


What am I doing wrong?



MacBook

Posted on Sep 4, 2020 11:45 AM

Reply
11 replies

Sep 5, 2020 4:31 PM in response to DrJennings

These settings work for me:



with this test setup:



If you're using essencitally the same settings boot into Safe Mode (How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support) by booting with the Shift key held down and scan again to see if the problem persists.  Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing some system cache cleaning, volume verifying and directory repairing. 


Sep 5, 2020 1:41 PM in response to DrJennings

Hi DrJennings,


It sounds like you're having an issue scanning the separate items after they appear correctly on the preview. We're happy to help. Do any of the notecards show a lot of whitespace? If so, the scanner may import it as more than one image. You can view those details in the section "Scan with a flatbed scanner" from our guide here: Scan images or documents using your Mac


Specifically, the section that states.

"If you want to save each item in its own file, make sure there’s empty space between each item on the scanner bed. If you scan an image that has lots of white space, the scanner may import it as more than one scanned image."


If there is a large amount of white space on the note cards, we'd recommend testing with ones that do not and seeing if the issue remains.


Best!

Sep 8, 2020 9:25 AM in response to DrJennings

Boot into Safe Mode (How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support) by booting with the Shift key held down and and try scanning with Image Capture from there. Be sure to move any objects away from the edge so there's plenty of white space all around each.  Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing some system cache cleaning, volume verifying and directory repairing. 



Sep 8, 2020 9:27 AM in response to DrJennings

DrJennings,


Thanks for the information. Were you also able to test when in Safe Mode as recommended by Old Toad or was it only tested with the same settings? If both were tested, we'd recommend unchecking the box for "Use custom size" and testing again.


Additionally, you'll want to ensure all your drivers for your scanner are up to date. This article may help link you to the website for your model: Printer and scanner drivers for Mac


Keep us posted on the results.


Cheers!



Sep 9, 2020 7:51 AM in response to jdo_apple

Still no luck.

I have a Brother MFC-J6935DW printer scanner. Fairly new (18 months or so). No drivers. I keep it connected to wifi all the time and it's automatically updated.


Booted to safe mode and scanned.


Here is what the scans looked like.

Scan 9 was what I got without "use custom size"

Next I clicked use custom size and adjusted the dotted lines to create an accurate enclosing box around each card.

Scan 2 was the upper left hand card. Additionally, the margins don't match the enclosing box--it's off.

Scan 3 was the upper right hand card. Again, the margins of the scan don't match the enclosing box.

Scan 6 is the upper left hand card again, and it's even more off center.

Scan 7 is some weird combination of the two cards.

Scan 8 is the upper right hand card again.

There are 5 scans, but they are not the five cards that each have an enclosing box on the preview.

Rebooted normally.

You can see the enclosing boxes are all accurately lined up. White space between the cards.



Here are the scans from that try:

Scan 10 is the upper right card. Margins are off again.

Scan 11 is the upper left card. Margins are off.

Scan 12 is the upper right card again.

Scan 13 is the upper left card.

Scan 14 is a combination of the two.


The remaining 3 cards are still un-scanned.



It all works fine when I just scan without trying to use the custom size.


However, I have a box of over 300 post cards I want to scan, and if I just scan them 5 or so at a time, I then have to use editing software to crop them individually and then re-save, which I was really hoping to avoid having to do.


Thanks for listening.


Peggy

Sep 9, 2020 10:06 AM in response to Old Toad

Scanning png instead of jpeg for highest resolution possible. I take the scanned images (all of which are out of copyright because they are from the 1900-1920 era, and I own the cards themselves), and then use photo editing software to crop and combine them and make my own handmade cards. If you think jpeg as a format would make this work, I can use that as long as I'm not losing resolution.


Here's the result from scanning: (Spoiler alert--no change): Two scans of the top right card, and two scans of the top left card. No scans of the bottom two cards.




Sep 9, 2020 10:42 AM in response to mario49

Here is one card on the glass. I selected "enable edge detection" and the size as 4x6, (because you have to pick a size) the auto generated dotted line box looks like this in preview:

The subsequent scan does not match the box that appears on the preview.






If I unselect, reselect, etc. and scan all four cards, I still get only the two top cards, and they are not accurate to the dotted lines that appear around them in the preview (they are off set).

ALSO, as the scanner is scanning each individual card, the dotted lines around each individual image "flash" darker as it proceeds through the four scans. The bottom two cards' dotted lines "flash" but the resulting scan is of the top cards off center.



Sep 9, 2020 10:22 AM in response to DrJennings

Hi DrJennings,


We appreciate the details. Does the image scan in the correct size if "Custom size" is off and the "Enable edge detection" option is selected?


Additionally, we found some helpful steps for your printer scanner model direct from the Brother website here:

Scan using Apple Image Capture


Also, when using the custom option size, if you select another option from the "Auto selection" drop down and de-select and re-select "Detect Separate Items" does the initial scan show repeat images or does it include each postcard?


Best!

Image Capture Scan--Detect Separate Items

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.