rarmy
Level 1 (5 points)
iPad

Q: Hello, I have a Mac OSX v10.6.8 Snow leopard with Office for Mac.

I have been trying to scan in documents to send by email. I can only scan one page at a time ( that I suppose is the limitation of my printer/scanner) and each scanned page is saved as a separate document. I have tried to merge them to one document, as Help says,  but I can only get the document to work in reverse order, and anyone I send it to cannot seem to scroll from the last page ( which appears as the top page) to the front page to see the whole thing.

 

Also I have tried to copy text from a scanned pdf document - and once again despite what Help says - I cannot get the Text button to work in order to copy text to then paste into a Word document. The Select button works but it reproduces a rubbish graphic copy which is barely legible when pasted into Word for Mac.

 

Any advice gratefully received!

 

Rarmy

iMac

Posted on Jan 10, 2012 9:55 AM

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rarmy

Q: Hello, I have a Mac OSX v10.6.8 Snow leopard with Office for Mac.

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  • Helpful answers

  • by kurt188,

    kurt188 kurt188 Jan 10, 2012 10:28 AM in response to rarmy
    Level 4 (1,335 points)
    Jan 10, 2012 10:28 AM in response to rarmy

    You didn't mention what scanner you're using, or the software used to scan from it; that would be much more helpful.

     

    If you have separate PDFs, you can use CombinePDFs to merge them all into one file, in the page order you want; anyone you send that to should be able to scroll through it from top to bottom without any problem.

     

    As for the selecting text problem, what software are you using when you try to do this? If you only have Preview, try downloading Adobe Reader and see if that works, or even Skim and test that, too.

  • by rarmy,

    rarmy rarmy Jan 10, 2012 3:11 PM in response to kurt188
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iPad
    Jan 10, 2012 3:11 PM in response to kurt188

    Thank you for replying Kurt188.

     

    I have a HP Photosmart Plus AIOB210- from which I can only scan one page at a time. It does not have a facility to print on both sides or a document feeder.  Im not sure what software is used - I assumed it was that for the printer/scanner.

     

    If I want to try and merge the scanned pages inot one document in pdf  I go inot Mac Finder and open the first pdf document. It then comes up from Mac finder on something called Preview - Im not sure if thats a Mac aplication or its still from the printer/scanner software. Preview is the application which says you can hightlight from Text  to copy and paste into a Word document, or create a graphic copy from Select.

     

    What is CombinePDFs? Is this a programme I can download?

     

    I have only recently changed to a Mac from a PC and I only find these things out as I need to use them - then Im usually in a hurry and dont have time to explore all the options. The Mac is so much easier to use in some respects- but then not in others!!

  • by kurt188,

    kurt188 kurt188 Jan 10, 2012 3:20 PM in response to rarmy
    Level 4 (1,335 points)
    Jan 10, 2012 3:20 PM in response to rarmy

    Yes, QuickLook is a "feature" of Mac OS X.

     

    Combine PDFs is an application that does exactly what it's name implies: combine multiple PDFs into one document. It's very simple to use, and it's donationware for the current version; that is, you can combine up to 1000 pages for free before they ask you to make a donation to keep improving the program and supporting it. If you click on the link I provided in my previous post, it will take you directly to the web site where you can download it.

     

    Same thing with Skim; it's another PDF reader, with some additional features. So you can open any PDF you download, create, or receive via email with it, instead of having to use Preview, QuickLook, or even Adobe Reader.

  • by rarmy,

    rarmy rarmy Jan 10, 2012 3:38 PM in response to kurt188
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iPad
    Jan 10, 2012 3:38 PM in response to kurt188

    Ah.....

     

    ok- will look those up and download. I feel I used to be much more adventurous with a PC, always downloading etc but  Ive not downloaded anything onto the Mac yet!!

     

    Thanks very much for the info and links- very helpful.

  • by fane_j,

    fane_j fane_j Jan 10, 2012 3:50 PM in response to rarmy
    Level 4 (3,677 points)
    Jan 10, 2012 3:50 PM in response to rarmy

    rarmy wrote:

     

    Any advice gratefully received!

    You when ask a question, give it a short and relevant title, be specific, provide technical details. At a minimum, give your version of the operating system, and the version of the software you're using.

    I have only recently changed to a Mac from a PC and I only find these things out as I need to use them

    You're setting up yourself for headaches and wasted time. Even if similar to Win in a lot of respects, Mac OS X is not Win. Spending at least 10 minutes now to acquire at least a basic understanding of what you're doing will save you many hours of fumbling about without achieving what you need. At the very least, read

     

    <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2514>

     

    and get yourself a book on Mac OS X.

    Im not sure what software is used - I assumed it was that for the printer/scanner.

    Find out. You may be using HP software, or you may be using Image Capture or Preview (applications provided with Mac OS X).

    If I want to try and merge the scanned pages […] It then comes up from Mac finder on something called Preview

    You can merge PDFs in Preview. You don't need any other software.

     

    Once you are finished scanning, open the first PDF. Choose Edit > Insert Blank Page. Then, if the Sidebar isn't showing, press ⇧⌘D, or choose View > Sidebar > Show Sidebar. If the Sidebar isn't showing Thumbnails, press ⌥⌘2, or choose Thumbnails from the same sub-menu.

     

    Then switch to Finder, select the other PDFs you created by scanning, and drag them to Preview's Sidebar. You should now have a PDF document in Preview including all your scans. You can re-arrange the order by dragging thumbnails in Preview. Once that is done, save.

    you can hightlight from Text  to copy and paste into a Word document, or create a graphic copy from Select.

    You can select text in Preview if you have text. PDF may contain text and/or images. In your case, it contains only images, because that's what you scanned. To obtain text, you have to put the scanned image through an Optical Character Recognition programme. Preview doesn't do that. Your scanner's software may include OCR facilities; you need to consult its manual or user guide or help files to find out if it does and how to use it.

  • by rarmy,

    rarmy rarmy Jan 11, 2012 2:33 AM in response to fane_j
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iPad
    Jan 11, 2012 2:33 AM in response to fane_j

    Thank you fane_j for replying.

     

    Re Preview- that is what I have used, but have found 2 things- firstly no matter what I do when I drag PDFs to the side bar to merge them to one document, like you say, they stubornly go into reverse order , so its the last page that shows on top as it were.  Second Im not sure quite what receipients are doing but I get responses that they only have a last page and then cannot scroll back up thorough the document to find the earlier pages. They, of course, may not be doing things right. I may need to explore quite what Preview is doing but I havent found anything so far that woudl explain that.

     

    Re copying PDFs - the document I wanted to copy was a scanned text document and there were no images. Its just the only way I could seem to copy it and paste it into a word document was by treating the pdf as a graphic image. Rubbish quality as well when pasted into the word doucment.

     

    But you ar eright- I must make some time to read more about the Mac.

  • by fane_j,

    fane_j fane_j Jan 11, 2012 3:34 AM in response to rarmy
    Level 4 (3,677 points)
    Jan 11, 2012 3:34 AM in response to rarmy

    rarmy wrote:

     

    no matter what I do when I drag PDFs to the side bar to merge them to one document, like you say, they stubornly go into reverse order

    AFAICT, the order in which they are inserted depends on the sorting in Finder. So check, first, the file names, second, their sorting order in Finder.

    Im not sure quite what receipients are doing but I get responses that they only have a last page and then cannot scroll back up thorough the document to find the earlier pages.

    Can't say anything to that -- it is certainly not some familiar bug. If you can post such a file online, then maybe someone can have a look at it and see if it's alright.

    the document I wanted to copy was a scanned text document and there were no images.

    When you scan anything, be it a photo, a page in a book, or a newspaper, you produce an image. It's the equivalent of taking a picture (btw, that's why in Mac OS X Image Capture handles both cameras and scanners). You do not generate text. In order to get text from an image, you need to process it through OCR. On Mac, Win, or anything else, there is no other way. In fact, the same process occurs when you read a page of printed text, except that the OCR takes place in your brain. The fact that the image is embedded in a PDF document doesn't change anything. The picture is not magically transmogrified into text just because it's saved as PDF. I should be very surprised if this were not explained in the user guides which came with your scanner or with the software bundled with the scanner.

  • by rarmy,

    rarmy rarmy Jan 11, 2012 3:58 AM in response to fane_j
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iPad
    Jan 11, 2012 3:58 AM in response to fane_j

    Thanks again! Very kind to reply.

     

    I dont want to keep taking your time and points are noted. I guess its just getting used to things and I should devote more time- I just get busy, I might see a computer as a functional piece of apparatus and just expect it to work like any other appliance! They can take up hours of your time though and I dont always have that time, but you are right- a few minutes now would pay dividends later.

     

    Will check out the ordering thing for saving pdfs in Finder. I thought I had, logically, scanned in the first page first and so on, and therefore dragging and dropping the later pages into the first page would work- but it didnt!! Preview stubbornly put the last page first. Grrr....!

     

    Ah- re pdfs = an image even if text. Got you. Again I was working from a position of my work PC - for some reason and Im not sure what- I could copy and paste a pdf text document straight into a Word document ( I often had to do that for reports). Perhaps my work system had that OCR running and I wasnt aware of that.

     

    Anyway - I am now more understanding and will check out more of the online tutorials etc. Thanks for your help once more.

  • by fane_j,

    fane_j fane_j Jan 11, 2012 4:33 AM in response to rarmy
    Level 4 (3,677 points)
    Jan 11, 2012 4:33 AM in response to rarmy

    rarmy wrote:

     

    I was working from a position of my work PC - for some reason and Im not sure what- I could copy and paste a pdf text document straight into a Word document

    Probably you were using Adobe Acrobat Pro. There are three "document" presets, and all have OCR enabled by default. Acrobat Pro is also available for Mac OS X, but it's not cheap.