Epson instructions for scanning documents onto a computer step by step. How to scan a document and get text from images

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The need to get a digital copy of your photos or text can arise at any time, so it will be useful to know how to scan documents from a printer to a computer. It is worth understanding that an MFP is meant - a multifunctional device that has a built-in scanner, copier and printer. Currently, there are many manufacturers of office equipment for home and office on the market, for example, HP, Epson, Canon, Brother, Kyocera, etc.

How to scan texts from a printer to a computer

There are two main options for scanning a document to your computer - as an image or as text. By default, the scanner works like this: it creates a photo; if you put a sheet of text in the copier, then it is impossible to edit it in the future. For such a function to appear, you need to use a recognizer (special software) that will turn the picture into an editable format.

How to scan a document using the Scanner Wizard

Once you have connected the universal printer to your computer, installed the drivers, and carried out the initial setup for scanning, you can use the built-in functionality of Windows. The “Scanner Wizard” is suitable for this; the execution algorithm is as follows:

Turn on the scanner, lift the lid. Check that the glass is clean; if there is dust, wipe the surface.
Place the text or photo with the surface you want to scan facing down on the glass.
Close the lid.
Go to “Control Panel”, click on “Hardware and Sound”.
Find the “Devices and Printers” item and go to it.
Right-click on the icon with your MFP, select “Start scanning”.
Set the scan options you want and click Preview.
A window will appear with a picture of what your scanned text will look like, if it turns out to be too dim, or vice versa, you can change the settings and click “Preview” again. If you are satisfied with everything, click “Scan”.
Save the result on your computer or send the file for printing.

Scan documents to your computer using special software

Along with any MFP there should be a disk with drivers and native software for this particular device. As a rule, the use of such programs provides an opportunity to achieve the most effective interaction with the device and obtain the best quality. For example, how to make a scan on a canon printer using this software:

After installing the device and software, open the list of programs.
Find the application for your printer model and launch it.
Click "Scan".
The program will prompt you to select the type, format, color or black and white scan and resolution. If you set all the parameters correctly, the result will be better.
Using Explorer, specify the path to save the final file. Give the document a name right away to make it easier to find later. If desired, the storage location can be removable media.
Preview the document to correct any shortcomings or immediately click the “Scan” button. Next, the MFP will recognize the data, after which you need to click “Save”.

How to scan personal documents with a printer

Official documents must be of high quality so that all elements are clearly visible and readable. This applies to important information: birth certificates, passports, IDs and similar documentation. Most often, ABBY FineReader is used for these purposes, but any other software with similar functionality may be suitable. Instructions on how to scan a document to a computer from a printer using a passport as an example:

Be sure to remove the cover, it will interfere during the procedure.
In the settings, set the following parameters: “grayscale”, resolution – 300 dpi (or dpi).
Unfold the passport on the first page and place it facing the glass. It is better to place it closer to the edge, leaving a small gap.
Close the lid of the device tightly; for more detailed copying, you can press it a little with your hand.
Click “Preview” and make sure that the color and detail of the letters are correct.
At the bottom, click “Scan” and wait until the device finishes recognizing the file. After that, check the picture and click “Save”.
Using a frame, select the area with the image (the passport itself); the empty fields should be outside it.
To store official data, you should select tif or bmp format.

How to scan photos to a printer

Nowadays, more often than not, people print digital photos from a computer, but sometimes a situation arises when they need to be scanned. It is important to configure the MFP correctly to ensure high-quality images. The procedure for scanning a document to a computer from a printer is as follows:

Connect the MFP to your computer and turn it on. To digitize photographs, you need to check that they are free of stains, lint and other dirt.
The photo must be placed face down on the scanner glass.
It is better to scan a photo using. This option will provide the opportunity to make adjustments during preview.
In the application, specify the scanning type (black and white, color) and set the format to “Photo”.
Set the resolution to the maximum value. This way you can scan the photo in better quality.
If you want to copy the file well, then you should not make changes to the settings during the process or lift the lid.
After the procedure, save the file in any location convenient for you on your computer.
Use a graphic editor to adjust the image. It will give you more options than a scanner program.

Many of you, more often or less often, are faced with the need to transfer information (text, graphics, photographs) from paper to a computer. The main assistant in solving this issue is a scanner. This can be either a stand-alone device or an MFP with scanning capabilities.

Preparing to scan from your printer to your computer

In order to begin the scanning process itself, you must have a computer and a scanner (or an MFP with the latter function) at your disposal.

Turn on the computer and printer.
Connect the MFP (or scanner) to a power source and to your computer.
Place the document, book, photograph or other paper medium from which information should be read with its front side on the scanner glass.

This completes the preparatory stage.

How to scan an image from a printer to a computer

Paint program

The presence of this graphic editor will help you carry out the procedure for transferring data to your computer easily and quickly.

Launch the Paint program. To do this, click on its shortcut (icon) on the desktop or go to “Start” - “All Programs” - “Accessories” - “Paint”.
In the upper left corner of the program that opens, go to the “File” menu or click on the white rectangle with a drop-down list (in the same corner).
In the list provided, select “Get image” – “From a scanner or camera” (or “From a scanner or camera”). If this menu item is not active, it means the scanner is not ready for operation (check the connection of the device to the power source and the computer).
A window appears on the screen in which you select the required device - your printer, the type of image to be scanned (color or black and white).
Afterwards, press the “Scan” button.
Ready. Here is a scanned image that you can edit if desired.
To save the picture, go to the “File” menu and select “Save As,” indicating the path in the directory where the resulting file will be stored. The most common saving formats are .JPEG and .png.

Using a scanning app

Install the necessary drivers for your printer on your computer. To do this, you can use the disk that came with the device, or download them from the Internet.
Go to “Start” – “Devices and Printers” (or “Start” – “Control Panel” – “Devices and Printers”).
Right-click on your printer icon and select “Start Scan” from the drop-down list.
A window opens in which you set scanning parameters: the type of source document, color or black and white image will be received, the resolution of the finished image, in what format the file will be saved.
Click the “Scan” button.
As a result, a scanned image will appear on the screen, to which you assign a name and indicate the path to place it on your computer.

Image resolution when scanning from printer to computer

Resolution is one of the important parameters of the final image. It is he who determines the detail (clarity) of the picture. For text documents, you should not set excessively high values - this is not necessary, and more time will be spent on the scanning process. And remember that you can reduce the resolution of the resulting image (in a graphics editor), but you cannot increase it; you will need to rescan the document.

Scanning documents is the transfer of images (including text content) from paper to electronic format. Scanning is necessary not only for transmitting documents over the Internet, but also for saving old photographs in digital format.

Scanning can occur through equipment specially designed for this purpose - a scanner and through a printer - a device for printing and copying files. You can scan through a multifunction printer using a special program and computer settings. As an example, we will learn how to scan from a printer to a computer using several programs.

Quick navigation through the article

Scanner Wizard

Before you begin working with the computer settings, place the desired document in the device on the scanning glass:

First, connect a printer with a scanner function to your computer, then go to “Start” -> “Settings” -> “Control Panel” -> “View devices and printers” and launch the “Scanner Wizard” (by clicking on the device icon), then click "Next";
Select the image type and click “Next”;
Select the desired file format (.jpg, .png), enter the name of the document and click “Next”;
Once scanning is complete, save the document to the desired folder on your desktop.

You can also place a shortcut to launch the “Scanner Wizard” on your desktop. To do this, in “View devices and printers” you need to right-click on the device icon and select “Create shortcut”.

Typically, scanners and multifunction printers come with a disk with the necessary drivers and programs for working with the device. You will likely need to install software that matches your printer/scanner model.

MF Toolbox program

This program allows you to make excellent scanned images, but only on Canon devices:

Place documents face down on the printer glass;
Click the “Scan” button and wait for the scanner window to appear on the desktop;
Select "Scan" and wait for the procedure to complete;
At the end of the work, the utility will open a window in which your scanned document will be located;
The program allows you to immediately edit a document and even send it by email.

Advantages of the MF Toolbox program:

Scanning documents is fast;
Even the oldest documents are copied to the computer with high definition;
Easy and convenient interface.

A scanner and a printer are completely different devices with opposite functions. A scanner is designed to convert information from an external medium (book, magazine, documents) into digital form, and a printer, on the contrary, is used to output digital data stored on a computer onto paper. A very common question you hear is how to scan a document onto a computer from a printer. This is due to the widespread availability of MFPs on the market - multifunctional devices that can photocopy, print and scan. But these devices are called “printers”, since they are most often used to print information.

Devices with scanning function

Scanning devices are available for home and professional use. Business machines (Xerox DocuMate 4790/4799) are distinguished by high operating speed, excellent scanning quality and reliability, as they must be used constantly. Devices intended for household use are subject to significantly lower requirements, but their scanning quality is also high (Epson Perfection V19).

Advice! You can purchase the scanner as a separate device (Brother ADS1100W) or as part of an MFP (Kyocera FS-1020MFP, Samsung SCX-4200, Samsung SCX 3400). However, in most cases it is not practical to buy only a scanning machine for home use.

Therefore, MFPs are most often chosen for home use. The most famous and best-selling products are those from Canon and HP (Canon MF3010, HP Deskjet 1510, etc.).

Connecting a scanner

To use the scanner, you will need to connect the device to your computer and install special software. To connect the device, you need to remove it from the box, remove all protective shipping stickers, install it on your workplace and connect it to the computer with a cable. Usually connection occurs via a USB port, less often (if a scanner is purchased) – via a SCSI port. If your PC does not have a SCSI connector, you will need to buy an adapter to USB.

The USB cable for connecting to a PC has different plugs: on one side it is normal (type “A”), on the other side it is almost square (type “B”). The first one is connected to the computer, the second one is connected to the MFP, it’s impossible to make a mistake.

Attention! A cable for connecting to a PC is very rarely included with an MFP, so it will need to be purchased separately. This is due to the fact that the device can be used autonomously. For example, you can photocopy documents without connecting to a PC.

After connecting to the PC, you need to plug the power cord into the outlet and turn on the device.

Installing scanning software

A message will appear on the monitor screen notifying you that a new device has been connected. If the MFP or scanner has Plug-and-Play technology, the computer will automatically recognize it and install drivers. Otherwise, you will need to do this procedure manually. Usually a driver disk is included with the device, but if it is not there - you will have to download them from the Internet.

After the drivers are installed, you need to open the device manager and make sure that everything is done correctly and the new hardware is recognized and correctly displayed in the list.

Now you can check the device. If it is an MFP, you need to print or photocopy some document, for example, make a copy of your passport. You won't be able to scan through a printer yet. To use the scanner, you will need a special program with which data from physical media will be digitized and transferred to a computer.

As a rule, most office equipment manufacturers produce their own software for scanning documents. U Canon is MF Toolbox, for HP is HP Scan etc. You can download it on the manufacturer’s official page. By specifying the device model, the user will receive a list of software available for the equipment and a link to the latest drivers.

If the software from the manufacturer is not suitable for some reason, you can find a lot of additional software on the Internet designed to work with scanners. This Abbyy Finereader, Vuescan, Winscan2PDF and many others. Some programs are paid, but with a trial period, others are absolutely free. If desired, each user will be able to choose the best option for themselves. You can download the appropriate software on the developer’s website.

Own Windows OS also provides software for working with the scanner.. This is the Scanner Wizard system tool in Windows 7, 8 and 10, the Scanner application for Windows 10 and 8.1, as well as the standard Paint program.

Scanning

The easiest way to scan images is to use the Scanner Wizard available in the Fax & Scan app. To start digitizing images, you need:

through the control panel or search in Windows, open “Faxes and Scan” and launch the application;
in the window that opens, select “New scan”;

configure settings by specifying the document type, format in which the file will be saved, resolution, etc.;

take advantage of the preview and make sure that everything is satisfactory;
click “Scan”.

After the device is completed, the digitized image can be saved on a computer, sent by email, printed, etc. And you can find this file, by opening the “Documents” folder, and in it – “Scanned Documents”.

Scanning text documents using special software

For best results when scanning text documents It is recommended to use special software from the device manufacturer. The process will be approximately the same everywhere. Differences, if any, will be insignificant. The algorithm of actions is as follows.

Launch the program and start scanning.
Select the document type, saving format, black and white or color scanning, resolution and other parameters. The final result will depend on how accurately these values are set.
Set the name of the future image, specify the folder for saving.
Use “Preview” and make adjustments to the settings if necessary.
Scan the document and save the result.

Scanning photos

To scan images, you can use the built-in capabilities of Windows - scanner wizard or Paint. To receive a photo from a scanner through this application, you must:

launch the program, click on the “File” tab;

select “From a scanner or camera”;

select the image mode – “Color”, “Black and white”, etc.;

start scanning;
the resulting image can be processed using the built-in Paint tools;
To save you need to go to “File”. Click on the “Save As” button, select a format, specify a name, destination folder and click on the “Save” button.

Scanning personal documents

Official documents scanned onto a computer must be clearly visible and readable, so they need to be digitized in the highest quality.

Advice! For better quality, it is recommended to use ABBYY Fine Reader or other programs with similar capabilities. The scanning parameters should be set to “Grayscale” and resolution to “300 dpi”. While the scanner is operating, you can press the cover with your hand to better copy information.

When previewing, you need to make sure that all letters are distinguishable and read correctly. Only after this can you save the image. It is worth keeping official documents in bmp or tif formats.

Saving scanned documents

Some programs from scanner and MFP manufacturers do not save digitized images, but only open them using viewing applications. In this case, the combination “Ctrl+S” you can select the path where the file will be moved. And programs such as Adobe Reader can automatically save the scan. To do this, you need to specify the format and folder for placing the images once; in the future, the application will do everything on its own.

Important! When scanning images, you need to set the resolution to 150 dpi, for documents - 300 dpi. The size of the saved file will depend on the selected format. The smallest size is Jpeg, the largest is bmp and tif.

The choice of application for scanning documents should be in accordance with the needs of the user and the result that he wants to obtain. So, to work with texts, you can download Scanitto Pro: the program recognizes the text and translates it into txt, docx or rtf formats, which makes it possible to open the file in Word for further editing. WinScan2PDF saves image in PDF format, which gives the user more options for using the digitized image.

Advice! If your device has scanned an image with black margins, you can crop them using a graphics editor.

Features of scanning through Canon and HP

Image scanning devices from competing manufacturers Canon and HP have distinctive features, which are determined by the desire to simplify the user’s work as much as possible.

Canon

To digitize images using Canon devices (Pixma MP250, i-SENSYS MF 4410, etc.), it is recommended to use a proprietary program Canon. It offers a number of interesting features for scanning, copying and editing documents.

HP

For greater comfort in working with HP equipment (Laserjet Pro M1132, DeskJet GT5820, etc.), you should install the proprietary application HP Scanner Utility. It has many settings for using the scanner; images are also digitized using this program. And for devices released after 2010, there is an application "HP Solution Center", allowing you to scan, change settings, save images in different formats online.

Possible problems

The following problems occur most often when scanning documents.

The device is not responding. In this case, you should restart the device, and if this does not help, disconnect it from the network for 1-2 minutes and turn it on again.
Errors appear. In such a situation, the technician displays the appropriate code, which must be sent to technical support to receive information on how to fix the problem.
If many documents have been sent to the MFP for printing, the device may freeze and not perform other tasks. You need to wait until printing is completed or cancel it.
If the device does not scan or refuses to respond to requests, this may mean that the driver has failed. You need to open the device manager, check whether the device is detected correctly, and, if necessary, reinstall the driver.

Rules for using scanners

To make the device last as long as possible, you need to follow simple recommendations.

Handle glass with care. This is a critical element and damage to it will affect the quality of digital images.
Before placing documents on the glass, you should shake off dust, remove staples, tape and other elements that may interfere with scanning or damage the device.
No need to press on the glass.
It is not recommended to clean glass with powder products. You must use a soft, dry cloth.

In conclusion, the main points should be emphasized. So, scanners or MFPs are used to scan images onto a computer. The latter are universal devices: in addition to digitizing documents, they provide the ability to make a photocopy, print information from a PC, etc., depending on the functional features. To use the scanner's functionality, you need to connect the device to your computer, install drivers, and then, according to your needs, download special software for working with the device.

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