Document Scanning

File formats are used for many purposes and you should have a basic idea of what types they are and what they are used for. These files are commonly used in our location. There are graphics file formats used for printing and others are used for on-screen viewing or online publishing. Each type has variations within each group and within each group there are  file formats better than others depending on what you need. For example, gif and jpg are good for online publishing. There are other file formats that are used for this same task but these are more common. A file format of the type eps and tiff are more commonly used for  printing. They provide quality images for printing. For information about your next document scanning project, please contact us.

For on screen display, JPG or JPEG are more suitable.  A gray scale jpg is capable of displaying very high quality images and are commonly used throughout the industry for this reason. Additionally, this file format may be compressed to provide small files that occupy less computer space while still providing good quality. A word of caution here, when compressing files, some quality is compromised. Depending on the quality of the starting file and the necessary result, compressing the files has its limits.

Here is another characteristic of file format that may be of some interest. Files are capable of holding different amounts of colors. Each file format will have a reference to the number of bits that the format is capable of supporting. 1 bit per pixel equals an image with 2 colors. 4 bits per pixel is an image capable of holding up to 16 colors. An 8 bits per pixel is an image that can have up to 256 colors. And 16 bits per pixel refers to an image that can be up to 32,768 colors. A 24 bits per pixel are less common and refers to an image that can be 16,777,216 colors. For your next document scanning project, be sure to identify what level of color is most acceptable for the images.

Here are some file format and common applications.

GIF                                 Web Screen display                          Web Photo Images
JPEG, JPG                 Screen display                                   Online Photo Images
TIFF, TIF                 PostScript printers                                   High quality printing

Document quality preservation during a document conversion process is a critical aspect of a document conversion project.

There are many factors that affect the resulting quality of documents and document scanning projects when undergoing a digitizing process. Although end-users are usually more concerned with the end product, a general understanding of these factors is recommended. This can help gain better control during the digitizing process as well as establish expectation that can result in optimum customer satisfaction.

The first main consideration a project manager should pay attention to is equipment. There are numerous types equipments that may be used for a document conversion process. This variation offers many options that can drastically affect the outcome of a conversion process. There are many options offered by the various types of equipment and a project manager should make sure that the equipment available offers the options that are necessary for his or her particular conversion project.

The three main options are Speed, Quality, and Output Capabilities. The document scanning equipment assigned to a project needs to be able to meet or exceed all the production deadlines. A project that is very large in volume and or has a very tight schedule is specially susceptible to the speed capabilities of the document scanning equipments. Make sure that the unit is capable of completing the project on time before you start the process.

There are also variation in the quality capabilities of different scanning systems. A good way to assure that your document scanning equipment can produce the quality you expect is to test the system. To do this, it is recommended that a sampling of various document types are gathered together to make a test run. This test should be a good representation of the overall project. The documents should be scanned using the same equipment that will ultimately be used for the real project. Once the test is complete, all parties concerned should analyze the results and determine if the digital representation of the documents is acceptable.

End users should also examine the file format requirements and the document scanning equipments output capabilities. Some end-users have a specific need due to existing or future document handling program. If this is the case, the file format required needs to be identified upfront and the document scanning equipment or post scanning process needs to be able to produce the required file format.

The second main consideration a project manager should pay attention to is Standards. These are the production and quality standards that a document scanning firm uses during the process of document conversion. A good document conversion firm should have an identifiable
process flow that outlines the various steps required during the production flow, that will guarantee a specified quality level. Unless a firm uses efficient quality checks throughout the process, the quality of the project could be jeopardized.

The third main consideration a project manager should pay attention to is the quality of the originals.  This refers to the integrity and readability  of the documents to be converted to digital format.  It is recommended that the best possible original document be provided to the document conversion firm for optimum quality output.  If a document to be scanned has very poor quality, it is possible that the scanned image will also have an undesirable quality level. Some image enhancement tools can be applied in certain cases that may improve the quality of a scan image, however, information in an original document that has been compromised, may  suffer during a conversion process. The expectation for an end-user should always be relative to the quality of an original.