Lots of people ask me about scanning, especially lately since the HP drivers for Mac have been broken.
I find the best way to scan on a mac is using the Apple Image Capture app. This tutorial will supplement the official Apple support tutorial which can be found here:
Apple Image Capture Instructions
Take a look at the important menu items in the graphic below:
- Select whether you wish to place several sheets in the document feature or one sheet on the glass (flatbed)
- If you are scanning from the document feeder, you may only scan the entire page. Select the page size. I’ll address the flatbed later.
- Fill in the filename and choose the location to save it.
- Next choose the file type. Note: if you wish to save several pages in the same document, you must choose either TIFF or PDF. I would recommend PDF, because a TIFF file is uncompressed and can become enormous.
- If you choose PDF or TIFF, the checkbox “combine into single document” appears. Check it if you wish to do that. NOTE: If you chose flatbed, you can place single sheets on the scanner and each one you scan will be added to the same file.
OK, Ready? Press SCAN
If you choose to scan from the flatbed, the app will scan a preview of your document and you will have another choice to make. See the graphic below:
The new choice is a checkbox named “use custom size”. If you uncheck it, the choices are the same as for the document feeder, simply choose a paper size.
When the box is checked, the app allows you to define a scan area either by drawing a window on the preview, or by using size boxes.
Using his feature requires some trial and error. Just practice, you’ll get it.
