(Archived) "Cheat sheet" for optimizing scanner settings for EN

[woodynash 0]

It would be great if someone would create a "cheat sheet" for optimizing my scanner's settings to help enhance my EN experience across multiple platforms. This would list the various document types (contracts, warranties, photographs, magazine articles, receipts, etc..) and what the ideal setting is for each.

For instance, I have been scanning my documents to .pdf at 300 dpi, because I felt that would give the best results for OCR accuracy. Unfortunately, I have since realized that I cannot easy view .pdf files through the EN app on my iPhone 4, whereas it is simple to open and view .jpeg files. It then occurred to me that since EN can OCR text in my photos anyway, perhaps .jpeg is a better format for those documents I don't plan to forward to a 3rd party).

Please, can someone tell me which format is best to scan my documents to (.pdf, .jpeg, .png)?

Also, what is the minimum resolution I should scan to to ensure excellent OCR performance from EN?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

IUnfortunately, I have since realized that I cannot easy view .pdf files through the EN app on my iPhone 4,

Why not? I just called up & viewed two different PDFs on my iPhone 4, from within Evernote.

[woodynash 0]

What is the ideal dpi setting for my scanner then?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

IME, 300 or 400 DPI. I recently added a Canon P150 Scantini to my scanner arsenal. It defaulted to 200 DPI. I realized that when I'd look at the scans at 100%, they were unclear. I changed it to 400 & the scans are great, now. My other doc scanner's default setting was 300 DPI & I've found that to be sufficient, too. The more DPI, the larger the file, so I'd like to see if I can set the Scantini to 300. But the best way is to check for yourself. Like I said, scan something like a credit card statement & view it at 100%. If it's easy to read, then that's all you really need, IMO. You can also try printing it out & comparing it to the original to see if it's clear.

[woodynash 0]

Perfect. Thanks!

[maghum 0]

IUnfortunately, I have since realized that I cannot easy view .pdf files through the EN app on my iPhone 4,

Why not? I just called up & viewed two different PDFs on my iPhone 4, from within Evernote.

I think there is more into the original question. For example if I use PDF-scanned files on my iPad/iPhone, the note will only show a PDF-file link in the note and I have to press on the link to be able to view the PDF content, small problem perhaps, but for me it is very annoying. Instead if it is a JPEG-image the image is shown immediately when viewing the note, that is much more user-friendly.

I have thought about this problem and wondered if it perhaps is better to switch to JPEG-scanning instead of PDF. As stated previously Evernote still can do OCR on the JPEG, so you get no loss in functionality.

Do some other of yours scan to JPEG instead of PDF?

[gchamberlin 17]

Do some other of yours scan to JPEG instead of PDF?

JPEG is fine for single page documents, but if you have multi page docs, and particularly lots-of-page docs, JPEG is a hassle. You can create images for each page and drop them into a note, but if there's a lot of pages, that gets to be cumbersome. My general rule of thumb (and depending on the doc) is JPEG for single page docs, PDF if there's more than a couple pages. Lots of times, single page stuff just gets photographed with my camera phone and e-mailed to Evernote.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Additionally, jpegs & pdfs are OCR'd differently as Dave explains in this post.