Simple Scan

PDF Compression/Scaling Settings

Asked by imwithid

Ubuntu Lucid 10.04.3 x64
Simple Scan version 1.0.3

I generally scan multiple pages to archive documents. I scan them both in PNG and PDF (as errors may occur, pages need to be added/removed/changed, etc.). Instead of rescanning the entire folder, I use the convert command (e.g. convert compress jpg * outputfile.pdf), however, I end up with PDF files that are inconsistent with Simple Scans methods of converting to PDF when viewed. This is both a nuisance and looks sloppy when archiving.

Both Simple Scan's PDF conversion/compression and the convert command end up with the same fie size, however, when viewing, the convert version ends up being viewed via eVince (or other PDF viewer) at about 3-4 times the viewing size (although some applications normalize the viewing size).

How does Simple Scan convert scanned images to PDF and what settings are used (scale, compression, etc.)?

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Simple Scan Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
imwithid
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Michael Nagel (nailor) said : 		#1

Simple Scan might consider the DPI setting to transform from pixels to inches/centimeters. Convert will not do this by default.

Page size settings might have an effect as well, but I think they are broken and not actually considered.

Revision history for this message
imwithid (imwithid) said : 		#2

I had spent a few more hours on the problem and it seemed that ImageMagick had something to do with it when I looked at the document properties of the file. After reading through some of the documentation (very long and complex) I found something that came close enough. The following command line was about 99% the size and fit the document properties fields:

[code]convert -page Letter -compress JPEG * out.pdf[/code]

The only frustrating part is having to rename scanned files (beginning with the first as file-00, then file-1 > file-01, file-2>file-02, etc.) otherwise the first page in the newly converted PDF file ends up being 10.

In the process, I may have answered my own question (and perhaps saved someone the headache of figuring it out).