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Topic: Scanning Documents (Read 510 times) previous topic - next topic - Topic derived from What Are You Reading?
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Scanning Documents
Quote from: HiLola  - 
I am reading manuals, manuals, manuals!
I found almost all of the manuals for the variety of items installed in Orwan online in PDF format. I scanned the manual "for personal use only" into PDFs. They all went onto one DVD which lives in the rig.   Of course reading implies a laptop with DVD drive.  Not everything can be done on a smart phone.
joel
Joel & Terry Wiley
dog Zeke
2013  31 IB   Orwan   / 2011 CRV Tow'd LWEROVE
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #1 –
 “I scanned the manual "for personal use only" into PDFs. They all went onto one DVD which lives in the rig. “

I save manuals to the “Books” App which is backed-up to the cloud from which I can access said manuals on my Mac or iPad or iPhone. I imagine one could do the same via Google Docs or Drop Box or other platform agnostic software.

Warren
Warren
2019 MB “Dream Catcher”
Jeep Wrangler JL
 
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #2 –
I'm with you, Joel--I keep all my manuals on my computer. Most are available online, as you said, and the few that aren't I scan with my iPhone using the third-party Scanner Pro app. (Apple's built-in Notes app can also do this, but I'm just used to Scanner Pro, so I keep using it.) These apps convert whatever document you point the camera at to high-contrast b&w, and straighten out the geometry even if you aren't perfectly lined up.

Right now I have upwards of 570 manuals, data sheets, etc., in a folder that takes upon a little over 3 GB of storage on my MacBook laptop--no big deal. I also sync this folder to my iPhone, so that I always have all my manuals in my shirt pocket. I can't tell you how many times that has saved my butt! I use the third-party Documents app to read them on the phone when necessary, but there are probably other ways. (I do the same with my iPad Mini.)

So come to think of it, you can do everything on a smart phone. :-)
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #3 –
P.S.--I've edited my earlier post to add links to the apps I mentioned, and to a quick guide to scanning documents with Apple's Notes app. These apps, plus the high quality of today's smartphone cameras, make it easy to "go paperless." I used to carry a compact flatbed scanner, but I haven't needed to do that in years.

It's nice that Apple gives you this scanning capability built into every iPhone and iPad. (It's part of the operating system, so even if you have an older model, you can do it as long as your device will run a recent version of iOS.) And you can get third-party scanning apps for Android, if that's your preference. Adobe even offers a free one.

If you haven't tried scanning documents with your phone, I encourage you to give it a try. It's fast, easy, and the results are plenty good enough for archival purposes.
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #4 –
A word of caution about the Apple Notes app. Starting about a year ago, many users have reported that when they went to view a note they had stored, the text had disappeared. This started happening to me a few months ago. It has to be related to some update. Through trial and error, I found you could recover (maybe “reveal”) the text by turning the device off, then restarting. Voila, the text reappears. While I’m thankful that the text wasn’t truly lost, it is a total pain to have to go through this restart procedure about every third time I want to look at a note. The user forums are replete with complaints and suggestions, none of which solves the problem, but to date Apple itself is stonewalling, blaming it on user errors in settings or procedure. Baloney.  I double checked that everything Apple suggested and all was in order, as have many other users. So, a great tool if it works for you, but I’d suggest some sort of cloud backup instead of relying only on your device’s memory. Then just hope that breakdown doesn’t happen in the middle of nowhere!  — Jon
(Former) ‘06 TK “Albatross.” And (former) Vespa 250.   Alas, no more; both are gone.😕 Great memories remain! 😄
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #5 –
Thanks for the warning--I wasn't aware of that. Guess I'm lucky; this bug hasn't hit me (yet).

Although I'm generally distrustful of cloud storage, I do have my Notes synced via iCloud between my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook, which I find to be a great convenience. Anything I jot on one device appears "magically" on the other two.

That said, I don't rely on Notes for long-term document storage. If I were scanning instructions, receipts, or the like using the Notes method, I'd export them to my MacBook as soon as convenient and store them as separate documents there.
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #6 –
I mentioned previously that I use Apple’s cloud based “Books” App.  I download manuals, park brochures, campground maps, audio books and books directly to the Books App. I can then “read” the document from any Apple device. I’ve found Books to be a reliable and simple program for this application. I have not encountered bugs like the one Jon mentions.

Warren
Warren
2019 MB “Dream Catcher”
Jeep Wrangler JL
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #7 –
I ran across this useful article comparing a few phone scanner apps.

I have ScanPro, but didn't use it (or any other scanner) very much, so let my subscription expire last September.  With new medical considerations, and general overload of paperwork and bits and pieces of information that I need to scan and keep track of, I expect to reactivate my license soon.

Sometimes the information on the page(s) can prove unexpectedly useful.  This morning I couldn't find an account number to pay a bill, but remembered that I had scanned in a previous payment with the invoice attached, so (YAY) there was the account number on the scan for me to scoop up.

This saved a huge amount of time trying to track down this number on a hard copy of something/somewhere, but where?

   Virtual hugs,

   Judie
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #8 –
Jon, Andy,
We lost entire notes in early 2019.
They could not be recovered (spent several hours with second level Apple support).

Conclusion (after talking to developers), Notes does not do backups the way Pages or Numbers  do. 
We switched to putting quick things into notes that we didn’t care if we lost and putting important things into Pages.
Jane
Jane & Scott
Currently have a 1989 TK  LD we did a lot of upgrades on.
Bigfoot 25RQ Twin on order with early summer 2024 ETA

Our smartphone autocorrects into very poor English.
 We disclaim the illusion of ignorance this creates as we have enough ignorance we rightly claim.
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #9 –
Like a few others here, I scanned my manuals and other material into files that I house in a master folder that I keep on my desktop computer (Mac), but I also keep a duplicate of that folder in DropBox.  I have found it to be very accessible and useful, and have opened it via DropBox a couple of times using my iPhone and my iPad from the road.  I also use DropBox in my business to share files.  Very convenient.
2017 RB
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #10 –
"We switched to putting quick things into notes that we didn't care if we lost and putting important things into Pages."

Like you, I don't use Notes for long-term storage, but it does come in handy for, well, notes. :-)
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #11 –
Thank you Andy that’s the tip of the year! Had no idea.
Quote from: Andy Baird  - 
P.S.--I've edited my earlier post to add links to the apps I mentioned, and to a quick guide to scanning documents with Apple's Notes app. These apps, plus the high quality of today's smartphone cameras, make it easy to "go paperless." I used to carry a compact flatbed scanner, but I haven't needed to do that in years.

It's nice that Apple gives you this scanning capability built into every iPhone and iPad. (It's part of the operating system, so even if you have an older model, you can do it as long as your device will run a recent version of iOS.) And you can get third-party scanning apps for Android, if that's your preference. Adobe even offers a free one.

If you haven't tried scanning documents with your phone, I encourage you to give it a try. It's fast, easy, and the results are plenty good enough for archival purposes.
2005 Mid Bath
Re: Scanning Documents
Reply #12 –
I've switched to using Drafts for notes on my iPhone. From there I can easily save them to Evernote or Dropbox (and optionally various other places) with just a couple taps. I use Drafts so much I have it on my Home bar.
Fern Horst
Formerly owned:
1979 TK - "Dorie" (2007-2012)
2003 MB - "Absaroka" (2012-2019)