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Topic: Re: What is a 'good' file size for scanned text? (Via Email)
Conf: (P-PDF) General, Msg: 25758
From: dhgpj
Date: 8/15/2001 11:29 AM

>I'm creating pdf files using the handy and convenient, "scan, adjust, =crop, save-to-tiff, import-to-adobe, save-as-to-optimize"
>method and I'm ending with final pdf files that are in the range of =70-100K per full page of simple black and white text that
>doesn't look like the output of a fax machine.
>
>They seem way too big to me, but I don't know how to get them any smaller =without capturing them (which is whole 'nother
>thing).

Correct. With Capturing, sizes of <5kb per page are possible. But as you =say... it's a whole 'nother thing.

>Am I in the right ballpark? Should a page of typewritten text scanned =into adobe be a lot less than that, or am I going OK?

Sounds a bit big to me. If these were Searchable Image PDFs, you are more =or less in the ballpark, but it sounds like youre just making image PDFs. = If you need Image Only PDF, then try 200 dpi - might be enough for your =needs. Certainly, don't go above 300 dpi without a GOOD reason. Ensure =that you are using CCITT G4 compression.

Note that the QUALITY (don't hear that word much these days) of the scan =is of PARAMOUNT importance to the file-size. A fuzzy,. cruddy streak =along the bottom of the page can easily add 15k to a page. Of course, =shading on the page is also going to add considerably to the file-size.

I say again what I have said, lo, these many times before. There is NO =SUBSTITUTE to careful prep, scanning and image QC BEFORE conversion to =PDF. The PDFs we manufacture are consistantly smaller than others we see =on the same material - sometimes by an order of magnitude. A sloppy =process is usually the reason why.

Duff Johnson
Document Solutions, Inc.
www.document-solutions.com