# scanning magazines to dvd



## PCorl (Feb 23, 2009)

I hope this is the right place to ask this question, if not, please point me in the right direction.

I have LOTS of woodworking magazines. I would like to find a way to scan them to a pdf format and put them on dvds. I tried scanning pages into Word and saving it as a pdf file. That worked ok but there must be an easier way. What I would really is a program that when I scan the magazines in would look like some of the online catalogs or magazines where there are pages that you can "page through".

I also tried to scan the pages of a magazine as a .jpeg file and convert them to .pdf format but those files were HUGE. Of course I would also like a "freeware" program if anyone knows of such a program.

Thanks for your help. Paul


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

I am not sure if this will work but maybe scanning the pages as a jpeg image then using an image reduction program before converting to pdf.

I use the program called PixResizer for jpeg images. It can be found here: http://bluefive.pair.com/


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## GEORGE6149 (Jul 20, 2008)

I have a program called Readiris pro 12---www.irislink.com. I can scan directly to- Word-PDF-Excel and others,then edit and save. Hope this helps


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

I have scanned selected articles using ScanSoft PDF Create, but like you said they are huge. I've found that if you try to do a convert to text using optical character recognition (OCR) that you loose all of the formatting and pictures end up all messed up.

So all of my conversion has been as a picture of the page to pdf. At least that way it is readable and matches the article. But it's not the same as the ones that you get from the magazines themselves where you get a years worth of the magazine on DVD.


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## MikeGager (Jun 15, 2009)

save yourself some time and just find them already online

here is a site you can download pretty much anything you want

http://woodworking.forumotion.net/forum.htm


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## chriswright (Nov 13, 2008)

After graduating from college with a degree in graphic design, I can say there are lots of programs available to create PDFs. Karson is right, you need OCR software to get the text info, this will allow you to search for specific topics in the PDFs. Sadly it's difficult to scan OCR and graphics at the same time. The software I used would save the images and text into two different files. You'd have to use a page layout software (InDesign, Quark Express, Page Maker) and place them back together. It's a lot of work to do that. Easiest thing is to do what you were doing and scan them into Word so you can have all the pages together in one PDF. Good luck.


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## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

I have a scanner built into my printer and I have the option to save as a PDF


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## Sawdust2 (Mar 18, 2007)

Sometimes spending a little money is the best way to get what you want done.
Almost all of the woodworking magz have the entire collection in CD or DVD for less than $25, each.

My $.03

Lee


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## GaryK (Jun 25, 2007)

I use Adobe Acrobat. It will cost you though. But, it's a great program. You can just take a bunch of jpg's and convert them all at once.

It will also do OCR so you can search them. Also you can create bookmarks. For example turn the table of contents into clickable links to go directly to the article.

You can find great deals on ebay. You don't need anything beyond version 7.


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## chriswright (Nov 13, 2008)

Thanks so much for that site Mike, I've been a downloading fool since I joined up there.


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## tooldad (Mar 24, 2008)

I scan them as a jpg also. then I go to the windows previewer. I then click on the print button. next I select all the pages in that article. I then print to pdf. (i downloaded a free driver to do that) it saves all the pages as one pdf file. finally i put them in a folder under plans then subfolder by projects. makes it easier to find later. sorry bout all lower cas. the kid climbed into my lap, so doing this one handed.


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## LesB (Dec 21, 2008)

I don't see this as a big problem, especially if you have a Mac computer. Adobe Acrobat is pretty expensive unless you have a lot of use for it. I also don't see any need to use OCR program unless you want to edit the text.
One program that works for both Mac and PC is Adobe Photo Elements (about $89). Scan the pages into Photo Elements (follow your scanners instructions for this) and then you can make adjustments such as cropping, brightness, sharpness or add your own text comments or markings, after which it can be convert it to a PDF file (use "save as" command) and your are done. You could also leave it as a JPEG file there is not much difference if you are just viewing it on a computer.
On a Mac you scan the page into any program that accepts scanned files, then go to Print and in the Print window there is a setting to save it as a PDF document. From there you can combine multiple pages of PDF documents into one PDF file either using Mac's Preview program or one of several other "free" programs you can download from the internet. There are probably similar programs for combining PDF files for PC.


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## sikrap (Mar 15, 2009)

Thanks Mike!! NOw I not only will have the magazines on file/dvd, but I don't have to renew my subscriptions. Thanks again!!!


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## LesB (Dec 21, 2008)

I forgot one thing. In order to keep your files size smaller you can set the scan to 72 dots per inch (dpi) on the scanner. That is adequate for viewing on a computer screen. If you want to print them out you will need a higher dpi.


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