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williamk73475671
Participant
October 19, 2023
Question

Acrobat only scans first page then stops

  • October 19, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 1199 views

Trying to scan a multi-page document using Acrobat. After upgrading to the newest version of Acrobat Pro (I have CC account) Acrobat will only scan the first page and then stop. The first page looks beautiful. But I can't get Acrobat to go any further. I tried all of the suggestions from previous posts. Uninstalled and reinstalled. Tested scan function using other programs. Got on screen share with Adobe tech support. They couldn't fix it. Nothing helped. Any ideas? Anyone else? Seems like a bug in the new version. I'm on Windows 10 desktop. Thanks.

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    1 reply

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 19, 2023

    Hi, @williamk73475671, this has been a long-standing issue with Acrobat, and I have no direct solution.

     

    An indirect solution is not to use Acrobat for the scanning. 

     

    I encourage you to continue to scan with your scanner’s software, save your scans in the TIF format, and leave the files on your Desktop (or wherever convenient). Then, you can drag the files onto the Acrobat icon in the Dock. If you save the files as TIF images, Acrobat will automatically OCR them; there's not else you have to do. If you drag more than one file onto the Acrobat icon, Acrobat will ask you if you want all of these files merged into one document or to remain as separate documents.  (If you save in any other format, the auto OCR dynamic will not happen, and you'll need to add to your workload by adding an OCR step to your activities.)

     

    Some extra tips and bits of information: A full-page 8-bit TIF file will be about 8 MB. (16-bit will be about 16 MB); once they are processed into a PDF, they will drop down to about 100-150 kb, so do not worry about the size. Assuming that you've done a pre-scan to set the Levels settings to get a clean image and you're doing a stack of pages from the same source, there's no need to do subsequent pre-scans. The first scan will be document.tif. The 2nd document will be document (2).tif, the third will be document (3).tif., etc. When you process those in Acrobat, the first scanned page will end at the end of the PDF as the last page. You can either fix this in the "Organize Pages" or, before processing in Acrobat, change the name in the Finder for document.tif to document (1).tif. (There's no way around this because this is up to the Finder or Explorer for naming, not the scanning software.

     

    If you have any questions on this, please ask.

    W
    williamk73475671Author
    Participant
    October 20, 2023

    Hi Gary, thanks so much for the information. I had been searching for a reasonable workaround but could not find anything obvious. Yes, I was using the scanner software and saving as .tif as suggested as a temporary solution. But I wasn't sure how to deal with the OCR and size issues. Sounds like a viable option with only one extra step. I can live with that. I don't have to scan very often. I was just surprised because I have used Acrobat for years without this issue popping up. The real problem is that Adobe tech support is not acknowledging this as a known issue, so they force you to spend hours banging your head on their suggestions that won't solve the problem. Thanks again!!!

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 20, 2023

    Hi, @williamk73475671 I'm glad this was of assistance to you.

     

    I find it surprising and disappointing that Adobe doesn't acknowledge this as a known issue, as I've seen it complained about here for many years. I've never encountered it because, on a Mac, Apple's Image Capture is the only scanning option available (via Acrobat) about the worst scanning software EVER. So, I never scan through Acrobat.

     

    Anyhow, here's a blog I wrote for Adobe several years ago; you might find value in some of the issues I discuss. The one "dated" issue is that most scanning software written for manufacturer's scanners tends toward the lowest level of use. That is, "Just push this button and get beautiful scans." The truth is, "no!" There is almost always a need to fine-tune the scan's image to get the best scans. Scanning software's ability to get a good start has indeed improved considerably. However, the manufacturers have removed the ability for the user to fine-tune the final results that can make a good scan into a great scan. One hint: look to see if your scanner's software has a "professional mode." If they do, you're in luck to use the tools mentioned in my blog.

     

    Good luck!

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