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JR Boulay
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 19, 2026
Question

Cannot scan (infinite loop mode)

  • February 19, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 39 views

Hi

I cannot scan using Acrobat Pro 25.00121111 for Mac.

My printer/scanner is connected, I can print with my Mac but I cannot scan.
This is not a problem on my PC, which is on the same desk.

Step 1: The scanner does not appear in the list, so I click on ‘Help’.

Step 2: In the help section, I click on the link ‘Scanner not recognised’.

Step 3: Error 404, I click on ‘Adobe Support’.

Step 4: Back to step 2, and so on (infinite loop mode enabled).

 

What should I do to avoid having to use the PC every time I want to scan something?

 

Step 1:

 

Step 2:

 

Step 3:

 

    2 replies

    JR Boulay
    Community Expert
    JR BoulayCommunity ExpertAuthor
    Community Expert
    February 24, 2026

    Thanks Gary.

    I thought TWAIN was no longer around.
    In any case, I solved my problem; all I had to do was reinstall the EPSON drivers.

    So I can confirm that I can scan with Acrobat Pro on Mac and Windows.

    However, that doesn't explain why the Adobe Help link returns a 404 error. Hopefully, that will be fixed soon.

     

     

     

    Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    February 24, 2026

    Hi JR, nonetheless, you are scanning via the Image Capture app from Apple; you are not using your Epson scanning software. 

    I suggest you do a test: scan using Apple’s Image Capture and enhance the image (a page of text or a photograph) as best as you can. 

    Then, repeat using your scanner’s software. Compare the two images and see which scanning software you really want to use in the future.

    A friend of mine had been scanning images for a book he was writing, so I suggested he do this test. He rescanned all of the images he had already scanned and then thanked me.

    If your scanning page looks like this, you’re in Image Capture.
     

     

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    February 19, 2026

    Acrobat cannot scan, at least not by itself. There is NO scanning function within Acrobat. Rather, Acrobat uses other software to scan. On a PC, this is done via a "linking" software called Twain. On the Mac, Twain is not allowed for the same reasons they kicked off Flash (too many potential virus issues). So, instead, they provide a limited TWAIN link to Apple's "Image Capture." 

    Unfortunately, Image Capture is a major piece of **** scanning software. It is at the bottom of the barrel in scan quality. Nonetheless, you can scan through Image Capture if you want.

    I encourage you to continue scanning, but with your scanner’s software. When doing this, 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 nothing 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 separate.  (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, 300 ppi, 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 it is up to Finder or Explorer to name it, not the scanning software. FWIW, I use this latter approach.

    Meanwhile, if you want some tips on scanning and for better quality OCR, I wrote this Blog for Adobe a number of years ago. I hope it helps,

    https://community.adobe.com/questions-9/scanning-clean-searchable-pdfs-1278321#M89

     

    JR Boulay
    Community Expert
    JR BoulayCommunity ExpertAuthor
    Community Expert
    March 2, 2026

    What I scan are attendance sheets and various administrative documents for archiving.
    They don't need OCR or high quality.
    I mainly need speed and efficiency, which is why I prefer to do it directly with Acrobat.

    Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 2, 2026

    Oh, OK. Yes, you do not need it. The only other criteria for processing the documents through OCR is substantially smaller documents to archive. For that, you do not need accurate OCR, just ANY OCR will do.