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adwul62
Inspiring
May 7, 2023
Answered

Scanner problems - where to find Scanner Options:Memory Mode, Native Mode, etc.

  • May 7, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 4345 views

Am facing a problem scanning documents. It often starts out well, with the first page, but hangs trying to scan the 2nd page, showing a pop-up "Busy scanning". After some time the display on the scanner shuts off.
Nothing happens. I might give it a try again by shutting off the scanner and have it restarted. Often things go well then. Because the issue is not consistent it may be difficult to pinpoint what may be causing this.
I went over the Acrobat site: Troubleshoot scanner issues when scanning using Acrobat 

But ...
"Change Data Transfer Method under Scanner Options from Memory Mode to Native Mode"
and
"Change User Interface under Scanner Options from Hide Scanner's Native Interface to Show Scanner's Native Interface"

I know... it sounds pretty much 'newbie' but, frankly speaking, I have no idea where to look for these settings. 
Hopefully someone can give me a hint please?
Probably this is not within Acrobat (Pro 2020).
Maybe these within Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers somewhere?

 

That aside, I am not sure changing these settings will solve the matter.

Thanks in advance!

(Windows 10 x64, using the latest scanner driver)

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer adwul62

    Many thanks indeed! Truly appreciate your elaborate reply. To be honest, with some shame, I have to confess that I didn't know this (the first 4 paragraphs of your reply, about the 'grey'-matter). I guess that refers to the "Dot gain 15% " then? (Acrobat, greyscale).

    I am not using a photo scanner, but a document scanner (with a document feeder, able to scan both sides).

    The scanner software does not have any special settings as far ar colour space is concerned. When enabled one can change brightness, contrast and Gamma, improve text, compression, image quality there is a slider between  'high compression' to 'high quality', but no colour space. This is for PDF.

    As for TIF compression settings are: none, or JPEG, or LZW, there are no other settings available.

     

    It is an Epson Epson Manual PDF 

    In the documentation "Color Correction" is mentioned, but not where to find it.
    Just now I -finally- found it. By default 'Color Correction' is set to 'Automatic'.
    Users can go into 'Custom' setting and change things to their liking. There are a number of options.

    My monitor (HP) is calibrated to D65, D50 and P3 
    It is currently set to D65 (sRGB).
    It can also be set to AdobeRGB
    OTOH, if my memory serves me well, I once read that for 'normal' non-professional photos sRGB is quite sufficient.

    In Windows 10 settings > display I can select the monitor color profile HP AdobeRGB, which I can also do in Photoshop and can also set in the Advanced printer settings. This way, I think all is set using the same.
    Maybe that would be the best solution?


     

     

     

     

     


    At the end of the day I set everything to AdobeRGB

    Windows 10 x64 Settings > Display  to HP AdobeRGB .icc
    The Epson printer to AdobeRGB (Printer does not support sRGB)
    The monitor, Acrobat and Photoshop as well.
    All is set the same way now, I let it rest.
    AdobeRGB show somewhat different colours than sRGB though.

    Anyway, as said, I let it rest.
    Thanks for the help so far!
    Truly appreciated.

     

    1 reply

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 7, 2023

    I'm a Mac guy so I can't tell you any special nuances for Window's scanning dynamic, but I can tell you that you are not the first person to hit this "first-page scan" wall. 

     

    First, understand that Acrobat, by itself, cannot scan. Rather it uses TWAIN technology (you probably noticed that in the link you shared) to access your scanner's controls. 

     

    I encourage you to scan with your scanner’s software and 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.

    A
    adwul62Author
    Inspiring
    May 9, 2023

    Thank you! Yes, I know about the 'TIF-preference'.

    Sorry for the delay.

    Yesterday I drafted a long reply. In between I did some tests, but could not finish as I had to go out for the rest of the day.

     

    What I wanted to explain yesterday (but which by now is to some extend solved) was/is the reason why I usually try to use Acrobat.
    Basically Acrobat is using the scanning software of my printer (Epson).
    Windows is set to the colour space set by my monitor (HP Dreamcolour)  sRGB
    Acrobat is set to the same, of course.

    That's done yesterday, while I was writing this post.

    Before that no colour space was defined and I did not realize that. I think some 'Generic PnP monitor' was taken, I don't remember exactly, but not the monitor I was using.

     

    That resulted in some blueish colours.

    I can scan documents using the native scanner software. In case of documents containing colours (logos, coloured fonts, whatever) the scans are a little blueish. White is not white, but blueish.
    This is particularly striking in cases of unfolded documents, i.e. documents that were folded initially, because they had to fit an envelop, or pocket, but unfolded whilst scanning.
    The 'folded edges' are much more distinct and are somewhat blueish. Regretfully the scanner software does not offer any settings to improve this.
    When scanning using Acrobat - which in fact is using the native scanner software - this is hardly (or not) visible.
    White is simply white
    I have no explanation as to why Acrobat is able to produce a better scan quality.

    (In the scanning software of my previous Epson printer, there was a setting to overcome this (bluish , but regretfully I could not discover such settings in the current software).
    When searching on "epson scan blue tint" it seems to be a regular problem, though most posts refer to scanning negatives.
    Hence my preference to use Acrobat, it comes much closer to white.

     

     

    I believe the native scan software should produce correct scans, i.e. I hesitate to pay for 3rd party software

     

    All above aside, blue tint seems, more or less, seems to be a more common problem. Taking photos with my smartphone, with all in default settings, they have a blue tint and should be corrected afterwards. Same goes with my Sony DSC RX100 camera. Later versions of this camera had more, as they say, 'Canon-like' colours, i.e. warmer.

     

    --

    As said, the matter is, to a large extend solved. Below after setting the sRGB colour profile, the differences are minor.

    Also, I don't know whether this has something to do with it, but the problem that I initially had, I could not reproduce it anymore.

     

     

     

    --

     

    again later

    when I go into Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers

    select my printer, then r-click "Printer Properties", select tab Colour Management and click on that button

    then select tab "Advanced" - under Device Profile it says System default (sRGB IEC61966-2.1

    I wonder, should I not select the monitor profile there, showing up in the dropdown list. So, in that case, ALL is set to this HP Z27x Dreamcolor ICC ?

     

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 9, 2023

    The color settings you are showing me are for printing; I'm pretty sure they are not for scanning.

     
    Hmm, your color issues sound like it’s a “welcome to the brain of a computer!” issue. 
     
    Some issues the user is stuck with. For example, if you take a photo in the snow, your snow will be shaded a bit darker than it is in real life. Similarly, if you take a photo of a steam engine, the black of the steam engine will be a lighter dark gray. This is because the auto-sensor in a camera is looking for 18% gray. So, when looking at predominantly white (snow) or black (steam engines), the former image will be darkened while the latter image will be lightened. The only resolution is to do some manipulation in Photoshop (or a comparable application) to make the appropriate adjustments. 
     
    Above, it's an issue of the camera doing what it's supposed to do: balance the light for that 18% gray.
    Below it's an issue that the camera is showing what IT sees. 
     
    When it comes to color, some software does a better job of “thinking about what color the color is.” But here is where the brain and the computer collide! If we are in a tungsten light, we see white paper. But a camera will see yellow paper. If you are in fluorescent light, the white paper is a bit bluish. Simply, our brain wants and expects to see white, but here, the camera is seeing the correct color. Simply, our eyes were fooled here.
     
    I've been talking about cameras, but scanners are not all that much different in this regard. However, the camera and scanner should have a setting for "What would a human see?" It's often called Auto White Balance or something like that. Over the years, this has gotten amazingly good. Not always, as I occasionally have to fine-tune the white balance to what I think I saw.
     
    I’m guessing, and I’m really not sure, that the Acrobat software is automatically pressing the right switch to convert the blue-ish color into the white color that you want/expect. 
     
    Can you let me know what Epson scanner you have? I use the Epson V800 Photo scanner. I occasionally do documents, but I mostly do photos, slides, and things like that. For me, getting a 3rd party scanning software was vital (I use Silverfast). But for primarily document scanning, I’m sure that Epson’s software is more than adequate. One thing to look for SOMEWHERE is setting the White Balance to “Document,” or Auto, Auto CC (Auto Color Correction), or Auto WB (White Balance). If you send me the model, I might be able to dig around in the manual and see what you need to look for.
     
    Good luck!
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