Troubleshooting scanning problems

Q: I’m having problems when trying to scan into PDF Studio.  What can I do?

A: Using PDF Studio, you can directly scan your paper documents into PDF documents. This will allow you to work towards a paperless office and save time and trees.PDF Studio, like many other cross-platform applications, uses TWAIN (or SANE under Linux) to communicate with a scanner. TWAIN and SANE are standard frameworks allowing applications to communicate with scanners independently of the scanner itself or the operating system.If you’re experiencing issues when scanning from PDF Studio, please try our troubleshooting tips below:

  • Tip 1: Update to the latest drivers
    • This is the most important tip. Download the latest driver for your scanner from the manufacturer website. A listing of computer scanner manufacturers and links to the drivers pages can be found on this page http://www.computerhope.com/drivers/scanner.htm
    • Even if you have already used your scanner from other applications don’t assume you have the latest twain drivers. PDF Studio connects to your scanner using the TWAIN/SANE driver.  Other applications may use a different driver to connect to your scanner so it is possible that your driver needs to be updated.
  • Tip 2: Reset your scanner
    • If your scanner used to work in PDF Studio but stopped working:
    • Turn off your scanner
    • Unplug the scanner from your computer
    • Wait a few minutes
    • Plug it back in and turn it back on
    • Try again
  • Tip 3: Make sure scanner works in other applications
  • Tip 4: Try another scanner driver 
    • Sometimes you will have multiple drivers installed for your scanner and will see a list of available scanners in the selection dialog. Make sure you try another driver if the first one doesn’t work. For instance with a scanner / printer Canon MX700, there are 2 ways of scanning: using the WIA Canon MX700 or using ScanGear. Some advanced features may be supported with one driver and not the other.

If none of the tips above worked for you and you’re still having errors when trying to scan from PDF Studio:

  1. Email us from within PDF Studio from the top menu Help > Email Support. Please do so immediately after trying to scan from PDF Studio. This will send us your log file with possible errors logged. We will send this log file to the third party vendor who provides our scanning library so they can indentify and fix any outstanding issue with the library.
  2. Alternatively, you can always use your standard scanning software to scan your documents to image files and then:
    • Import Images into PDF Studio:
      • Using Images -> Import Images as Pages from the top menu bar.
      • Dragging and dropping Images into PDF Studio’s main pane (not the thumbnail pane, the main pane).
    • On Mac, you may also print to PDF from the scanning software. To do so, in the print dialog, click on “PDF” button at the bottom left and select “Save as PDF”.