Troubleshooting scanning problems in MAC

Q: I’m having problems when trying to scan into PDF Studio in MAC.  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 ICA to communicate with a scanner. ICA is an application interface  included by the operating system that enables software to communicate with imaging hardware such as scanners and digital cameras. When scanning using this interface, PDF Studio will use our custom scanning dialog that will directly communicate with your scanners that support the  ICA interface.

NOTE: The macOS 11.0.1 update (Big Sur), has made changes to the drivers of a few printers making them incompatible. This will cause some printers to stop working, and printing from any application will cause an unexpected error.

The only resolution to the macOS update is to download and install the latest printer driver from the printer manufacturer’s websites.

 

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 ICA 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
    • Check that the Image Capture application sees your scanner. Open your imaging software, go to File, Import, Choose your scanner (and use the ICA acquire option if available) and scan a page.
    • An Error Grabbing Scan might happen because your scanner has not yet been initialized for the current user. If it’s the case, you should get an “Error grabbing scanner” but at the same time, you should see appear a dialog that had to do with setting up your scanner. On this dialog, you need to associate the Mac ID with the scanner. Once you do this, you should be to scan fine in PDF Studio.
  • 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..
  • Tip 5: Make sure permissions are set correctly
    • Set permissions for PDF Studio app
      • Right click on PDF Studio app icon -> Get info
      • Click lock icon in the bottom right corner and enter password
      • Make sure “admin” has Read & writer permissions and save changes.
    • Set permissions for JavaApplicationStub
      • Right click on PDF Studio app icon and select Show Package Contents
      • Go to Contents -> MacOS and right click on JavaApplicationStub and select Get Info
      • Click lock icon in the bottom right corner and enter password
      • Make sure “admin” has Read & writer permissions and save changes.

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).
    • 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”.