Troubleshooting scanning problems in Windows

Q: I’m having problems when trying to scan into PDF Studio in Windows.  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 64bit uses WIA to connect to your scanner.
PDF Studio 32bit uses WIA or Twain 32 bit to connect to your scanner.
If you’re experiencing issues when scanning from PDF Studio, please try our troubleshooting tips below:

• Tip 1: Verify that your scanner is installed
  • If you want to see if your scanner is installed, make sure that your scanner is turned on and use the Open the Printers & scanners settings button, or follow these steps:
    1. Select Start> Settings> Devices > Printers & scanners.
       Open the Printers & scanners settings
    2. UnderPrinters & devices, look for your scanner.

    Note
    If your scanner is included in a multifunction or All-In-One printer, you may only see the name of your printer. To see your scanner, under Printers & scanners, select your installed printer, select Manage, and then choose your scanner.

• Tip 2: Make sure scanner works in other applications
  • Make sure that your scanner is installed properly and works in the manufacturer scanner software
  • Use Windows Scan App
• Tip 3: 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.  Other applications may use a different driver to connect to your scanner so it is possible that your driver needs to be updated.
• Tip 4: 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 5: Enable Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service
  • Press Windows + R keys to open Run dialog box
  • Type services.msc and hit Enter
  • Right click on Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service and select Properties
    
    
  • Set Startup type to Automatic
  • Make sure to click Start button
• Tip 6: Switch to our 32 bit Installer
  • If your scanner doesn’t support WIA, PDF Studio won’t be able to detect your scanners. In this case, you will need to switch to our 32bit Installer.
  • Download PDF Studio 32 bit installer from our website: https://www.qoppa.com/pdfstudio/download/
  • Launch PDF Studio, click on the scan dropdown icon and select “Scan to PDF (TWAIN)”
• Tip 7: 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).