Scanning Tips
Contents
Overview
Storage requirements can vary widely based on the amount of text or photos on the page. You should always scan in the lowest resolution you will need to get the job done. This is usually Black and White at 200 to 300 dpi.
Sample Storage Requirements
The selection of the scanning resolution (dots per inch, dpi) and type of scan, color, grayscale, or black and white is very important. The table below shows some test scans of one page.
Description |
Size |
Full Coverage Color 8.5" x 11" Magazine Cover Scanned 300 dpi Color |
24,000,000 bytes (24 MB) |
Full Coverage Color Magazine Cover Scanned 300 dpi Grayscale |
4,000,000 bytes (4 MB) |
Full Coverage Color Magazine Cover Scanned 300 dpi Black And White |
417,000 bytes (417 KB) |
Full page of text such as a page of a contract Scanned 300 dpi Black and White |
45,000 to 83,000 bytes (45 KB) |
Full page of text such as a page of a contract Scanned 200 dpi Black and White |
35,000 to 54,000 bytes (35 KB) |
Same full page of text Scanned 300 dpi Color |
10,000,000 bytes (10 MB) |
Selecting The Right Resolution
Normally 200 to 300 dpi black and white scanning does fine for business documents. If you are storing photos, decide if you need to scan it in color. Grayscale will produce a good quality black and white photo.
150 dpi is readable, but will not work well if you ever want to use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on the document. OCR usually requires 250 dpi or higher for good accuracy.
A 250 GB disk drive will hold about 30,000 to 50,000 pages scanned black and white depending on the amount of text on the page and the resolution used.
See Also
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Use 250 dpi if your scanner supports it. Otherwise use 200, or 300 dpi. Business documents almost never need color scanning and it is rare when grayscale is needed. |
