Andrey Laрpо - Technical Writing Portfolio / Writing Samples

Document Digitization Workflow

Note: This is an anonymized translation of internal documentation created for Russian-speaking colleagues at an e-commerce company. Interface elements and software names appear in Russian as they were used in the original workflow. The company managed 50,000+ products with extensive paper-based documentation that needed digitization.

Document Type: Process Documentation
Audience: content managers, operations team
Original Language: Russian

A lot of product documentation still arrives as paper only. The printed material is often good enough quality to use on the website, and the information itself is valuable for reference. The goal here is to convert these paper documents into proper digital files—searchable text, copy-paste functionality, the works.

Before you start scanning anything, make sure you have one of these:

This matters because pages get mixed up during batch scanning. You’ll need something to verify the correct order afterward.

Document Formats

Documents come in three physical formats, each requiring different preparation.

Loose sheets are the easiest. Same size, ready to scan. Nothing to prepare.

Folded and stapled sheets are trickier. If you just remove the staples and unfold everything, the inner pages will be smaller than the outer ones. Two options: either align everything by the outer edge and trim to the smallest page, or cut off the stapled portion entirely. We don’t have a guillotine cutter, press, or clamps, so you’ll be using a cutting mat, metal ruler, and utility knife. The edge won’t be perfectly even, and you’ll get paper dust in the scanner. Can’t be helped.

Perfect-bound documents (glued spine, like paperback books) need the spine cut off. Ideally on a proper cutter so the cut is straight and perpendicular. Manual cutting works but produces worse results.

There’s a print shop on the first floor of our building. I had them cut the spines off about 15 catalogs in half an hour for cash, no receipt. Worth considering if you have a lot to process.

Scanning

Glossy or thick pages might jam the auto-feed scanner. Use a flatbed scanner for those.

For auto-feed scanning, use Samsung Printer Experience or whatever scanner software you have. The specific model doesn’t matter as much as getting the settings right.

Basic settings:

Important: Most scanner software offers Документ (Document) or Фото (Photo) modes. Document mode aggressively brightens the background and washes out light elements in photos. This destroys image quality. Use Photo mode unless you’re scanning text-only pages. If you mix modes in a multi-page document, the difference will be obvious when flipping through pages.

I’ve noticed that with Автоподатчик: две стороны (duplex auto-feed), the reverse side gets saved rotated 180°. Check your first scan and adjust if needed.

You can also use ABBYY FineReader OCR-редактор (Файл > Сканировать страницы) or the Acquire images from scanner tool in FastStone Image Viewer. FineReader won’t save images separately unless you save the OCR project.

For flatbed scanning with Epson Scan: Enhanced with Epson Easy Photo Fix 3.9.2.1RU, the settings that work are:

Click to see screenshot

Screenshot of the Epson Scan software in Professional Mode. The window shows scan settings configured for a reflective document: 24-bit color at 300 dpi, original size 2.96 × 4.22 inches, with adjustments including low-level Unsharp Mask, Fine Prints (175 lpi) descreening, low-level Dust Removal, and other options like Color Restoration and DIGITAL ICE turned off or at default/low

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Mode (Режим): Professional Mode (Профессиональный режим)
Original (Оригинал):

Destination (Назначение):

Adjustments (Настройки):

In Конфигурация (Configuration) > Другое (Other) you can enable Коррекция перекоса документа (Correct Document Skew). If you do, check afterward that the automatic deskew worked correctly on all pages. Fix any mistakes manually in FastStone Image Viewer or re-scan the bad pages.

Click to see screenshot

The screenshot shows the Other tab of the Configuration dialog box in the Epson Scan application. The Correct Document Skew setting is checked at the top of the window

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Save as TIFF when available (it preserves pixel density information), or PNG if TIFF isn’t an option.

Click to see screenshot

Screenshot of the Epson Scan File Save Settings dialog box. Location is set to Other with the folder path pointing to Downloads. File naming uses prefix 0-digit number, starting at 003. Selected image format is TIFF (*.tif) with byte order Windows, no compression for color/grayscale or B&W, and Embed ICC Profile turned on. Checkboxes for overwrite, show dialog before scan, open folder after scanning, and show Add Page dialog are all unchecked. Standard OK, Cancel, and Help buttons at the bottom

Post-Processing

After scanning, sort the files by name and verify the page order is correct. This is where that backup copy, page numbers, or video recording comes in.

FastStone Image Viewer lets you reorder images arbitrarily and then rename them sequentially. Here’s how:

  1. Open the folder with scans in File Explorer
  2. Right-click the folder > Browse with FastStone (if context menu integration is installed)
    • If that option doesn’t exist: Right-click any scan > Open with > FastStone Image Viewer
    • If that’s not there either: Right-click any scan > Open with > Choose another app > Choose an app on your PC > navigate to FastStone Image Viewer folder > select FSViewer.exe > OK
  3. Press Enter
  4. You’ll see all images in the folder in some order. In the dropdown list Thumbnail Order choose Date Taken (sorts by creation date)
  5. Go through the images from first to last, checking the order is right. If pages are out of sequence, drag and drop to fix them
  6. When you’re done reordering, select all images and press F2
  7. In the Batch Rename tab of the Batch Image Convert / Rename window, set Template to ### and Sequential number starts from to 1
  8. Click Rename
Click to see screenshot

The screenshot shows the Batch Rename tab of the Batch Image Convert / Rename dialog in FastStone Image Viewer. The left side of the dialog displays a list of files in the current folder. The right side contains a list of files to be renamed, a name mask, and the Rename button

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Files will be renamed sequentially starting from 001 according to the current display order.

To compress TIFF files (saves storage space without losing quality), use FastStone Image Viewer:

Click to see screenshot

The screenshot shows the "Batch Convert" tab of the "Batch Image Convert / Rename" dialog in FastStone Image Viewer. In the central part, in the Output Format field, the TIFF format is selected. Another dialog, Output Format Options, is displayed above the dialog, with the compression option set to ZIP

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After digitization is complete, follow the OCR workflow to add the searchable text layer.

Common mistakes to avoid:

This workflow was developed for processing product documentation items. It’s been tested on catalogs, technical specifications, brochures, and mixed-format documents.

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  1. For high-quality print materials on glossy paper, try 350 DPI and compare the results at high magnification. Choose whichever looks better for that specific document. ↩

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