Scanning to .PDF: Helpful Tips

.pdf is a useful format for documents scanned from paper, both for screen reading as well as printing.  In order for a .pdf to be easily transmitted via the web, however, the file should be kept as small as possible.  Here's some tips to limit file sizes.  

When Setting Up a Scan On A Scanner:

• Be sure that the scanner is scanning to .pdf, and not another file format (such as .jpg for images)
• Limit the file to grayscale or black and white.  color images require more data, and thus larger file sizes.  Grayscale requires less data than color, but still requires more data than black and white.  If the text in your scan is all that's really important, black and white works well.
• Limit the dpi, or dots-per-inch.  Denser images require more data.
• Choose a "text-only" setting, rather than "text and images."  This limits the amount of data the scanner collects for the image.  
• Some scanners contain an "eliminate shadow" or related features, to remove unwanted dark areas (such as surrounding, or in the crease between pages of books).  These may or may not properly detect and eliminate these dark spots, that otherwise waste printer ink or toner.  

Files can be edited through Adobe Acrobat. 

• remove pages from a multi-page document.
• use drawing tools to create simple white-rectangle overlays to eliminate artifacts you don't wish to include with your scanned excerpt.  (Such as unneeded text, images, or dark areas).
• add markup, or additional text, images, or other data to a scan.