About the scanner test
The first time you scan a document, Microsoft Office Document Imaging may check your scanner for compatibility. This is necessary if you want Office Document Imaging to control the scanner settings for you, and if your scanner is not listed in the database of scanners that is installed with Office Document Imaging.
During the test, Office Document Imaging attempts to determine the capabilities of your scanner, which will allow you to use the built-in scanner presets. If Office Document Imaging is unable to determine these settings, your scanner driver dialog box will appear each time you scan.
Office Document Imaging supports two main types of scanner drivers. TWAIN is the most common driver type and is recommended for most uses. Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) is another driver type.
Notes
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If you are using Microsoft Windows Millennium, using a WIA scanner driver with an automatic document feeder (ADF) is not recommended. For best results, install the TWAIN scanner driver supplied by the scanner manufacturer.
- TWAIN-emulation drivers will not work with Office Document Imaging.
- Although installed digital cameras appear in the list of available scanners, it is not recommended to use a digital camera when scanning documents for optical character recognition (OCR).
Bypassing the built-in scanner presets
Even if Office Document Imaging successfully determines the capabilities of your scanner, you can still choose to display your scanner driver dialog box each time you scan.
On the File menu, click Scan New Document, click Scanner, and then select the Show scanner driver dialog before scanning check box. If this option is not available, Office Document Imaging has determined that your scanner must be controlled using its own scanner driver dialog box.
Updating the scanner driver database file
Office Document Imaging installs on your computer a scanner driver database file (Xscan32.dat), which contains driver information for current and popular scanner models. This allows Office Document Imaging to recognize supported scanners without running the scanner testing procedure. However, as scanner manufacturers make driver updates available to their customers, and as newer scanner models are introduced, the scanner driver database needs to remain current. Newer versions of the scanner driver database can be found in the Office Document Imaging section of the Microsoft Office Web site.
Submitting scanner driver log files to Microsoft
To make sure your scanner driver is listed in the Office Document Imaging scanner driver database, you can submit a log file with your scanner model information to Microsoft. For more information, click Microsoft Office on the Web from the Help menu.
If for any reason Office Document Imaging cannot determine your scanner settings, your scanner driver dialog box appears each time you scan. This can happen when you download an updated hint file with new scanner information, install new drivers, or add another scanner. It also can happen if you cancel the scanner testing procedure before it completes. To manually rerun the scanner test, click Scan New Document on the File menu, click Scanner, and then click Test Scanner.
If you run the scanner test and the resulting scans are worse than before, you can reset your settings by running the scanner test again and canceling it before it completes. This causes Office Document Imaging to discard the test results and revert to the original information found in the scanner driver database.
Automatic document feeders (ADF) operate in different ways, depending on the type of scanner. Flatbed scanners sometimes have add-on feeder attachments, while multi-function scanners usually have integral feeders. During the scanner test procedure, Office Document Imaging asks you to load pages into your ADF.