When scanning a document, you can often get away with just placing the paper into the scanner and pressing Start. However, if you scan a lot of documents, or if file size is an important factor, you'll probably want to check your settings to make sure you're not wasting disk space with bloated, unnecessarily large scan files.
Here are some things you can do to reduce the size of a document when scanning it into a computer or document storage system:
Scan in black and white
Unless you specifically need a color copy of the document, choose the option to scan in black and white. Even if you are scanning a black and white document, make sure you check the color setting; a scanner set to scan in color may reproduce black on a page using multiple colors, which can make the file size significantly larger (often using 4 bits for every 1 that a black and white scan would use).
Some scanners will have an auto-select feature, which attempts to detect whether the document is black and white or color, and scan accordingly. If you are scanning a stack of documents with only some in color, you may want to consider using this feature if it's available on your scanner. It may be called Auto Color Select or something similar.
Reduce the resolution
Scanners typically measure resolution (the density of pixels) by dots per inch (DPI). Lowering the DPI can drastically reduce the file size of a document. For text-only documents, 200dpi is often sufficient. For images or high-quality scans, you may want to use a higher number, like 400dpi.
Check your file type
The file type is a major determinant of how large a scanned file will be. Unless you specifically need to use them, avoid scanning to TIFF or BMP files. JPEG is a good format to use for images; it doesn't have all of the perks of a PNG file, but it does tend to compress the image to a smaller size. PDF files are a mainstay of document scanning, and offer many useful features, but you can often get a smaller file by using an alternative format (such as DOCX). Not all scanners will have the same range of file types to choose from.
Enable file compression
Most modern scanners have the ability to compress files so they take up less disk space. Typically, this setting will be called File Compression, Scan Compression, Compression Ratio, or something similar.
Your scanner's user manual can tell you where to find the compression setting. On a Ricoh MP series copier, for example, it would be in User Tools/Counter > Scanner Features > Send Settings. Some scanners will allow you to tweak the amount of compression, while others will just have a basic on/off setting. Compressing your file shouldn't change its appearance in any noticeable way.
Post-scanning adjustments
Once you've scanned your document or image to a file, there are still other things you can do to reduce the file size, depending on what type of file it is and which programs you are using. Most image editors (including Microsoft Paint) will allow you to resize an image, and others (such as Microsoft Office Picture Manager) also offer the ability to further compress the file. Adobe Acrobat includes a Reduce File Size feature that can shrink your PDFs.
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