Document scan guidelines

Modified on Thu, 04 Jan 2024 at 02:28 PM

In order to process a scanned document in the best way possible the following guidelines are set to achieve this:

  • Resolution 300 dpi: document must be scanned at 300 dots per inch (DPI). The quality of character recognition decreases significantly when a lower resolution is used. Even the use of a higher scan resolution won't improve the qualtiy of character recognition.
  • Scan in color: document must be scanned in color. Apart from the fact that it benefits the automatic recognition of documents it simply looks better when a document is viewed. In this way it is also possible to make a color copy.
  • Scan as straight as possible: documents must be scanned as straight as possible. Although the automatic document processing has the possibility to 'straighten' documents it will often have negative consequences on the quality thereof.
  • Preferably jpeg: the submitted scans must have been stored preferably as a JPEG file with a quality of 80%. This are relatively small files with a high quality.

Common mistakes

Below you will find a list with mistakes that are frequently made in practice:

  • Take pictures of documents: unless the pictures are taken with a tripod with sufficient light exposure most of the time the pictures won't be adequate for automatic processing (the creases and wrinkles in the document are namely far more present when a picture is taken of the document).
  • Scan multiple documents at the same time: for example when more small receipts are scanned or when the proof of payment is scanned together with an invoice (whereby a part of the invoice is covered).
  • Submit several documents as one single PDF file.


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