Are you still scanning your documents to image files I.e. JPEGs, TIFF, BMP and/or PNG? Well, if you are, you are doing all it wrong. We were guilty of it too until we took this up with the Document Imaging Professionals and discovered why it is important to convert scanned documents into PDFs rather than ordinary image files.
We found out that scanning documents to image files mean nothing more than just creating a visual representation of your data, that offers zero accessibility and is non-searchable. Apart from lacking metadata, companies also have to manage and save scanned documents into multiple image-file formats to cater to their different needs.
So, what’s the best way out? Bring PDF to use.
That’s right. PDFs are not only portable but are also accessible from across the world. You can easily convert JPF to PDF online free or install paid versions of PDF editing software for problem-free document management.
But why only PDF?
ISO 32000 by the International Organization for Standardization, talks all about PDFs as portable document management format. This standard governs all rules and principles targeting software that can create, edit, read, display, format and/or manage PDFs.
Recent updates to the ISO 32000 “specify a digital form for representing electronic documents to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents independent of the environment in which they were created or the environment in which they are viewed or printed.”
Besides being governed by ISO 32000, PDFs can offer numerous benefits that includes:
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No compromises on image quality
While PDFs compress the original size of your scanned documents, it does not impact the quality of text and/or visuals contained in the files. There is no distortion of image pixels you can see on-screen and on your processed PDF.
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Speedy edits
You can convert your black-and-white scanned documents to PDF and individually compress the files while making them searchable at the same time. However, when dealing with colored documents, you can compress the overall archive size, but still, save up several gigabytes.
You can also easily edit, change and/or add more text or images to your scanned documents using PDF text bearbeiten. It works flawlessly on all major platforms and is available for download worldwide.
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Easy access to data, as and when needed
PDFs are universally accepted. You can easily share data using PDFs within a company, outside an office or even cross-countries without having to worry about losing the original formatting. PDFs are great in providing easy access to data, whenever and wherever it is needed.
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Complete control
Want certain PDFs to be restricted from printing? Or perhaps you want only a certain type of users to have access to the data contained within your PDF files? With the right PDF editor, you can add different layers of security to your document. By converting your scanned documents to PDFs, not only you can password protect them, but also tweak PDF setting to enable and/or disable feature I.e. read-only-mode, printing, editing and commenting options.
This works great in sharing sensitive data, and/or information that targets only a certain demographic or geographic audience type.
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Fast and easy text searchability
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a commonly used technology that enables users to make digital documents text searchable. PDFs are text searchable. Which means it makes easier and efficient for users to access tons of information and data in just a matter of clicks.
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Web optimization allowing for faster downloads
PDF linearization/ web optimization shuffles the content of a PDF file depending upon what a user is trying to access. By displaying the page containing desired information at the beginning of the document, while the remaining document downloads in the background, you are more likely to engage your audience.
It not only improves the effectiveness of your data but also helps establish an ROI for your content marketing. Linearization can make your content more visible on the web by automatically ranking your PDFs as easily accessible content.
What’s wrong with the TIFF image format?
Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) has been the traditional format for all scanned images. TIFF standard has been around for many years. In fact, many operating systems come equipped with TIFF viewer as a built-in feature. Which makes it as portable as PDFs. But then what’s not good about TIFF that makes PDF a favored choice now?
TIFF file format is actually a type of a raster image file format. Unlike JPEG image file format, TIFF images cannot be compressed. When working with raster images, increasing or decreasing the size of TIFF files can distort the original image. Whereas, PDFs can contain both raster and vector images. And unlike raster images, vector images can be compressed without affecting the original visual.
We asked the experts for a comparison between TIFF and PDF formats, here’s what they helped us out with:
| Property | TIFF | |
| Image type | Contains both raster and vector images. | Contains only raster images. |
| Editing | Can be edited using an online free editing software, or a downloaded paid version. | Can be modified and updated using TIFF viewer. |
| Browser readability | HTML supports PDF readability. | Can’t be read in a web browser. |
| Security | Offer sophisticated security. | Less secure. |
| Presentation quality | High quality presentation. | Poor quality presentation. |
| Print quality | Preserves original text and formatting, offers high quality printing results. | Poor printing results. TIFF files cannot preserve the original formatting of images when compressed. |
| Documents and links | Allows for document attachments and inclusion of hyperlinks. | Does not support attachment of other documents and hyperlinks. |
TIFF images can be used in situations where image quality is not the primary focus and online document sharing is not required. In scenarios, requiring HQ document sharing and data security, PDFs are a preferred option.
How are you planning to help your business join the PDF revolution? Or what ways you think can better manage information sharing for your brand? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
