Book scanning and file storage
- recreating digital files from hard copy books
Using our advanced scanning systems we can recreate cover and text PDF files for printing.
No digital files for your book?
No problem.
If you don't have a digital file of your book, we can take an original book apart and scan in the inside text and the outer cover, to produce digital PDF files.
The inner pages are scanned as black and white bitmap images and then recombined in order to create a full master document. Although not offered as standard, we can OCR (Optical Character Recognition) your work, and convert it back into Word or a similar format for editing, but there is a charge for this - please contact us for more information.
The scanning process is designed to work with our digital printers, and the scans are optimised for this output.
The book cover is scanned at a high resolution using an Agfa flat bed scanner, before our prepress department use Photoshop to airbrush out blemishes and recreate the spine accurately to account for the potential difference in spine width when using our standard paper stocks.
The final files are then moved into production as per the terms of your order, and you will receive a full proof copy before print production begins to ensure you are happy with the results.
The quality of the scanned images obviously depends on the quality of your hard copy master, but we ensure that the best possible results are obtained by checking the book page by page for quality issues.
Need a quote for book scanning and recreation?
File Storage
Our book printing process revolves around an Acrobat PDF workflow, and all files submitted are converted to PDF format before pre-flight checking. All files must be submitted as print-ready PDF files, (view a technical overview in the right hand pane here) or further charges may apply.
We are happy to take any file format you supply, and our 'hand-holding' service is personal and experienced, so if you do have any queries regarding file submission, our prepress department will be available to help.
All print ready PDF files are stored on our dedicated servers, with mirroring across to our United States Partner if you are part of our POD On Demand system. The PDF files are ready imposed, and stored ready for print, ensuring that any reprinted titles look exactly the same.
Please contact our customer service department if you need any further information on these services - 01733 237867.