Calling all Canon Pixma users.

[#1]

Help!

More often than not and despite trying to find my way around settings, when I scan a document it gets saved as a PDF file and for some reason I cannot then edit it. 

Any clues guys before I put the thing in the bin.

[#2]

A bit more information would be appreciated @Minivanman, such as what are you using to scan the image?

Does the camera have a USB point in it that you can connect direct to your PC?

Edit:- No it doesn't because it's a PRINTER!

[#3]

I'm scanning direct from the printer to my computer?

Either auto, document, photo or custom scan are the options given but all produce a PDF file. Not every time, but most times which is the real puzzle.

I am fast losing patience (which I have little of) with the damn thing.  

[#4]

I can't guarantee this @Minivanman at the moment, but I seem to recall there is an option in the scanning screen to specify how the image is saved.

I'll have a look later when my visitors have gone and get back to you - if you can wait.

How are you scanning - the scan button on the printer, or via the on-screen scan utility (IJ ScanUtility)?

[#5]

Try this https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART108777 ( OCR scanning using MP Navigator EX for Windows ). I've just followed it step for step on my Pixma and it works but the output isn't exceptional.

edit to add title of help page 

[#6]

@Minivanman

Looking on Google, for "free pdf editor"... it appears that there is a Chrome app,... however, you can also have a read of this page

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/software/how-edit-pdf-for-free-3653069/

It mentions that Libre Office has one as standard

[#7]

Just checked my Pixma.... the options/settings on a scan are jpg  pdf   compressed pdf  or TIFF .. can`t find any other file type options.

[#8]

Scans are images and so cannot be edited in the way that you desire, no matter what format they are saved in.  If it's a .pdf file them it's just a picture book.  What you need is some software that performs Optical Character Recognition (OCR) which will attempt to convert an image into editable text.  It used to be standard practice for scanner manufacturers to bundle some OCR software, typically sourced from a third party.  But this seems to be going out of fashion.  I have not kept track of what Canon are doing.  @SpendLessTime has the right idea, I would imagine.  

[#9]

My pixma is just a laser printer & it can print PDF files but it never scans anything.

[#10]

Thanks for all you inputs guys, and I think I have it sorted now with those settings as it seems there are a second lot that needed to be accessed. 

[#11]

I have a PIXMA 895, and scan & save to pdf; however, I have full version of Adobe Professional so can edit
away. As others have said various 3rd party pdf editors are available.

[#12]

An excellent pdf editor is PDF-Exchange Viewer.

You can't actually edit the text directly but there are many tools to get around this and it is great for filling in pdf forms.

[#13]

Scanners simply scan to an image. Depending on what software you use to scan, you can save it in various formats, but whatever the format, it is always just an image.

The Cannon software should install a twain driver: in my case, in PaintShopPro, I can then do a file / scan, chose the scanner, and scan the image into PSP, and edit it.

To get something in text format, you need some OCR software - my cannon printer / scanner came with this. The software gets you to scan an image in (think it also lets you also use a pre-scanned image too), then tries to convert it to text. I say "tries" as sometimes the results seem like it's in Polish rather than English! Usually it's not too bad though.

[#14]

Unless you spend many £1,000's OCR is a waste of time.

[#15]

The problem with OCR is it is very dependent on the original materials, and the font used. If you have a clean scan, in a modern font, you can get very acceptable results with the freebie s/w that comes with a modern scanner. However, if it's from an old dot-matrix printer, and the scan has a lot of noise on, then the "cheap OCR" will struggle (and I say that last bit from experience!).

Isn't that the case with many things though: a thin piece of string will work to hold up a long pole, as long as it's not windy, and you only need to hold it up for a short while. The more expensive solution would, of course, give a stronger and longer-term solution.