SCANNING
GUIDELINES
PDF
file size is limited to 3 Megabytes (MB)
For fast and efficient use of CM/ECF, it is critical that software used for scanning documents is configured correctly. The consequences of poor or incorrect setup are significantly increased file size - typically 20 to 40 times. This bloated file size causes:
· Increased file storage requirements, together with a general slowness in handling such files.
·
Increased network traffic with very long file upload times.
Your CM/ECF session may time out before the upload of a large file can be
completed. Files over 3 MB will be rejected due to the size limit.
· A very slow download when attempting to access large files already uploaded into CM/ECF.
The optimal method for creating a PDF document for filing in CM/ECF is to create it directly from a word processing application using Adobe Acrobat’s PDFWriter. PDF files created in this way have two advantages: they are much smaller in size than documents that have been scanned and they are text-searchable.
Although some word processing applications, such as Word or WordPerfect, have an option to convert a document directly into PDF format, it is not recommended. The file created in this way is unnecessarily large.
If you MUST scan:
For those documents that must be imaged because a word-processed version does not exist, the preferred method is to scan the document directly into PDF format using Adobe Acrobat.
· Resolution (DPI): set to 200 dpi, or a maximum of 300 dpi
·
Image or Picture Type: black
and white (Do NOT use gray scale or
color unless scanning a photograph – these will create a much larger file).
Note: Do not use a scanner’s OCR settings as this can alter the scanned document.
Another method for handling large scanned documents is to scan only the relevant portions.
Check file size:
To determine the file size of a PDF, open it in Adobe Acrobat. From the File menu, click Document Properties. If the document is larger than 3 MB, split the PDF into two or more files.