vLetter Online Support - Scanning your form

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The following instructions address issues related to scanning
sample forms for vLetter Pro, Print or Sig.

Please Note: These are just some basic guidelines for scanning
your sample form. We cannot provide instructions or support for
the actual scanner or the scanner software, as we are not the
manufacturer of such devices. Please refer to the user manual
for your device.

What type of pen should I use on the sample form?

Use a good pen that leaves a smooth, dark line on the page as you write. Ballpoint pens should be avoided, as they tend to skip, bleed or fade out as you write. Gel ink pens, roller ball pens, or very fine fiber tip pens work well. Finally, use a pen you like, with a thickness that you like, and write as close to your normal writing size as possible.

What type of scan do I need to submit?

The best scan is a Black and White only, 100% scale, 300 dpi image saved as a TIFF or PICT file. It's about 1MB in size, or less.

Always scan the originial sample form. Do not photocopy it and then scan it, since photocopying degrades the quality of the writing.

Note: the PDF format often reduces the image resolution (dpi) to less than 300 dpi. Do not send PDF files.

What is Black and White only?

Black and White only is considered 1-bit color: the only "colors" in the image are either Black or White. The background of the page should be solid white (not speckled or gray), and the pen strokes of your writing sample should be solid black (not in colors or shades of gray, nor speckles of black).

If your scanner has settings for Line Art or Illustration as the type of document you are scanning, then it should scan Black and White correctly.

Do not choose B&W Diffusion, since this actually uses black and white pixels to simulate grayscale in the image. You end up with a checkerboard pattern of pixels, instead of solid black.

What is 100% scale?

100% scale means the page is being scanned at full size, and is not being artificially enlarged or reduced.

What does DPI mean?

DPI stands for Dots Per Inch; some scanners use PPI, which stands for Pixels Per Inch. Both refer to the Resolution of the image the scanner creates. Handwriting samples need to be scanned at 300 dpi/ppi, which means 300 dots or pixels exist inside every square inch of the image. This yields a good quality image for us to work with.

A standard 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper scanned at 300 dpi will be about 2300 x 3200 pixels in total dimension. If you scan the page at a lower dpi, there will be fewer total pixels in the image, which means the image is too small in size.

Scanning at resolutions higher than 300 dpi is not helpful, since we have to reduce the image to 300 dpi to work with it. It also results in much larger file sizes, which some email servers cannot send out.

How do I know if it's scanned correctly?

Once you've scanned the image, you can open it in an image viewing program to view it. Be sure to magnify it to full size on screen, so you can zoom in and look at the words or signature. The pen strokes of your writing should look like the example of "cyclops" above. However, if you see the checkerboard pattern shown in the example of "c" above, is it not scanned correctly. There are more examples of bad scans below.

You should also check the image dimensions and file size. The image should be roughly 2300 x 3200 pixels in size, and the file should be about 1MB or less in size.

Here are some examples of image types and file sizes at 300 dpi.

1-bit B&W 1MB

8-bit Grayscale 8MB

16-bit Color 16MB

24-bit Color 24MB

32-bit Color 32MB

If your file size is much larger than 1MB, then it was not scanned as Black & White only, or was done at a much higher resolution, or both.

What if my scan it too light?

You might be able to adjust the scan. Look for a Gamma Correction or Tone Adjustment setting. You may have to go into an Advanced interface to find these adjustments. Setting the scanner to scan darker can help make the writing more solid.

What if my scanner doesn't have a Line Art or Illustration setting?

You can try to scan it as Grayscale. This is an 8-bit setting that uses shades of gray to create the image. The file will be about 8MB in size. We can then try to convert it to Black & White here.

What if my scanner doesn't have these settings?

You can mail your form to us, and we can scan it here. You can also send your form via an overnight service, like Express Mail, UPS or FedEx.

Always send your original sample form. Do not send a photocopy of the form, since photocopying degrades the quality of the writing. Also, do not fax the form as fax quality is too poor to use.

Here are more examples of bad scans. If your scan looks like this, it is not usable. Try to adjust the settings and scan it again. If the writing doesn't scan well, try filling out another form with a better pen.