Scanning docs to pdf's?

muffler

First of all Im not very tech savvy so go easy on me especially if I refer to things wrongly.

I have a Brother MFC-6490cw all in one printer which despite its age is still going well. A good bit of it's use has been scanning various documents and saving them as pdf files. However yesterday this function just stopped.

It uses a programme called Nuance PaperSoft to scan to and "save as" pdf or other formats. But while the machine scans ok Im getting an error message when I go to click on the PaperSoft programme after the scan is completed. Effectively I now have no way of saving any scanned documents in pdf format.

I went into the Brother support site and updated the programme but to no avail.

Before I scan the configuration seetings gives me the options to set the "target application" to either Microsoft Paint, XPS Viewer EP or the default setting which is "ScanSoft PaperPort 11". The latter is now the one that wont work and the other 2 have no way of generating pdf's. It also gives me an option of adding another "target application" but I havent a clue what to do there.

Any and all suggestions and comments are welcome and hopefully easy to understand.

Ten Pin

As a workaround, install a virtual PDF printer on your PC/laptop. Then select it from the printer list within the program (MS Paint or any other program that can import from the scanner). PDF is then generated.

Cute PDF Writer
https://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

muffler

Ten Pin wrote: »

As a workaround, install a virtual PDF printer on your PC/laptop. Then select it from the printer list within the program (MS Paint or any other program that can import from the scanner). PDF is then generated.

Cute PDF Writer
https://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

Thanks for that. I had a quick look at what you linked to and there was mention of having to install something else also. Does that apply in my case?

I'll get a look in more detail when Im at the work PC tomorrow.

ItHurtsWhenIP

I don't know what volume of scanning you need to do, but if it's low volume you can use the scan feature of the Google Drive app on a phone (assuming you have a gmail account). It generates PDFs.

To get to the feature, and you have the app installed, just long press on the Drive app on your phone and you should get a selection of "Search" "Scan" and "Upload".

Click on "Scan" and use it to scan your documents.

niallb

If the printer has a USB socket try plugging a USB stick into it.

You should then get the option to scan to USB. You'll have to select pdf as the output (or 'document' rather than picture) but my similar Brother printer allows this.

You'll need to stick the usb drive back in your computer when you're done to copy and rename the file, but it should be fairly easy. It'll also need to be a VFAT formatted usb stick rather than NTFS, but it's worth a try.

smuggler.ie

muffler wrote: »

First of all Im not very tech savvy so go easy on me especially if I refer to things wrongly.

I have a Brother MFC-6490cw all in one printer which despite its age is still going well. A good bit of it's use has been scanning various documents and saving them as pdf files. However yesterday this function just stopped.

It uses a programme called Nuance PaperSoft to scan to and "save as" pdf or other formats. But while the machine scans ok Im getting an error message when I go to click on the PaperSoft programme after the scan is completed. Effectively I now have no way of saving any scanned documents in pdf format.

I went into the Brother support site and updated the programme but to no avail.

Before I scan the configuration seetings gives me the options to set the "target application" to either Microsoft Paint, XPS Viewer EP or the default setting which is "ScanSoft PaperPort 11". The latter is now the one that wont work and the other 2 have no way of generating pdf's. It also gives me an option of adding another "target application" but I havent a clue what to do there.

Any and all suggestions and comments are welcome and hopefully easy to understand.

What OS you running?
What error message says?


Can you confirm you have "PDF printer" or similar in your Devices and printers. Go Win+R>control printers


do you have ControlCenter4 installed? See if this work

https://help.brother-usa.com/app/ans...pdf-format#CC4

jarvis

There’s an app called Genius Scan for phones. You can create a pdf and it will allow you email or. It allows you WhatsApp it and lots of other methods too and also allows backup to files section of phone as well as common storage platforms like google drive. It’s excellebt.

muffler

smuggler.ie wrote: »

What OS you running?
What error message says?


Can you confirm you have "PDF printer" or similar in your Devices and printers. Go Win+R>control printers


do you have ControlCenter4 installed? See if this work

https://help.brother-usa.com/app/ans...pdf-format#CC4

I tried it there again and the error message that pops up just says something like..."PaperPort has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop and Windows will close it and notify of any solution" I tried (twice) to take a screen grab of the message but when I tried to name the image it froze. I then tried to type the message wording to a word doc and again it froze when I went to enter the name I was giving the word doc. When I clicked OK on the error message I was then greeted with another error message - see 1st image below. Clicked on "close program" and got a further message - see 2nd image

The list of installed printers is in the third image. The PC I have is a Dell Optiplex 755 running Windows 7. ControlCentre 3 is the programme (or app) that I use to commence scanning



pic host


pic hosting sites

smuggler.ie

Try completely uninstall CC3 and all components/drivers, then reinstall.
Take note what version Redistributable package(C++2005~2017) program is installing during installation process for future reference.

If still persist you might need manually download and reinstall Visual C++ Redistributable Package.

muffler

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Try completely uninstall CC3 and all components/drivers, then reinstall.

Can I uninstall it without uninstalling the entire Brother set up?

smuggler.ie

muffler wrote: »

Can I uninstall it without uninstalling the entire Brother set up?

CC3 is utility that provides printer functionality, etc. Uninstalling it might leave printer drivers.
But why? It looks like installation corrupt.

Brother still provide support for this model and has all installers and drivers available
https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=gb&lang=en&prod=mfc6490cw_all

muffler

smuggler.ie wrote: »

CC3 is utility that provides printer functionality, etc. Uninstalling it might leave printer drivers.
But why? It looks like installation corrupt.

Brother still provide support for this model and has all installers and drivers available
https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=gb&lang=en&prod=mfc6490cw_all

Thanks. But as I said in my first post Im useless at these things so just to ask the question again - can I uninstall CC3 (also how to do it or where to find it) without touching the printer stuff or do I uninstall the whole shebang and reinstall everything? I cant see CC3 listed in the list of installed programmes

smuggler.ie

muffler wrote: »

Thanks. But as I said in my first post Im useless at these things so just to ask the question again - can I uninstall CC3 (also how to do it or where to find it) without touching the printer stuff or do I uninstall the whole shebang and reinstall everything? I cant see CC3 listed in the list of installed programmes

OK, installed Win7 and Full Driver & Software Package from Brother - it installs MFL-Pro Suite (you should see it in Programs and Features)

Control Center should be part of it, but cant confirm as don't have Bro printer and cannot complete the setup. See: https://help.brother-usa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/53566?R3ModelID=MFC6490CW


CC3 should be located in C:\Program Files(x86)\Brother\ControlCenter3
Within that directory you should see Uninstall icon. Also there should be "Installation diagnostics" icon - you could try this first, it might help resolve.


If by "whole shebang" you mean MFL-Pro Suite , yes, i don't see the way to uninstall CC3 alone.


https://support.brother.com/g/b/faqend.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=hls7000dn_us_eu_as&faqid=faq00000071_005

muffler

Sorry guys, Im a wee bit late in replying.

I went through the whole uninstalling and reinstalling and even had to revert to the original instillation CD to find PaperPort again but it didnt work.I then started to mess about with ControlCenter 3. Up to now what I had been doing was configuring the yoke to scan to image but I decided to set it to scan to file. In that setting there was no option to select PaperPort but seemed to indicate that it was a CC3 type software. Low and behold when I scanned a document it saved as a PDF automatically

The PaperPort issue isnt resolved but at least I have found an alternative method to scanning and saving as PDF so Im happy to leave it that.

Thanks very much to everyone for all the input and suggestions. Very much appreciated