How to create a PDF from multiple JPEGs?

[Julesomega]

This reminds me that I use Foxit reader for reading PDFs on my old PC, and that is supposed to create PDFs from any files but when I tried there was no option of the order of the pages, plus it hung and required the three-finger shut-down. Maybe on a newer PC...

Also remember that I liked DjVU which I had to install long ago for BAMA downloads. I see now the Alabama College website has gone but the mirror site is still active at http://bama.edebris.com/manuals/. It has been updated now with everything in PDFs but the old .djvu files are also archived. Pity it lost out to Adobe and is now obsolete - see Wikipedia

[arjoll]

Originally Posted by Julesomega

I scan equipment manuals and end up with a folder of JPEG images. Does anyone know a way to convert a set of images to a single PDF document?

Irfanview for free software, Acrobat DC for subscription software, and Ghostscript if you are comfortable with the command line and a bit of a masochist.

I'd go Irfanview unless you already have DC or CC.

[Synchrodyne]

As a simple experiment, I assembled five .png documents on hand into a .pdf by several methods, and compared the resultant file sizes.


The five .png documents sum to 8.335 MB.


1. PDF Converter Pro 8 produced a “standard” .pdf of 6.65 MB.

2. Using the PDF Pro reduction facility got that down to 1.03 MB.

3. PDF Pro 8 produced an MRC compressed .pdf of 492 kB.

4. Irfanview with default settings produced a .pdf of 8.90 MB.

5. Irfanview with maximum available compression settings produced a .pdf of 3.45 MB.

6. Running the last-mentioned through PDF Pro reduction brought it down to 582 kB.


Presumably one could adjust the Irfanview settings to get a size intermediate between those produced by methods (4) and (5).


For attachments to this forum, method (3) is my first choice. If that doesn’t work, then it is a case of downsizing the individual documents where possible and reassembling.


Cheers,

[dsergeant]

As pointed out earlier the easiest option is to use the scan-to-pdf function in your scanner software (they ALL have it) and do it in multi page pdf to begin with. Trying to stitch separate jpg's together in a single pdf is hard work. Yes I can do it, Free PDF, Libre Office, Scribus, I have the lot, but why bother when there is an easier option.

[crackle]

Originally Posted by dsergeant

but why bother when there is an easier option.

If you simply use your scanner function to scan to PDF, then the result will be warts and all.
Vintage service documents are not the easiest things to scan, they can be dirty, torn, badly creased, large pages need to be scanned in 3 or 4 passes and coloured paper does not always come out very clear. I always clean up any image I scan to the best of my ability before adding a watermark.

Mike

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by dsergeant

... use the scan-to-pdf function in your scanner software (they ALL have it) ...

My HP Scanjet 2100C only has, as far as I know, the default Windows scanner software which doesn't have the option of PDF. As can be seen below, the only options are BMP, JPG, TIF or PNG.

Admittedly, this scanner is pretty ancient, but has the major advantage of a depth of focus I've not encountered on other scanners, enabling (2D) scans of three-dimensional objects.

[cheerfulcharlie]

If you're feeling a bit adventurous you could try the DJVU format.

DJVU was invented by A T&T as a lightweight alternative to PDF,
at the time it could reduce transmission speeds as it was a very lean
program. However as data transmission speeds increased people stuck with their bloated PDFs.


So A T&T sort of abandoned it and left it in limbo now as a sort of V2000 to the VHS pdf

There are still plenty of people tinkering with it .

This DJVU++ here gives you some of the capabilities

https://sourceforge.net/projects/djvupp/


.

[Maarten]

Have you checked readability for options 2 and 3? PNG compresses without artefacts luckily, but at some point it will become unusable anyway. Some software may even try to recompress as jpeg.

I've sometimes wondered why people would post barely readable text, schematics or photos to the forum, when schematics can be made available in a comfortable manner on dedicated sites such as Elektrotanya.

[Synchrodyne]

Originally Posted by Maarten

Have you checked readability for options 2 and 3? PNG compresses without artefacts luckily, but at some point it will become unusable anyway. Some software may even try to recompress as jpeg.

Yes. In the example quoted both options were fine.

As a visible example, the .pdf attachment in this post: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...24&postcount=5, was assembled using the PDF Converter Pro "PDF with MRC compression option".


Cheers,

[Maarten]

The pictures show obvious jpeg artefacts and some detail is likely lost, but the text is readable without too much trouble. Not archival quality but gets across the message just fine. I must admit at this point, that I don't know what's the forums size limit for pdf attachments.

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by maarten

I don't know what's the forums size limit for pdf attachments.

1.91mb.

[emeritus]

Stitching multiple Jpg files together is straightforward with Nova PDF, which does run on XP. It appears as another item in the PRINT menu. To create a single PDF it is only necessary to use the Windows print wizard, click the icons of the images you need, and select the Nova PF Icon. However, to ensure images appear in the right order, I open a new folder, put copies of the images in it, and renumber them in the order in which I want them to appear in the PDF, and then "print all".

[Uncle Bulgaria]

I'll reiterate what I said earlier - that a number of posts talking about LibreOffice Draw and Writer are making mountains out of molehills. The open-source Scribus is for print-publishing, usually via PDF, and deals with images far better than a word-processor.

If you want to fiddle with PDFs afterwards, try Inkscape. It's my open-source vector editor of choice. I use it professionally, as well as Adobe Illustrator. It has much the same functionality.

What is the necessity for XP? It's terribly outdated now. I did have an Epson printer that would not play with Windows 7, so I just ran it within a virtual box when I had to do large format. Perhaps that's an option, then you might not be hamstrung for software.

[raditechman]

Download and install IrfanView, also install the plugins that are available for the program.
Open IrfanView, go to Options then Multipage Images, then Create Multipage PDF, and carry on from there. It is a free program.

John

[arjoll]

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

My HP Scanjet 2100C only has, as far as I know, the default Windows scanner software which doesn't have the option of PDF.

The 2100C was shipped with HP PrecisionScan LTX which supports multi-page PDF. It's 20 year old software for Windows 98/ME though - contemporary when the scanner was new. Based on those dates, support would have ended around 15 years ago.

[Dave Moll]

Apologies for the detour, but thanks for confirming that it would originally have had such software. I bought mine second-hand without software and just downloaded driver software to run it initially under Windows ME and now XP. Having found a copy of PrecisionScan and downloaded it, I shall have a go at installing it.

As I say, I retain this ancient scanner for its ability to keep 3D objects in focus.

[Nymrod121]

About two years back, I spent a leisurely fortnight of evenings (!) scanning a wiring specifications and standards handbook previously issued to Department staff involved in broadcast Equipment Designs

Each of the 178 pages (including front and rear covers, this to maintain the original appearance of the document) was scanned at 600 d.p.i., with colour/grey/monochrome being chosen in accordance with the page content. By careful filenaming, I was able to select all of the resulting jpg files and export to a pdf file using novaPDF. The resulting filesize was around 110MB ... needless to say, Martin Ellen (bbceng.info ... darn, what a gjveaway) politely declined my suggestion that he host it

I'm considering 'biting the bullet' and buying a professional program that can do the conversion more efficiently whilst retaining the overall quality ... so JulesOmega I'll be delighted to compare notes when I meet up with you re. the Tek transformer that you've so kindly (and patiently!) kept for me, ahead of my next visit northwards

Best wishes
Guy

[Maarten]

JPEG is indeed quite inefficient for text and line drawings, hence people mentioning PNG. I've used Irfanview sucessfully in the past to create reasonably efficient PDF files, but it does require some tweaking the settings (a.o. bulk converting to the optimal bit depth, using other settings for pages with pictures on them). A dedicated professional program might be able to do the same or slightly better with a bit less effort.

[Terry_VK5TM]

The problem with using JPEGs is that they are already compressed files and cannot be compressed any further by other programs.

Hence the suggestions to use uncompressed graphic files like TIF or PNG. They can then be compressed by other programs.

The American Radio History site requests all scans be done in TIF or PNG format at 300dpi for conversion into PDF.

As an example, I use Scribus to produce the PDF version of CQ-DATV magazine.

Using JPEG images, the resulting PDF size for an average issue will run to between 14 and 18Mb.

Converting all images to PNG first brings the size down to around 4-6Mb.

This is with a max resolution of 150dpi for images at compilation time (higher resolution gives larger files, of course).

[Maarten]

PDF itself behaves just like a container to put in JPEG or PNG files, no conversion or recompression needed as those are the most relevant supported internal formats (PDF also natively supports vector drawings, which would be ideal but converting a scan to a vector drawing isn't feasible, especially for historical/archival purposes). Of course the software you use to create the PDF could be equipped to further compress JPEG (technically fully possible, by the way) or PNG with inevitable loss of quality.

The problem with further compressing JPEG is that it will give quality loss in such a way that it's particularly noticeable in line drawings and text. Fine details in PCB drawings (with grey areas) will get lost at some point as JPEG considers them details in a photo and treats them as such.

The best way to avoid all of this is indeed to convert highest possible quality source material (including JPEG except photographs) to PNG before making a PDF. I prefer to do all conversions and editing on the raw material before putting it in the PDF container, but this can be done with dedicated PDF editing software of course. Still, it is useful to know what happens inside.

I consider archival quality to be 300 or rather 600 dpi, but 150dpi is fine for most materials for general distribution