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How to Digitize Books

You can digitize books by using a digital scanner and home computer. The scanner will create a digital photograph of book pages that can then be saved into an e-book. The time it takes to digitize a book varies widely depending on the book length and scanner speed. It only takes a few minutes to get the process started however.

Things You'll Need

  • Digital scanner
  • Computer
  • Word processing program
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Instructions

    • 1

      Install the digital scanner software on your computer. Insert the installation disc provided with your digital scanner into your computer. Follow the installation program's instructions to finish connecting the scanner to your PC.

    • 2

      Turn on the digital scanner. The device may take a few moments to warm up. Open the book you want to digitize. Find the first page you want to scan. Open the top cover of the scanner to reveal the glass scanning head.

    • 3

      Place the book face down on the glass surface. Make sure the entire first page rests on the glass. Hold the other half of the book in place with one hand to keep the page from moving. Press the "Scan" button on the device. The scanner head will sweep back and forth capture the book's page.

    • 4

      Examine the scanned image that appears on your computer screen. Check for the legibility of the words and make sure the page does not appear crooked. Click the "Save" button to download the image scan to your computer.

    • 5

      Repeat Steps 1 through 4 with each page you want to scan. Each book pages will be saved as an image file inside a Media Library section of the scanning software. Locate this section of the program. Open a word processing program on your computer.

    • 6

      Click and drag the book images into the word processing application. Make sure you drag them in the correct order of the book. Click "File" and then choose "Save As." Type a name for the file and then click the "File Format" menu. Select "PDF" as the output format. Click the "Save" button. The book will now be saved as PDF file.

Book Publishing

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