Best Practices for Turning Scans and Photos into PDFs

2026-08-16

Decide the Page Model First

When converting images you generally choose between pages that exactly match each image (great for reading and zooming) and images fitted onto standard paper sizes (great for printing). Mixing both in one file feels odd when paging — pick one and stick to it.

Order and Orientation in One Pass

Numbering filenames (01, 02, …) keeps batch conversion order stable; rotate landscape photos upright before converting instead of fixing pages one by one afterwards.

Keep the Size Down

Phone photos are routinely 4000×3000. Capping the long edge around 2000 px before converting is invisible on screen and cuts the file several times over; run the compressor afterwards if you need more.

Need Text? Follow Up with OCR

The resulting PDF is image-only and unsearchable. For scanned reference material, run OCR right after conversion to add a searchable text layer in one go.