Adding text to a scanned document without usinga printer

[fourtwentyfour]

I would like to scan an A4 letter blank, both sides, that an organisation sends me by post, and put a copy on my pc, in some suitable format with good definition. The blank is printed in colour, with space for hand writing, usually.

Next I would like to take some text from a libreoffice document and overprint the letter blank, keeping both sides together, and save the resulting document as a pdf so I can send it back to the organisation.

Just to be clear, I don't want to actually print on the document with a printer, I want to combine the text and document in my pc. This means that everything is online, and no scanning a printing is required.

Does anyone have a way of doing it please?

I think that a pdf format might be possible using layers, but I don't know how, or how suitable the method is.

The issues might be definition, file size, scale. I'd like to maintain the A4 size when the document is eventually printed. That is the whole idea, that the document can be printed remotely without human intervention after it leaves me, and clearly it must be the standard blank with text, just as if it were actually over printed by a printer. I hope this seems understandable, ask if not.

Thanks

[kiloran]

You can scan the letter as a jpg file, insert the jpg file into a new LibreOffice Writer document, then add your text, and save. And export as a pdf if you want.

Hope that makes some sense

--kiloran

[fourtwentyfour]

Ok, thanks.

Without the experience it's not easy to ask the right questions. I have tried opening libreoffice writer and can open the jpg, or a pdf version. However, this now sits within margins, and is smaller in size. I can reduce the margins to nearly fit to the paper size, but when I touch the image with the mouse I can move it all over the place, and don't seem to be able to type directly.

Ideally I would like the image to behave as a paper, to be locked, and to allow me to type on it without being able to upset any part of the document. I would like the application to see a blank page that can be typed on, and not be aware of the different parts of the image I have imported.

[chas49]

I don't use Libre Office so I don't know if this will work. In Microsoft Word I have done similar by inserting the background jpg in the header. Off the top of my head I think I also set the image properties to "behind text".

Then the text you type or paste goes in the normal body of the document.

Something similar in your package may achieve the results you want...

[Breelander]

I have tried opening libreoffice writer and can open the jpg, or a pdf version. However, this now sits within margins, and is smaller in size. I can reduce the margins to nearly fit to the paper size, but when I touch the image with the mouse I can move it all over the place, and don't seem to be able to type directly.

You have the image in LibreOffice Writer? You can click and drag the corners to get it to the size you need and click and drag the image to move it. When you are happy with it's size and position, right-click on it and select Properties. On the Options tab tick the boxes to protect the size and the position, this locks it in place.

To insert text on top of the picture, click the 'Insert' menu at the top of Writer and select 'Text Box'. Click and drag on the image to draw a text box in the area you want to type, then type the text you want, it will appear inside the box.

[torata]

The way I would do it is to scan and save as pdf. Much better than jpeg for docs.
Personally I use Irfan as my app for scanning, but I assume that the built in Windows software can also save as pdf

Then I use Foxit as my pdf viewer. It allows you to write text onto a pdf which you can then save. I assume other pdf utilities have similar commenting capabilities, but Foxit is light compared to Adobe, and doesn't nag you if you set it up right (I use the portable version).
Saving doesn't 'flatten' the text, so it can be edited later in Foxit.
If I want to make it a permanent addition, I then print as pdf.

HTH

torata

[fourtwentyfour]

Thank you for the help. You clearly understand my problem so there is a good chance I can fix it. Great!

[jonesa1]

If you have a tablet an alternative could be to scan the document, save as a PDF, import into an app such as Squid and add text on the tablet, the resultant file can be exported as a PDF. If the tablet is stylus enabled (such as a Samsung Tab S series), the notes could be hand-written. I've found this a very useful way of combining screen shots and my own notes while taking an online course.

[fourtwentyfour]

Ok, thanks, I've tried a few things, including loading IrfanView which seems nice to use.

Currently I can load and view my pdf 'blank', in irfanview and insert text, but this requires me to set a text area, and this is a bit fiddly, especially if I want to use two columns and repeat this exercise often, which I do. (I want to put the columns in the same place each time I use this method, and they should match up horizontally too.)

So, another way....I have a pdf of the text I need to insert, formatted into two columns and in the right place. I can use the edit/insert overwrite in irfanview. This put both documents together, but the white background of the inserted text was still present and to some extent affected the colours of the original ‘blank’. I think the answer might be to insert a transparent document? I mean visible text but no background. The equivalent in printing terms of printing on a sheet of transparent film.

Can I overprint with only formatted text in the right place? If I could it is exactly like printing the text onto the blank in the printer, but staying within my pc.

I have worked with maps and autocad using layers, where only the wanted item showed up when layers were added. I have heard of layers for pdf, but have no experience of them.

(I have tried Foxit but made no progress.)

[elkay]

Along the lines of layering, I think what you need is to have a background image as a watermark on your new pdf with text. A quick Google seems to indicate that a number of pdf creators can facilitate this. Here is one example:
https://www.win2pdf.com/doc/how-to-add- ... o-pdf.html
I'll confess, I haven't tried any of the solutions, but I do recall doing something similar with watermarks many years ago.

This is the search I used:
https://www.google.com/search?q=pdf+pri ... e&ie=UTF-8

Another option, PDFill options 7 or 8 depending on which way around you want to approach it:
http://www.pdfill.com/pdf_tools_free.html

[torata]

(I have tried Foxit but made no progress.)

Open up the pdf using foxit, then click on 'comment' tab.
You can overlay text onto the pdf by clicking the typewriter or text box functions, then clicking on the pdf and bascically start typing.

What Jonesa1 is describing is the same process, but adding handwritten text.

torata

[fourtwentyfour]

Apologies if I misunderstood some advice, but the key thing here is that the document 'blank' has a text area that is misshapen, imagine typing into an area the shape of an old fashioned tea pot!

I get around this by formatting an area of an A4 sheet to fit*, typing in it, and then want to add, paste, cover or overprint the 'blank'. So I cannot type into anything on the pdf, it would not work.

* I use margins, tabs and spaces to achieve this. It seems long winded, but because I write many letters a week it does help.

So, I just want to do two things, open my 'blank', and overwrite with the formatted text...having first set up a system that works.

I'll try the watermark idea, but feel that transparent layers might work if they exist, as described above.

Thanks.