Scott,

Most flatbed scanners have a Text option, which is usually the best for sheet music.

For the resolution, I suggest using a mid range. High resolution settings usually pick up every piece of clutter on the page, tiny dots, creases, etc.., all of which produce black marks when scanned.

Brightness and contrast settings will depend upon both the document being scanned and the scanner itself. These settings will vary to some degree, but must scanners will usually allow you to preview the end product and make the needed adjustments to produce sharp lines and high contrast.

The sharpen tool should be set to mid range. When it is set higher it tends to produce clutter, thereby making the image almost unreadable.

The DPI setting is another that you will have to play by ear. Of course, the higher the setting the larger the document size. The larger documents take a bit longer to load. Most printed material is very readable at 80 to 150 dpi. Settings above 300 dpi seem to be overkill.

The PDF format is for Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is a bit slow and cumbersome. The jpg setting is the easiest to work with, and the scanned document can be inserted into any word processor as a graphic. Additionally, jpg images can be stretched to fit various screen sizes. And, they are much smaller files, which makes them easier to email.

Hope this helps,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy