From: keith_nuttle@sbcglobal.net   
      
   On 5/29/2020 10:21 AM, MB wrote:   
   > On 13/05/2020 17:24, knuttle wrote:   
   >> On 5/13/2020 11:13 AM, Geoff Pearson wrote:   
   >>> I have a pile of documents, some on very frail paper, from my    
   >>> father's youth and early war time adult years 1934-1955.  My mother    
   >>> had them in an envelope.  What is the best way to store these so I    
   >>> can read them without risk (and on both sides)?  Poly-pockets don't    
   >>> seem quite right?   
   >>>   
   >>> Geoff   
   >> I don't know a good way to store the documents, but I am sure there    
   >> will be other who know.   
   >>   
   >> HOWEVER,  I have a similar situation with documents that were created    
   >> as between 1817 and 1917,  I carefully scanned them all and saved them    
   >> as PDF files to my computer.   I scan them in color on a flatbed    
   >> scanner. The color image more accurately represents the document as    
   >> the subtle differences on the paper surface can be more easily seen.   
   >>   
   >> I can read them as often as I like with out worrying that I will    
   >> damage one.  I can easily share them with cousins whose ancestors are    
   >> in the document, by just sending the PDF.   
   >    
   >    
   >    
   > I think that is the first thing to do, scan at as high a resolution as   
   > you and then save in uncompressed files, usually TIFs.  You can end up    
   > with very large files but that is not problem nowadays when storage is   
   > cheap.   
   >    
   > Keep several copies in different locations.   
   >    
   I started out saving the scan at as high of resolutions as the scanner    
   was capable of.   Then I realize I only need to scan to the resolution    
   of text on the paper, anything higher was a waste of disk space.   
      
   My standard is about 1280X720 to 1920X1080.  If it is a typewritten    
   document I will use a lower resolution.  I use a higher resolution for    
   handwritten documents where you are trying to determine which character    
   was written first, or which lines are part of which character.   
      
   I also scan documents in color, as even on black & white the color. In    
   the color scan you differentiate "coffee Stains" from subject matter.    
   Black is not a color but a mixture of all colors, scanning in color help   
   see the subtle differences in the ink making up the characters.   
      
   When it comes to pictures, I let the picture determine the resolution.    
   You can not scan resolution into a picture that natively is of low    
   resolution.  (I watch use to watch a lot of detective shows.  One of the   
   jokes was when they would take a snap shot of a car turning a corner,    
   and blow the picture up and read the license number.)   
      
   I use the PDf format as I find it is easier to navigate the page. And it   
   is easier to zoom part of it while still retaining the original size for   
   reference.   
      
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