Copyright © 2022 Matthew Phillip Cooper Page 1 of 12
Scan, Format, Attach, Send
Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Scanning........................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Prerequisites..............................................................................................................................................................2
Open 
Skanlite
............................................................................................................................................................ 3
Using 
Skanlite
............................................................................................................................................................4
Preview a scan.....................................................................................................................................................4
Saving a scan........................................................................................................................................................5
Choosing a location.......................................................................................................................................5
Create a new folder.......................................................................................................................................6
Name your file................................................................................................................................................7
Choosing the file format..............................................................................................................................8
Sending via Email........................................................................................................................................................ 10
Compose Email.......................................................................................................................................................11
Attach the Scan...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Select the file.....................................................................................................................................................12
Send the file.......................................................................................................................................................12

Introduction

The purpose of the lesson is to show you how to scan a document and send it to a recipient using

your email. In this lesson you will learn:

• How to scan a document or image using your scanner peripheral

• How to save the scanned document to the correct file format and location.

• How to choose the correct file format

• How to choose and find the correct file location

• How to to attach the file to an email and send it to a someone

Scanning

This section will detail how to scan a document or image using the standard scanning application

called

Skanlite

Prerequisites

We will start by assuming that you have your scanner connected and the correct software

installed. I will assume that you are running Manjaro KDE as your Operating System (OS). Don’t

worry if you are not using this precise setup, but be aware that the software and the look & feel

may differ across other platforms and distros.

Open

Skanlite

Start by opening the

Main Menu

situated in the bottom left corner of your screen. Single

left

-click

on the furthest left icon along the bottom bar, alternatively you can simply press the symbol key

located between

CTRL

ALT

When the menu appears start typing in

Skanlite

, don’t worry about clicking the mouse into

anywhere, just start typing. The menu system should shortlist the applications as you type. You

will see

Skanlite

appear in the menu list. Single

left

-click on the icon to open the app.

Figure 1: Load up Skanlite

Using

Skanlite

Now that you have Skanlite

open it will

look for your scanner. If your scanner

is not turned on

Skanlite

will tell you

that it cannot find any devices. Make

sure your scanner is plugged into the

computer and is turned on then single

left

-click on the

“Reload devices list”

button and wait for it to appear.

When you can see your scanner,

single-click

on it and the

single-click

OK button. A new window will open.

Preview a scan

On the right of the window you will see the Preview Panel and the Preview Button. Put your

document into the scanner and

single-click

on the preview button.

Figure 3: Main Skanlite window

Figure 2: Find the Scanner

Saving a scan

You should be able to hear the

scanner working and see the scan

taking place in the preview window.

When you are happy and want to

save,

single-click

on the Scan Button

and a new window will appear with

your finished scan.

Single-click

on the Save Button and you will be

asked where you want to save it and what to

name it.

Choosing a location

Choose a folder that you know the

location of. For this exercise we are

going to choose the Desktop by

single-clicking

on it in the left hand

panel.

Figure 6: Select the Desktop

Figure 5: Save your scan

Figure 4: Scan the image

Create a new folder

Next you will need to create a

folder where your scanned

image will be saved.

Single-

click

on the new Folder Button

located in the top right had

corner of the window.

A dialog box will appear and

you will need to type in the

name of the new folder. For

this exercise we are going to

call the folder Scans.

Single-

click

on OK to create the folder.

Figure 7: New folder button

Figure 8: Name the new folder

Name your file

Now you need to give the

image you have scanned a

name. It’s a good idea to

give it a name that will

help you easily identify it

in the future when you

attach it to an email.

I will call the image

‘

cardpng

’ because it is a

scan of my business card.

Single-click

on Save in the

bottom right hand corner

of the window and the

scan will be saved to your

computer.

You have now scanned and saved to a PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file in the scans folder on

your desktop. In the next section you will learn how to attach this file to an email and send it to

someone.

Figure 9: Save the scan

Choosing the file format

To save your scanned

document as a different

type of file, say a PDF

(Portable Document

Format) which is

universally used to send

documents across the

internet, you will need to

select the file type from

the drop down list

underneath the text box

where you enter the

name of the file to be

saved.

Single-click

on the small

downward arrow on the

right

or the File Type

box.

Figure 10: File Type Location

Figure 11: File Type button

A large list will appear in front of you. Select the PDF

entry using your mouse and the

single-click

on it to

select it. When PDF is selected in the File Type box,

single-click

on the Save Button.

Figure 12: Select PDF

Figure 13: PDF Selected

Sending via Email

Now that you have your scanned document saved to your scans folder in both PNG and PDF, you

are ready to send it via email. Start by opening your Thunderbird email application.

When you have Thunderbird open

you will need to single-click on the

Write button. This will open a new

window where you can compose

your email.

Figure 14: Open Thunderbird

Figure 15: Write Email

Compose Email

Start by entering the email

address of the person you

would like to send the scan

too into the

‘To’

box at the top.

Put something into the

subject line to tell them what

it is about. Type out a

message and tell them that

the scan is attached. You will

notice that Thunderbird has

put a yellow banner at the

bottom of the email window.

Thunderbird has done this

because I have used the word

‘Attached’

in the email.

Attach the Scan

Single-click on the attach

button at the bottom of the

window. A new window will

open and you will need to

find your scan folder. I have

put mine on the desktop.

Single-click on where it says

desktop in the left hand pane

and then double-click on the

scans folder.

Figure 16: Compose the email

Figure 17: Find the scans folder

Select the file

You will now see the 2 files

we created when we did the

scan. One of them is a PNG

and the other is a PDF. If you

look to the right of the files

you will see that the PDF is

considerably smaller that the

PNG, this is because PDF files

are optimized for sending over

the internet. Double click on

the PDF file and it will be

attached to the email.

Send the file

You will notice that at the

bottom of the email message

window is the name of the file

we have attached. The last

thing to do is single click on

the Send button in the top left

had corner and the email will

be on it’s way.

Figure 18: Select the PDF

Figure 19: PDF attached