Start at 300 DPI for print, 400+ for handwriting
Printed documents with 10–12 pt fonts look crisp at 300 DPI. Handwritten notes or tiny product inserts often need 400–600 DPI so strokes remain distinct after binarization.
For smartphone captures, ensure the final image contains at least 10 pixels of height for the smallest characters. Zoom in before you snap instead of cropping later.
Balance file size with downstream needs
PDF exports with embedded text barely increase in size compared to their source images. If you only need a TXT export, convert to grayscale before running OCR to reduce bytes.
When sharing scans with teammates, export both the searchable PDF and the raw image. The PDF makes text copyable; the raw asset helps verify the original capture.
Avoid destructive compression
JPEG artifacts smear letterforms. When capturing photos, set compression to "High Quality" or use HEIF. For scanners, disable "small file" modes that aggressively downsample.
If storage is limited, zip the original TIFF or PNG assets after OCR. Compression algorithms preserve every pixel while still shrinking the archive for sharing.