EPSON

Scan Quality Problems

The Edges of Your Original Are Not Scanned

Move the document or photo about 0.12 inch (3 mm) away from the horizontal and vertical edges of the document table to avoid cropping.

You See Only a Few Dots in Your Scanned Image

Make sure the document or photo is placed on the document table with the side to be scanned facing down. See Placing Documents or Photos for details.
When scanning with the Black & White setting, change the Threshold setting. See Adjusting the Color and Other Image Settings for instructions.

A Line or Line of Dots Always Appears in Your Scanned Images

The document table may need cleaning. Clean the document table. See Cleaning the Scanner.
If you still have the problem, the document table may be scratched. Contact Epson for assistance. See Epson Technical Support.

Straight Lines in Your Image Come Out Crooked

Make sure the document lies perfectly straight on the document table.

Your Image Is Distorted or Blurred

Make sure the document or photo lies flat on the document table. Also make sure your document or photo is not wrinkled or warped.
Make sure you do not move the document or photo, or your scanner while scanning.
Make sure the scanner is placed on a flat, stable surface.
Select the Unsharp Mask check box in the Office Mode or Professional Mode window. See Adjusting the Color and Other Image Settings for instructions.
Adjust the Auto Exposure setting in the Professional Mode window. See Adjusting the Color and Other Image Settings for instructions.
Click Configuration, select the Color tab, and select Color Control and Continuous auto exposure in the Color menu. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Click Configuration, select the Color tab, and click Recommended Value to return the Auto Exposure setting to the default. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Increase the resolution setting. See Selecting the Scan Resolution for instructions.

Colors Are Patchy or Distorted at the Edges of Your Image

If your document is very thick or curled at the edges, cover the edges with paper to block external light as you scan.

Your Scanned Image Is Too Dark

If your original is too dark, try using the Backlight Correction feature in Home Mode or Professional Mode. See Fixing Backlit Photos for instructions.
Check the Brightness setting. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Click Configuration, select the Color tab, and change the Display Gamma setting to match your output device, such as a monitor or printer, in the Color menu. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Click Configuration, select the Color tab, and select Color Control and Continuous auto exposure in the Color menu. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Click Configuration, select the Color tab, and click Recommended Value to return the Auto Exposure setting to the default. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Click the  Histogram Adjustment icon in Professional Mode to adjust the brightness.
Check the brightness and contrast settings of your computer monitor.

An Image on the Back of Your Original Appears in Your Scanned Image

If your original is printed on thin paper, images on the back may be visible to the scanner and appear in your scanned image. Try scanning the original with a piece of black paper placed on the back of it. Also make sure the Document Type (Home Mode and Professional Mode only) and Image Type settings are correct for your original. See Scanning in Office Mode, Scanning in Home Mode, or Scanning in Professional Mode for instructions.

Ripple Patterns Appear in Your Scanned Image

A ripple or cross-hatch pattern (called moiré) may appear in a scanned image of a printed document. It is caused by interference from the differing pitches in the scanner’s screen and the halftone screen in your original.
Original image
Descreening applied
Select the Descreening check box. In Professional Mode, select an appropriate Screen Ruling for the Descreening and deselect the Unsharp Mask setting. See Adjusting the Color and Other Image Settings for instructions.
Select a lower resolution setting. See Selecting the Scan Resolution for instructions.
Note:
You cannot remove ripple patterns when you are scanning in Office Mode or Home Mode using a resolution higher than 600 dpi. In Professional Mode, you may be able to remove ripple patterns at resolutions higher than 600 dpi if you reduce the Scale setting.

Characters Are Not Recognized Well

Make sure the document lies straight on the document table.
In Office Mode, select Text Enhancement Technology as your Image Option setting or select the Text Enhancement check box. See Converting Into Editable Text in Office Mode for instructions.
In Home Mode, select the Text Enhancement check box. See Converting Into Editable Text in Home Mode for instructions.
In Professional Mode, select Text Enhancement Technology as your Image Option setting. See Converting Into Editable Text in Professional Mode for instructions.
Adjust the Threshold setting.
Office Mode: Select Black&White as the Image Type setting and select the appropriate Image Option setting. Then try adjusting the Threshold setting. See Epson Scan Help for details.

Home Mode: Select Black&White as the Image Type setting. Then try adjusting the Threshold setting. See Epson Scan Help for details.

Professional Mode: Select Black & White as the Image Type setting. Click the + (Windows) or  (Mac OS X) button next to Image Type and select the appropriate Image Option setting. Then try adjusting the Threshold setting. See Epson Scan Help for details.
For small text, try selecting 400 as the Resolution setting.
Click Configuration, select the Preview tab, and select or deselect the Preview image rotation check box.
Check your OCR software manual to see if there are any settings you can adjust in your OCR software.

Scanned Colors Differ From the Original Colors

Make sure the Image Type setting is correct. See Scanning in Office Mode, Scanning in Home Mode, or Scanning in Professional Mode for instructions.
Click Configuration, select the Color tab, and change the Display Gamma setting to match your output device, such as a monitor or printer, in the Color menu. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Adjust the Auto Exposure setting in Professional Mode. Also try selecting a different Tone Correction setting. See Adjusting the Color and Other Image Settings for instructions.
Click Configuration, select the Color tab, and select Color Control and Continuous auto exposure in the Color menu. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Click Configuration, select the Color tab, and click Recommended Value to return the Auto Exposure setting to the default. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Click Configuration, select the Preview tab, and turn off the Fast Preview setting in the Preview menu. See Epson Scan Help for details.
Make sure to enable the Embed ICC Profile setting. In the File Save Settings window, select JPEG or TIFF as the Type setting. Click Options, then select the Embed ICC Profile check box. To access the File Save Settings window, see Selecting File Save Settings.
Check the color matching and color management capabilities of your computer, display adapter, and software. Some computers can change the palette of colors on your screen. See your software and hardware manuals for details.
Windows: Use the color management system for your computer, ICM. Add a color profile that matches your monitor to improve on-screen color matching. Exact color matching is very difficult. Check your software and monitor documentation for information on color matching and calibration.
Mac OS X: Use the color management system for your computer, ColorSync. Exact color matching is very difficult. Check your software and monitor documentation for information on color matching and calibration.
Printed colors can never exactly match the colors on your monitor because printers and monitors use different color systems: monitors use RGB (red, green, and blue) and printers typically use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).

Images are Rotated Incorrectly

Make sure the documents or photos are placed on the document table correctly. See Placing Documents or Photos for instructions.
Click Configuration, select the Preview tab, and select or deselect the Preview image rotation check box.
If you are scanning using thumbnail previews, select the image and click the  rotation icon to rotate it. See Previewing and Adjusting the Scan Area for instructions.
Try disabling or enabling the Auto Photo Orientation setting. Click Configuration, select the Preview tab, and select or deselect Auto Photo Orientation.
Note:
The Auto Photo Orientation feature will not work when you scan newspaper or magazine pages, documents, illustrations, or line art. The feature will also not work when you scan images that are 2 inches (5.1 cm) or smaller on any side.
The Auto Photo Orientation feature may not work correctly if the faces in your image are very small or not looking straight ahead, or if the faces are of infants. The feature may also not work correctly if you scan an indoor image that contains no faces, an outdoor image in which the sky is not at the top, or any image containing bright spots or objects in locations other than the top of your image.