All users are required to scan and upload identity documents. Translators are also required to send documents showing their language skills. In this page, we will explain how to scan documents, save them in your computer and verify that the scans are readable.
Scanning with your scanner
If you have a scanner connected to your PC, this is going to be especially easy. Place the document to be scanned in the scanner and start the scanner program. If you do not know how to manually start the scanner control program, you may use a word processor, such as MS Word or Open Office Text.
From a word processor, click on Insert. Then, select document from scanner. The scanner dialog should come up.
Finding a place to scan your documents
In case you do not have access to a scanner, the following shops in your neighborhood will be able to help:
- A photo printing shop
- Internet Cafes
- The post office
Stroll to one of these with the documents to be scanned and get it done.
Scanner settings
You can scan in either black and white or in color. We recommend doing color scans as they will be easier to set up.
The scanning resolution should be about 100DPI. A much lower resolution will produce scans that are difficult to read. Much higher resolution will produce huge files that take long to upload.
For scanned documents, you will get good results if you use PNG files. GIF, JPEG and TIFF would also be OK.
Leaving the brightness and contrast at their default settings usually produces good results. Only change them if you see your scans come out too bright or too dark and the text is difficult to read.
Save the files to your hard drive
Once you have the scans, save them on your hard drive. It is a good idea to have a folder in ‘My Documents’ with scanned documents. This will make it easier for you to use, should you need to send them again.
Review the scans before sending them
You should be able to double-click on the scanned files. This should open an image viewer with your scanned document. Make sure that the text, and any stamps we should notice are clear. If not, you should try scanning again with different scanner settings.
Send us the files for review
You should log in to your ICanLocalize account, go to ‘My account’ and follow the instructions for sending the scanned documents. Please make sure to include a brief title explaining what the document is (for example: ‘California driving license’).