DocuScan Plus can read several kinds of documents that you may have downloaded to your computer or received via email. These include PDF files, even those consisting only of scanned images, as well as Microsoft Word documents, RTF files, HTML files, plain text files, ePub files, and images such as JPEG and PNG files. You can select files from within DocuScan Plus, or you can choose to open any of these file types in DocuScan Plus after finding such a file in your operating system or an application such as your email program.
To open a document on your computer in DocuScan Plus, choose the button called "Read a Document on This Computer" in the main DocuScan Plus window. DocuScan Plus will then present a standard file selection dialog, which you can use to browse your computer's storage and select the document you want to read.
In general, DocuScan Plus integrates with your operating system to let you open any supported file type in DocuScan Plus, regardless of where you may find the file. DocuScan Plus will never set itself as the default program for any supported file type, but you may do so if you like. The following sections provide specific instructions for Windows and Mac.
DocuScan Plus can open any supported type of document from Windows Explorer or anywhere that you can select an application to open files. You can set DocuScan Plus as the default application for a given document type, replacing applications such as Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word, or you can open an individual file with DocuScan Plus.
If you want to set DocuScan Plus as the default reader for a given document type, first find a document of that type in Windows Explorer. Then press the Application key to open the context menu. Use the down arrow to get to the "Open With" submenu, then press the right arrow to expand the menu. Select "Choose Default Program" with the up and down arrow keys and press Enter. When the dialog to choose the default program appears, use the arrow keys to select "DocuScan Plus", then press Enter. The default program for that type of document will be changed, and the specific document you selected will be opened.
If you don't want DocuScan Plus to be your default reader for documents of a given type, you can still use it to read a particular document. To do this, navigate to the document you want to open in Windows Explorer. Then press the Application key to open the context menu. Use the down arrow to get to the "Open With" submenu, then press the right arrow to expand the menu. Select "DocuScan Plus" with the up and down arrow keys and press Enter.
Finally, if you use Sero on Windows, when you download a PDF file from the Web using Internet Explorer while Sero is running, or open a PDF attachment in your Sero email, you will be asked whether you want to save the file, open it in Adobe Reader, or open it in DocuScan Plus.
DocuScan Plus can open any supported type of document from the Finder or anywhere that you can select an application to open files. You can set DocuScan Plus as the default application for a given document type, replacing applications such as Preview, or you can open an individual file with DocuScan Plus.
If you prefer using DocuScan Plus to read a given type of document, you can set it as the default application for opening that type of document. To do this, locate a file of the right type in the Finder, then press Command+I to open the file info window. Navigate to the "Open With" control. VoiceOver will say, "Open with, disclosure triangle". Press VO+Space Bar on this control to expand it, if it isn't already expanded. Then use VO+Right Arrow to find the popup menu of compatible applications. Down Arrow until you get to "DocuScan Plus", then press VO+Space Bar. Navigate to the "Change All" button and again press VO+Space Bar to have DocuScan Plus open all documents of this type. Close the file info window with Command+W.
If you don't want DocuScan Plus to be your default reader for documents of a given type, you can still use it to read a particular document. To do this, navigate to the document you want to open, then interact with it to be sure it is properly selected. Then press VO+Shift+M to open the context menu. Use the down arrow to get to "Open with, submenu", then press the right arrow to expand the menu. Select "DocuScan Plus" with the up and down arrow keys and press Return.
The specifics of what happens after you have opened a document depend somewhat on the type of document.
If you are opening a PDF document, you may be prompted for a password if the document is protected. After you enter the password if necessary, the document will be processed using either optical character recognition, or a fast PDF text processing engine, depending on which version of DocuScan Plus you are licensed to use. In all cases, if a given page consists only of images, it will be processed via optical character recognition. The fast PDF text processing engine, which can process a 400-page PDF ebook in about 30 seconds, is available only to customers who have bought DocuScan Plus version 3 or later, or subscribers to the Accessibility Anywhere package. If this engine is used and you are not satisfied with the results, you may use the button called "Switch to Extended Processing" to re-process the document using full optical character recognition. This may be necessary if the document has tables, or if it has a mix of text and images. In all cases, DocuScan Plus will play a sound when it has finished processing the document. You can then save the document by pressing the "Save" button, or use any of the document conversion buttons described in the section below called "Working with a document". If you close the window without saving the document, DocuScan Plus will ask you if you're sure, then discard the converted document, while keeping the original on your computer.
For all other formats, DocuScan Plus will show a dialog box saying "Converting, please wait," with a Cancel button, and within a few seconds, the document will appear. The document will be automatically saved to the cloud, unless you've disabled Serotek cloud storage and processing in Preferences (only applicable on Windows). You can also use any of the document conversion buttons described in the section below called "Working with a document".
As with Simple Scan and Batch Scan, how you start reading the document depends on your operating system and screen reader. On Windows, if you use System Access or are running DocuScan Plus in self-voicing mode, the document will be read automatically; if you use another screen reader, the document will receive focus, but whether it is read automatically will depend on how your screen reader is configured. Regardless of your screen reader, on Windows, you can press F6 to move between the document content and the buttons in this window. On the Mac, move the VoiceOver cursor to the HTML content, then interact with it to read the document.
Last modified October 24, 2016
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