Scanner Trivia Highlight – Despeckling

This week’s segment on scanner trivia will be short and sweet – we’d like to take this opportunity to talk about a feature which comes included with several of our software packages which we’d like to shed some light on: The Despeckle utility. Despeckling is a process which certain software packages are able to run in order to remove impurities in scans up to a specified size – the size can be changed depending on the requirement of the user, which can be both beneficial and detrimental, depending on use. As can be observed in the image on the left, the removed impurities typically look granular prior to running the Despeckling utility, comparable to sand on the face of the device. If used correctly, the Despeckling utility will get rid of all of these grainy marks and leave only the desired text and images. If used incorrectly, however, the resulting consequences may cause the user frustration.
 
One of the primary reasons we feel it is important to discuss the Despeckle utility is that there is significant potential for the utility to be misused. If used incorrectly, the Despeckle utility can remove all commas, periods, and apostrophes from a document, along with any other small notes and symbols which the utility may potentially mistake for undesirable impurities. Once removed, these notes and symbols cannot be restored within the saved document (although they can be recovered from the original). Similarly, if one or two punctuation marks are removed which then go unnoticed, further confusion may be caused. Ultimately, the Despeckling utility is a software feature which we recommend be used by experienced and knowledgeable large format device operators. If you’re interested to learn more about how Despeckling can benefit your large format scanner, reach out to us at info@largedocuments.com or (866)-338-4464.