using my iPAD as a Scanner

Yesterday, my sister came over with 6 binders of photos and 1 binder of notes. All this was given to her by our Maternal Aunt. One of the binders of photos was mostly of wedding invitations. My aunt was smart enough to label the relationship (if any) to the family. I knew I wanted copies (images) of these wedding invitations. My dilemma was that I was at my second home with only my laptop and iPAD.   

I already had downloaded a free app for my iPAD that was a scanner app. In fact I had downloaded two apps. I used each app to snap images of a few of the invitations and then compared how the images looked and how I was going to get the images to my laptop. I wanted these images as jpg. I find I can do more with a jpg than I can do with a pdf. (This is just me, you may be more knowledgeable using pdfs.)

I ended up using TinyScan , (there are many out there, so try some to find the one you like the best) because it uses a Wi-Fi Drive where I launch my computer’s web browser, enter the address shown on the iPAD and download my image or PDF file through my browser. I did run into a few glitches, such as it would get an error after a while if my iPad went into sleep mode. So I made sure that didn’t happen. Also, if I get an error trying to find the page, I would close down the app and then reenter the app and my browser would find the page again. I also, had to make sure after taking a snapshot of the page, that I would go back “home” or I would end up creating a multi-page document. Which will come in handy for other purposes, but not for this purpose.

TinyScan did allow you to crop the image; I could save as color, grayscale or black and white. I found grayscale looked nice and stuck with that.  After I saved each image into a working folder on my laptop, making sure I gave it a useful name such as Surname, Groom and Brides name (First Middle Last). I went into properties, details, and in the comments field, I wrote the relationship that my aunt wrote for each invitation. I am now going through each page again, and bringing up that relative in my genealogy software program. I am making sure that I have the marriage date and place entered, I create a source citation and attach the image to the source. I then link the source to other facts, such as the Brides and Grooms names and the Brides parent’s names (since this is usually given). By going through the actual binder, I am double checking that I didn't miss any.

In this binder, I did find one obituary and numerous graduation notices. I took an image of the obituary and inputted the information found in the record. I plan on noting the graduation date for those in this binder and I have found some smaller schools included fellow graduates, and I have found information on relatives on my father’s side. Graduations dates do help to determine birth dates when you don’t have them, so don’t overlook these often overlooked sources.