Understanding nothing of the language that is computer related, I
would like to know--in plain English--what "bitmap" means. I have the
option of scanning "bitmap" or PaperPort. What's the difference
between the 2? When do I use which? I hate computers.

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Clarification of Question by vtimelordv-ga on 28 Sep 2004 12:46 PDT

I've already looked it up on Google and understood nothing, so let
that be your guide. :)

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Request for Question Clarification by efn-ga on 29 Sep 2004 19:46 PDT

Does the comment from whyisitso answer your question adequately, or
would you still be interested in an answer from a researcher?

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Clarification of Question by vtimelordv-ga on 30 Sep 2004 10:15 PDT

Heck--if you think you can beat the well-meant, but more than enough
by whyisitso, go ahead. seemed to me that, bottom line is: 
bitmap=pictures and PaperPort=anything printed.  right? wrong?

Hi vtimelordv,

OK, I am boldly going to attempt to give you two bucks of value added
beyond what you have for free in the comments.

I believe that "bitmap" and "PaperPort" in your context refer to file formats.

A file is just a place that stores some data in the computer.  The
data is stored as the equivalent of a bunch of numbers that can be
interpreted in different ways.  A "file format" is a design that tells
a program how to interpret the data in a file.  For you to be able to
use a file, the program that writes the file and the program that
reads the file have to agree on how to interpret the data in the file.
 The file format defines that agreement.  If the programs don't agree,
for example, if you open an image file with a program that is designed
to play sound files, you will just get noise.

So I believe your scanning program is going to be getting some data
representing a scanned image from your scanner, and the program is
asking you what file format you want to use for the file where it will
store the image data.  What format you choose will affect what you can
do with the file.

The bitmap format is a standard format on personal computers running
Microsoft Windows.  A file in the bitmap format just contains an
image, without much other information.  The bitmap format is simple,
and a consequence of this is that it takes more storage space to store
an image in bitmap format than it does in more sophisticated formats
that compress the data.  This is probably not a consideration for you
unless you will be storing lots of images.

PaperPort is a document management program.

http://www.scansoft.com/paperport/

It can manage all kinds of documents, not just scanned images.  It has
its own special file format, marked in file names with the suffix
".max".  The PaperPort file format compresses the image data, so the
same image will take less space in a PaperPort file than in a bitmap
file.

Probably the simplest way to decide what file format you want to use
is just to decide whether you want to use the image in the PaperPort
program.  If you do, it would make sense to scan it into the PaperPort
format; otherwise, you should use the bitmap format.  If you have a
file in bitmap format, there are lots of programs, including
PaperPort, that can work with it, whereas if the file is in PaperPort
format, only PaperPort (and maybe a few obscure utilities) can work
with it.  If you want to share a file in PaperPort format  with
someone else, the other person will need special PaperPort viewer
software to be able to see the image in the file.

Assuming you have the PaperPort program, the choice of a file format
is not irreversible.  If you save the file as a bitmap, PaperPort can
import it and convert it to PaperPort format, and similarly, if you
save the file as a PaperPort file, PaperPort can export it to a file
in the bitmap format.


Additional Links

A discussion about the need for a viewer with PaperPort files

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=34514

This page reports that a PaperPort file was less than one-tenth the
size of the corresponding bitmap file.

http://advisor.morningstar.com/advisor/doc/article/0,8832,2548,00.html

PaperPort manual

http://support.visioneer.com/manuals/pp53dlxgd.pdf


I hope this information is helpful.  If it's not clear or you would
like to know more about some part, please ask for a clarification.

--efn

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Request for Answer Clarification by vtimelordv-ga on 01 Oct 2004 07:09 PDT

give me some time, please
there is so much info given, i now have a blinding headache.
i have to take it all in; transferring from one kind of file back and
forth,this means this, but that means that-- oy!
give me a day or so; i will get back but your answer's killing me.
thought it would be a short, quicky answer
sigh

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Request for Answer Clarification by vtimelordv-ga on 02 Oct 2004 08:01 PDT

This isn't really clarification, more a throwing in of the towel. I
give up; you've done your best, i know, but it's simply too much info.
Wish you taught, so you would know how to word it in baby steps/terms.
 Bet you think you are doing it that way, but it's so beyond a
beginner . . .
Want to give it one more try?  Up to you.

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Clarification of Answer by efn-ga on 02 Oct 2004 09:27 PDT

I'm sorry my answer caused you pain.  I did try to make it simple.

I in turn don't understand what you want.  If I assume you don't know
much and write in baby steps/terms, that will mean that I have to
write more, but you say there is already too much information.  I
can't tell if your goal is to understand what the terms mean or to get
the least information that will possibly let you make a decision.

So at this point, I will try a short answer.

PaperPort is a program.  You probably have the PaperPort program on
your computer.  If so, you can choose to use it or not.  If you want
to use your scanned image in the PaperPort program, tell the scanning
program to scan PaperPort.  Otherwise, tell the scanning program to
scan bitmap.  If in doubt, choose bitmap.

You've gone beyond the call. Many thanks for putting up with me.

I'll try to use as plain of English as possible, let me know if you
want a more technical (or even more simplified) explanation.

A bitmap is an image in which each pixel (or dot) is represented
individually.  These files tend to be quite large when saved to disc. 
Think of them as a large mosaic in which every tile is the same size.

This is opposed to a file format such as GIF or JPEG in which areas of
an image are represented together.  This results in a smaller
(compressed) file size.  Think of this as a mosaic where tiles that
touch each other and are the same are connected.  Rather than have
four 1x1 tiles in a square, there is one 2x2 tile.  Does this make any
sense?

All this said, scanners usually give you two scanning options, one of
which is for images and one is text.  I don't know what scanner you
are using, but it sounds like "bitmap" would be your choice for images
and "PaperPort" would be your choice for text.

Just because it calls the choice "bitmap" doesn't mean that you can't
save the resulting image into other file formats.

The text choice is used for taking a document, such as a newspaper
article, and transferring it to your computer without typing.  You end
up with the text of the article, but not the article itself.

I hope this helps!

Yeah... 

Bitmap = a MAP of BITs [pixels, individual colour elements].

Paperport = some brand name for what I assume is plain text rather
than a picture of text.

I think it would be a good idea to clarify this by pointing out that
the bitmap option could be used for anything, whereas the other would
only be for text.

Think of the bitmap option as taking a snapshot of what you are
scanning.  You could be scanning an image or text, but the result is
an image.

The other option is more like "reading" what you scan.  This is
technically known as "OCR" (optical character recognition) and the
result is that the text is "typed" for you.  This option is used to
save time retyping documents that you wish to have digital versions
of.

Does this help or am I making it more confusing?

Thank you for the rating and the tip.