Sending me PDF scans

1. For information about buying a scanner, see here. 

2. Each paper document needs to be scanned as a single PDF. If the document has more than one page, please don't send every page as a separate PDF as that makes it difficult to read through. Scan all the pages in order into a single PDF.

3. But, on the other hand, don't include more than one document in a single PDF. Stick to "one document one PDF". 

4. If you are scanning in a letter which had documents enclosed with it, scan in the letter as a single PDF, and separately scan in each enclosed document  as a single PDF, but then email both the PDF of the letter, and the PDFs of each document enclosed with the letter, to me all attached to one email (with nothing else attached to that email) and say in the email that the documents were enclosed with the letter. 

5. If you have a document with a large number of pages and you think that only a couple of pages or a few paragraphs are relevant, please still send the complete document. You can tell me (in an email) which part you think is particularly relevant, quoting the page number and paragraph number. You are asking me to give you my legal opinion - a second opinion, if you like, following on from any preliminary conclusions you yourself might have reached - and in order to do that I need to see the full original document for context not just the extracts you believe are most relevant.   

• You don't need to highlight in yellow or underline text you think is particularly relevant - just tell me in an email which part you think is particularly relevant.

• If you do decide that you need to highlight or mark a document to point something out - and it is true that, in the case of a copy of a diagram, marking it may often be clearer than a purely verbal comment -  send a marked copy of the particular page giving it a filename of e.g. Marked extract from document.... But you should also send a complete unmarked copy of the whole document as well. 

6. Many old official documents held in public archives such as county record offices or the National Archives are in book form in which there are distinct handwritten entries - such as an entry for each plot of land in different ownership. In this case you will only be interested in a particular entry or a limited number of entries so you will only be copying and sending to me a single entry or a few entries, and not, of course, a copy of the whole book. But I do need to have evidence of precisely what document the extracts have come from. So copy the title of the book (usually an original label on the front cover) to go with the extracts. In addition every book or other document in a county record office or the National Archives will have a reference number allocated by the institution itself which can be looked up in the institution's catalogue and you should copy the label on the book with the catalogue reference number and also the entry in the institution's catalogue which has their description of the item.

7. Most pages of most documents are less than A3 size and you should scan in the whole page - not just an extract of part of the page. If you do not currently have an A3 scanner you could buy one (see here) or get a reprographics shop to scan in documents with a large page size. If a page is greater than A3 size - such as a sheet of a map - you can scan in just the sector or sectors which are relevant but I do need to have evidence of precisely what sheet the extracts have come from. So:-

• Send me, together with the extract(s), a copy of the entire sheet. You can use the Cam Scanner app on your phone to do this. The copy of the entire sheet will not be as clear as the extracts but it will show me where the extracts have come from.

• The sheet should have a number or title on it, often in the top or bottom margin. Check that this can be easily read in the copy of the entire sheet. If it is not clear it might be that the number/title happens to appear clearly in one of the extracts. If so that is sufficient. If not, scan in the part of the page where the number or title appears.  

Note: If you want me to look at a document which is available on the web - such as documents relating to an application for planning permission - please download the document and send it to me. It is not sufficient to simply send the URL to me because the URL may gives access to a number of documents so I can't tell, from the URL, which are the specific documents which you believe are relevant. And, of course, the contents of the URL may change over time.

Disclaimer

The information above is necessarily of a general nature and will not be applicable to every case: it is intended to be used in conjunction with more specific advice to the individual client about the individual case. Contact me for advice about your case.

The information on this page about specific computer techniques is provided for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date at the time it was written but no responsibility for its accuracy, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by me. You should satisfy yourself, before using any of the techniques, software or services described, that the techniques are appropriate for your purposes and that the software or service is reliable.