How do i stop files from downloading in pdf

Q: I use an HP Envy Photo 6255 printer with my new Apple iMac desktop. When I scan a plain black and white document and save it to my desktop via the printer, it always comes over in a photo format. This is regardless of whether I save the file as a PDF or a different option. The PDF format is notcompatible for images with my Ancestry.com account. I have spent more than six hours on the phone with HP and Apple support and they could not help. Any ideas what I can do?

—Bob Marshall, Vero Beach

A: Judging from what's written above, it sounds like you may be scanning a file in one format but saving it as another format by default. For example, you could be scanning an image but saving it as a PDF instead of a JPG, PNG, TIFF or BMP file. 

Because of this, the file, when saved, appears as an image on screen (since PDFs embed and display images and graphics without issue) but after it's been uploaded to Ancestry.com, the site treats it as a document because it has a PDF extension and problems arise.

According to research on Ancestry.com, to upload an image to your account and have that file register as an image after upload, the file must be in the following format: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tiff or .bmp.

Similarly, text-based or document files must be saved in the following formats to be compatible for upload and integration: .doc, .docx, .rtf, .pdf, .txt.

Given this, and without knowing what other steps you've taken to date or what the support team at Ancestry and HP told you, a good first step would be to make sure you are scanning your image in the the way HP recommends you to do so, thus ensuring your input and output values remain the same.

On a Mac, this involves using the HP Easy Scan program, which should have been installed on your system when you installed the printer. 

To access the program via the Mac operating system, click on your launcher and then on the HP Easy Scan icon. This should open the program for you.

If you do not see HP Easy Scan on your system, then download and install it for your specific printer via this URL: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-envy-photo-6200-all-in-one-printer-series/9073045/model/9073046

When HP Easy Scan loads, and if you plan to scan an image with it, first click on the "Presets" menu in the program and select "Scan Photo and Graphics" from within the window, making sure either "Picture" or "Picture File" is selected as "File Type" drop downs available. 

After that, load the image you want to scan onto the scanning bed and click "Scan" in the program to do just that. When done, your image should appear on your screen within an editing window.

Edit the image as needed via the commands available and then click on "Send" in the bottom right corner of the command window to save it to a particular folder on the hard drive. When you do that, another window will appear, allowing you both to name the file and to designate an extension for it via the drop downs available.

At this point, make sure the image file is named and designated as either a JPG, TIFF, PNG or BMP, then hit OK to save it. That should make it compatible for image upload with Ancestry.com.

To scan a document, follow the same instructions, only in the Easy Scan "Presets" menu make sure to select "Document" from the "Type" drop down instead of "Picture." Also, after scanning the document and clicking on "Send" to save it, make sure the file has been designed as a PDF or DOC file type. This should make it compatible for document upload with Ancestry.com.

Detailed instructions for doing this on a Mac can be found at this URL: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-envy-photo-6200-all-in-one-printer-series/9073045/model/9073046/document/c04788799

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