Free Way to Scan to PDF from Scanner

If you need to scan some paper documents and save the resulting files as PDFs without doing any more fancy post scan processing, then the best way I have found that is free is a combination of an image editing program and a "save-to-PDF" plug-in for it.

All versions of the Microsoft Windows come with a very barebone graphics manipulation program called Paint. If you find it too simplistic such as its inability to do layers or certain filters like Photoshop, then Paint.NET is for you. It's a small program by itself, but it needs Microsoft .NET Framework to run, so for those who do not like to have to install the framework, then they have to look elsewhere. Below is the official hardware and software requirements for Paint.NET.

http://www.getpaint.net

Minimum Requirements

Windows 7 (recommended), Windows Vista,  or Windows XP (SP2 or later)
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1
800MHz processor
512MB of RAM
1024 x 768 screen resolution
200+ MB hard drive space

I ran it on Windows 8 64bit, and it runs fine.

Moreover, if your goal is to tell Paint.NET to acquire an image from a scanner and then save the scanned image as a PDF, you need to get an plug-in for this program. It is called Im(age)PDF filetype.

You can download it here:
http://www.comsquare.ch/files/downloads/ImPDF.FileType%20v1.3.zip

Installing the plug-in is very simple. You would extract the zip folder and copy the two files "ImPDF.FileType.dll" and "ImPDF.Command.exe" into the "FileTypes" folder of your Paint.NET installation.  A typical location is "C:\Program Files\Paint.NET\FileTypes". When you launch Paint.NET after this, you will find an extra option under the Save As command. The rest of the process is pretty much self explanatory.

You can find more information about this plug-in at the Paint.NET forum where the author of the program is willing to take suggestions for improving the plug-in.
http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/22863-imagepdf-filetype-plugin/