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I'm running macOS 14.1 (23B74). I have a Canon MF656Cdw.

I find if I scan from the document feeder using Preview, it will sometimes break up the scan into separate PDFs in a way that's, well, incorrect. The thumbnail tray will show, for example, the first three pages in one PDF, but then all the pages in a second PDF. It's confusing. The relevant settings are:

  • Duplex
  • PDF Format
  • Combine into a single document
  • OCR

screenshot showing the settings listed above.

By contrast, Image Capture never has this problem. However, Image Capture requires that I know where I want to put the file and what I want to call it. My preferred workflow would be do scan the document, then figure all that out sitting at the computer with the PDF open. I also find the UI for picking the name in advance incredibly clunky. Plus I then have an extra operation to apply the "Reduce Size" Quartz filter with every scan rather than doing that as part of the save process.

screenshot showing the "Scan To" and "Name" settings

I'm totally open to this being an EBKAC. What am I doing wrong, if anything, and how can I get Preview to actually combine everything into a single document? Thanks!

edit: Adding this heavily redacted screenshot. This just happened. The document is 14 pages. I watched all 7 pages be individually fed through the document scanner. However, I ended up with two documents, one of which contained the first two pages (labeled A and B in my screenshot) and the other of which also included the third page (labeled C). I tried this scan twice just now with identical results.

enter image description here

edit: Added screenshot for of settings. I've tried with both of these settings with a shorter document -- four pages duplex on two sheets of paper, and I still get two partial PDFs. With Open each file in its own window, Preview creates two windows during the scan, but then puts both partial PDFs into the same window when things are done despite having that setting on.

edit 2: Getting this with another document as well.

enter image description here

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  • It's likely that this is a bug (and should be reported): the question is, what's triggering it? I've always found Preview's "feature" of displaying separate documents in one window really confusing. Perhaps disabling that will keep things in one document. Commented Feb 18, 2024 at 9:06
  • Also, Apple's "Reduce Size" Quartz Filter is very lossy. You will find lots of user-created alternative filters online. Commented Feb 18, 2024 at 9:09
  • Also: Can you confirm -- you have a document with 14 pages (7 sheets), and you got two documents of 2 and 3 pages only. So the remaining pages were never input? Commented Feb 18, 2024 at 9:12
  • I have seven pieces of paper with a 14-page document printed duplex on those seven pieces of paper. I press Scan with those settings. The printer feeds each of the seven pieces of paper, one at a time, and each piece of paper takes the same amount of time to move through the printer to the output tray, at least within the margin of error of my perception. I'm not here stopwatch timing things to the millisecond. During the scan, the result above begins to form. When the process stops, the result is what you see above. Does that answer your question? Commented Feb 18, 2024 at 19:56
  • But the remaining pages don't appear anywhere? Have you tried changing Preview's window style? Commented Feb 18, 2024 at 21:31

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