Too much/too little portions of my scan is being cropped off

Cropping off the dark areas around the card can be advantageous. First you can actually save some disk space associated with the image. This means that over the long run, you can save a lot of disk space. Secondly, if you print the image, you can save the black ink used for printing the dark areas. This will in the long run saves you print cartridges. Here are some suggestions that will improve cropping:

1) Calibration files control how the image is seen by the Computer. Conducting regular calibration (once every 6 months) can help improve the quality of the scanned image. If the image quality do not improve, you should first remove your calibration files. If you are using the DocketPort scanners, you can look under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Syscan\[Scanner Model] folder and remove the Calibration.dat file. The default root directory driver i.e. C:\ may be different. Please consult your network or system administrator if this is the case.

2) If the problem persist, look for a file called MyConfigurations.xml in the application directory. Look for a configuration value called BrightnessThreshhold. The threshold allows softer edges to be forced down to black, use 0 to negate it's effect. Therefore, the lower you go, the more black area will be present on the image. The higher you go, larger sections of the image will be cropped off.

3) Make sure you place the card into the middle of the scanner.