Copier apparatus and method with improved jam recovery

A copier apparatus and method for copying is described that includes a scanning station (14) for scanning a set of document sheets to be copied as a production job. The scanning station includes a platen (116) for supporting a document sheet to be scanned in a first mode wherein the document sheet is manually positioned on the platen by an operator. An automatic document handler or feeder (18) is provided for automatically feeding seriatim document sheets to the scanning station for scanning document sheets in a second mode; i.e., an automatic feeding mode. An operator control panel (24) includes a display (25) for indicating options for selection by an operator in response to clearance of a jam condition in the feeder. The display includes an option for selecting the first mode; i.e. platen mode, for scanning of the document sheet that was jammed. There is thereby provided a facile recovery from a jammed condition allowing copying from the platen of documents that may no longer be suited for feeding through the feeder as part of a pause or interrupt operation in a production job.