scaning into word

[Tami]

Does anyone know how I can go about scanning a letter type
document into Word so that I can go into it and edit it ?
I am only able to scan into Imaging right now, which I
cannot edit the text in. Do I need different software ?
Any suggestions would be wonderful.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi, Tami,

Yes, you need optical character recognition (OCR) software to turn the
picture from the scanner into editable text. Some kind of "lite" version of
an OCR program probably came with your scanner -- look for OmniPage,
TextBridge, PaperPort, or something like that. If you need to buy something,
look at the websites of some publishers such as http://www.abbyy.com and
http://www.scansoft.com (although you may be able to find the same programs
for sale cheaper elsewhere).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

From your reference to Imaging, I'm thinking you may have Office XP? If so,
and if you're using Microsoft Office Document Imaging from Microsoft Office
Tools, you might try Microsoft Office Document Scanning, which is apparently
an OCR app. I don't make any representations about its quality, but at least
it's free. As Jay said, you probably got something with your scanner, too.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Kerry Angus]

Hi Tami
Did you work out how to scan a document and then edit it later????
I'm having the same problem and would appreciate your advice. At my job we need to fill in a lot of official pre-printed forms. This is being done by hand at present as the forms come in block form. This is a labourious task and as handwriting is often not legible I want to scan a pre-printed form into a word document (retaining the format of the form)so that staff can fill in the information on screen where required. Then all we have to do is feed a pre-printed form through the printer for final printout of the information. Why isn't this as easy as it sounds???????????

 

[Mike Williams [MVP]]

Hi Tami
Did you work out how to scan a document and then edit it later????
I'm having the same problem and would appreciate your advice. At my
job we need to fill in a lot of official pre-printed forms. This is
being done by hand at present as the forms come in block form. This
is a labourious task and as handwriting is often not legible I want
to scan a pre-printed form into a word document (retaining the format
of the form)so that staff can fill in the information on screen where
required. Then all we have to do is feed a pre-printed form through
the printer for final printout of the information. Why isn't this
as easy as it sounds???????????

Text scanned from documents generally requires a lot of clean-up before it
is useful. Having it go into an existing document is probably not that
helpful. You could just scan into an empty document and automate extraction
of that content into another document.


Mike Williams - Office MVP http://www.mvps.org/faq/

Please respond in the same thread on this newsgroup - not by email!
Include details of your application and Windows versions, plus any
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[lostinspace]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Williams [MVP]" <>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2003 7:28 AM
Subject: Re: scaning into word

Text scanned from documents generally requires a lot of clean-up before it
is useful. Having it go into an existing document is probably not that
helpful. You could just scan into an empty document and automate extraction
of that content into another document.


Mike Williams - Office MVP http://www.mvps.org/faq/

Mike,
The clean-up required as a result of incomplete OCR can be a
result of many different things.
The first and most important mistake that new users make when OCR text is
in NOT allowing their scanner to warm-up properly first before scanning.
The second and most important mistake that new users make when OCR text is
in using the DEFAULT setting for scanner warm-up.

The default setting should be very high around 30 seconds. On an initial
scan, at least 20 seconds for warm-up. After that 3-5 seconds is sufficient
for subsequent scans.
If you test this method out?
You'll be surprised how much improvement their is in both your scans and
OCR's.

Another important issue is in the type of print quality which your scanning
from. Many of the Inkjet printers offer poor scanning prints.
Laser (non-inkjet) on the other hand offers excellent results.

I've even had decent results from old newspapers.
I frequently scan old magazines, some of which are discolored or faded and
even obtain excellent OCR's.

The worst results for OCR are in color backgrounds.

You would also be surprised how many finger prints are smudged all over the
scanner glass. I use a piece of paper to remove documents from my scanner.
Another interference is dust. Scanner Glass requires very careful cleaning.
Used to be some good tips here on scanner methods and maintenance:
http://www.scantips.com/

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To add to all of the following, forms present an almost insuperable problem
for OCR. You're generally better off scanning a form as a graphic (sent
behind text), then adding text boxes or text form fields as needed to fill
in the information. Often it's easier to recreate the form from scratch.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Mike Williams [MVP]]

Mike,
The clean-up required as a result of incomplete OCR can be
a result of many different things.

I'm well aware of the problems. It's Kerry who this should be addressed to.