How to Use a Scanner to Capture Text

OCR (optical character recognition) software, used with your scanner, converts a printed page into an editable computer text file almost as accurately as if you typed it. The specifics of these instructions will vary from one OCR program to another.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Scanners
• OCR Program Scanning Software

1. Place the printed page on scanner with the text facing the glass. Make sure it's straight.
2. Open your OCR program.
3. Select Acquire (or something similar) from the File menu.
4. Choose your scanner as the source.
5. Set resolution to between 200 and 400 dpi (dots per inch).
6. Select Line Art as image type or scan mode.
7. Click Prescan.
8. Evaluate the text quality on screen. If it looks too jagged, increase the resolution.
9. Drag the frame in the pre-scan window to select desired blocks of text.
10. Click Scan.
11. Repeat the process for additional pages of the same document.
12. If the OCR program does not automatically convert document to text, click Recognize or Convert.
13. Save the text file.
14. Open the file in a word-processing application.
15. Immediately run the spell checker.
16. Check the text for other errors.

Tips & Warnings

• Try adjusting the scanner's brightness and contrast controls if results are unsatisfactory.
• Most scanners come with an abridged edition of a popular OCR program. If you aren't satisfied with it, consider upgrading to the full version or a more sophisticated OCR program.
• OCR programs frequently have trouble distinguishing between "m" and "n," "cl" and "d," and other similar-looking characters, depending on the font. Expect at least 90 percent accuracy with easily readable originals, however.
• Basic OCR programs cannot handle forms or tables.

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