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These steps will assist you in using Microsoft Office 2003's built
in scanning capabilities for text recognition (OCR or Optical
Character Recognition). For more information on Office - Document
Imaging, go here.
Microsoft
Office Document Imaging has two components: a scanning component
and an imaging component. These are listed separately in the Microsoft
Office Tools menu as Microsoft Office Document Scanning and Microsoft
Office Document Imaging.
Microsoft
Office Document Scanning can control any installed scanner and
uses the scanner's scanning presets. For example, the Black and
white scanning preset is ideal when scanning pages of text for
OCR. The Color scanning preset is best for scanning full-color
pictures or artwork.
Microsoft
Office Document Imaging allows you to view scanned documents on
the screen, rearrange multi-page documents, select and manipulate
recognized text, annotate scanned documents and electronic faxes,
and send documents to others by e-mail or fax.
Document Imaging
may be a better choice for new users to get started. You see the
Microsoft Office Document Imaging application window from the
start. If you choose the Document Scanning choice, you only see
the Document Imaging application window after the scan completes.
| How
to perform OCR with Microsoft Office 2003 Document Imaging
|
- Connect
your scanner. Place a page of text in the scanner.
- Click
Start, All Programs, Microsoft Office,
Microsoft Office Tools, and then Microsoft
Office Document Imaging.
NOTE: To see the OCR options, click the Tools
menu and choose Options. Click the OCR
tab. The default settings are recommended. Click OK.
- From
the File menu choose Scan New Document.
- Click
the Scanner button. Choose the driver for the
scanner. It will likely be a TWAIN driver. Again, the
defaults should be fine. If the process fails and the
scanner is not recognized, if you have a 2nd option
here, change to that driver and try again. Click OK.
-
For OCR, select either Black and white or Black
and white from color page depending on the type
of text you are scanning.
NOTE: If you want to change the Presets or have other
Custom settings (need to scan Legal pages), click the
Preset options drop down menu. Choose the desired choice.
You can edit the paper size, where the files are saved,
etc.
- If
you have multiple pages to scan, click the Prompt
for Additional pages checkbox. If you only have
a single page, un-check it.
NOTE: Please leave the View file after scanning
box choice selected.
-
Click the Scan button when ready to proceed.
- If
you choose the "Prompt for Additional pages"
checkbox, place the next page in the scanner. Click
Continue. Repeat this as needed until all pages
are scanned. Click Done when complete.
NOTE: What you will see on the screen is a TIF or
image file. Word cannot these files as TIF's.
- From
the Tools menu choose Send Text to Word
or click the Send Text to Word button on the
toolbar.
- You
can send all pages or just the selected pages to Word.
You can also choose to have the pictures included in
the Word document as well. To change where the Word
file will be created, click the Browse button
and choose the desired folder.
-
Click OK when ready.
- The
document will be opened in Word. Go to the File
menu and choose Save As. Save the file as a .DOC
file rather than a .HTM file.
Final
Thoughts:
The page layout structure will not be maintained. But you
will have the text.
Instead
of Paragraph returns between the lines you will have manual
line breaks. You can use Word's Replace command from the
Edit menu to change these. Use the following in the Find
and Replace boxes.
Find
what: ^l
Replace with: ^p
Once
you finish cleaning up the formatting, you will have your
OCR document. All with a built-in Office 2003 feature.
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