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How to

Scan Documents to Convert to Text Data (OCR)

Starting ABBYY Fine Reader
Improve character recognition
Potential text recognition problems

You can scan and convert documents to text data, and then edit them using with a word processing application. The technology that allows computers to "read" text from physical objects is called OCR. OCR requires a graphical representation of text to interpret, which usually comes from a scanned image.

The most easy way to OCR is using ABBYY Fine Reader.

Starting ABBYY Fine Reader

For Windows users:
Click Start, point to All Programs (Windows XP) or Programs (Windows Me, 98 SE, or 2000), and then click ABBYY Fine Reader 5.0 Sprint Plus.

For Mac OS X users:
Double-click the Applications folder in Macintosh HD, and then double-click ABBYY Fine Reader 5 Sprint plus folder. Finally, double-click the ABBYY Fine Reader 5 Sprint icon.

For details, refer to the application's online help.

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Improve character recognition

Use the Threshold slider to change the threshold value, monitoring the results of the changes in the Preview window. Adjusting the threshold value can make it easier for OCR to recognize characters.

Note:

The Threshold setting is available only when Black&White is selected for Image Type.

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Potential text recognition problems

The quality of the text in your original document greatly affects the OCR results.

The following types of originals can make recognition difficult and should be avoided if possible:

Items that have been copied from other copies

Faxes

Text with tightly-spaced characters or line pitch

Text that is in tables or underlined

Cursive or italic fonts, and font sizes less than 8 points

Remember that OCR software cannot recognize handwritten characters.

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