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Scanning document into Word to enable editing

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GrandadUK

Technical User
Dec 31, 2002
12
IT
I seem to recall there s a built in capability within Word XP (2002) to enable documents to be scanned directly into the application in a way so that the document can be edited.
 
I have tried this before with Word 2000. All I got was a JPG file inserted into the word document. I believe you need somekind of software with your scanner to make an editable document. My cheap HP scanner came with that option. You probably have it already. Try scanning the document from your scan software package.
 
You need something called Optical Scanning Recognition (OCR) software. This aims to scan printed text and convert it to a (rich) text file. In my case - this came as part of the Corel Draw package I use. Success with using this software has been poor to average but it's worth a try.

My wife's a Secretary, and we found she could copy type faster than we could sort out a scanned in document!
 
I found a pretty good OCR program that I use. It's called TextBridge. Much better than OmniPage and costs only from about $75 - $100. Omnipage cost me about $550 when I bought it and I didn't like the results. Much less "cleaning up" with TextBridge.
 
Well, if you do not want to spent a lot of money on OCR software, why not try our online service? You can just email images to us, then get the word doc back. Take a look:

Your Personal Dataprocessor Online
OCR, proofreading, data conversion and more
 
You can try this too In Word XP: Right click on your scanned TIF document. Select Open With.. and select Microsoft Office Document Imaging from the menu.

When the document opens, click on the Send to Word icon on the toolbar. Make your selection from the pop up box. Word XP uses its built in OCR program and sends the text to Word.

It'll require some formatting but it beats retyping it.

Good luck!
BlueHorizon
 
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