OCR

  • Thread starter Thread starter Debbie Bullock
  • Start date Start date
D

Debbie Bullock

Is there anything free out there can take a scanned form and transfer it
into a word processor for editing ? I've tried Simple OCR but it won't keep
the formatting. The form has lines, etc. and I'm scanning it with a
Visioneer 4400 if that makes a difference. Maybe I need something more
simple than Simple OCR. :-)

Thanks,
Debbie
 
Debbie said:
Is there anything free out there can take a scanned form and transfer it
into a word processor for editing ? I've tried Simple OCR but it won't keep
the formatting. The form has lines, etc. and I'm scanning it with a
Visioneer 4400 if that makes a difference. Maybe I need something more
simple than Simple OCR. :-)
Click to expand...

I could be wrong (there have been precedents, you know) but I think that
you can't really preserve form fields and such (line art) in editable
form using an OCR (optical character recognition) program.

FWIW, I also have a Visioneer 4400 USB and use SimpleOCR with superb
results. I've never had to do forms, though. I'll be anxious to see
what recommendations you get, if it is even possible.

Good luck.
 
DC said:
I could be wrong (there have been precedents, you know) but I think that
you can't really preserve form fields and such (line art) in editable
form using an OCR (optical character recognition) program.
Click to expand...
snip

There is OCR software available that saves into MS Word, Excel or HTML
and does quite a superb job of preserving formats (depending on quality of
scanned image), even includes embedded non-text images in the output
document. But AFAIK it is all serious payware, so OT here.
Sorry,
Adrian
 
Debbie Bullock said:
Is there anything free out there can take a scanned form and transfer it
into a word processor for editing ? I've tried Simple OCR but it won't keep
the formatting. The form has lines, etc. and I'm scanning it with a
Visioneer 4400 if that makes a difference. Maybe I need something more
simple than Simple OCR. :-)

Thanks,
Debbie
Click to expand...
I found one called filloutaform but I haven't tried it yet. here's the link,
http://www.jdmcox.com/
 
Debbie Bullock said:
Is there anything free out there can take a scanned form and transfer it
into a word processor for editing ? I've tried Simple OCR but it won't keep
the formatting. The form has lines, etc. and I'm scanning it with a
Visioneer 4400 if that makes a difference. Maybe I need something more
simple than Simple OCR. :-)

Thanks,
Debbie
Click to expand...
Can't help with free, but Janurary's Personal Computer World magazine (
£3.25) has the full version of ABBYY Finereader Pro 5.0 on one of its cover
disks.

I haven't tried V5 yet, but Finereader 4 (which I also got off a cd) is very
good. Excellent recognition and preserves formating - vastly superior to the
software that came with my scanner.

(requires registration)
 
I'm in the US. We don't get good 'stuff' on the magazines...just crappy
'stuff'. <g> This morning I received an ISP disk in the mail and felt
excited...now that's just bad.:-)

Debbie
 
Debbie said:
I'm in the US. We don't get good 'stuff' on the magazines...just crappy
'stuff'. <g> This morning I received an ISP disk in the mail and felt
excited...now that's just bad.:-)
Click to expand...

I heard about somebody wallpapering a room with AOL discs once.
 
I'm in the US. We don't get good 'stuff' on the magazines...just crappy
'stuff'.
Click to expand...

Actually you do, depending on where you live. At some larger
newstands, they carry the British PC magazines including especially PC
Format and Linux Format which always come with one, two or even more
CD's or DVDs full of software. On the PC side, most of them are demos
of games, but there usually is three or four older releases of
commercial software.

The Linux CDs and DVDs of course are full of freeware. I just picked
up Linux Format last night at Borders here in San Francisco with a DVD
with over 5GB of software compressed down to 4GB including the 4-CD
BitTorrent download version of the Mandrake 9.2 Linux distro as well
as tons of other stuff.

Check Borders out if there is one near you. Since these mags usually
have thick CD cases, the newstands don't stock many copies so they
sell out rather quickly, unfortunately.

Of course, since you're paying $14 for the magazine and the CD, it's
all off-topic here, heh, heh.
 
Richard Steven Hack said:
Actually you do, depending on where you live. At some larger
newstands, they carry the British PC magazines including especially PC
Format and Linux Format which always come with one, two or even more
CD's or DVDs full of software.
Click to expand...

may i suggest pcplus dvd's, if you can find them ?
great sw for free, and a readable mag.
ciao, j.
 
may i suggest pcplus dvd's, if you can find them ?
great sw for free, and a readable mag.
ciao, j.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's another good one I've gotten from time to time.
 
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