How do I use OCR without my scanner?

[gf1701]

I have an Epson Perfection 2400 scanner and know how to use it to scan and convert a document to text with OCR. But I have lots of previously-scanned items that I've saved as JPEG or bitmaps and would like to convert some of them to text too. Is there a way to do that without rescanning them? In other words, is there a way to invoke the TWAIN software used by my scanner directly from MS Word or Notepad or some other program?

[photolady]

No, once you have scanned a text document as .bmp or .jpg it becomes an image, not a document. You'll have to rescan them using your OCR software.

[falcon2000]

Originally posted by gf1701
Is there a way to do that without rescanning them? In other words, is there a way to invoke the TWAIN software used by my scanner directly from MS Word or Notepad or some other program?

Actually the TWAIN and OCR are 2 seperate softwares ... so, it's not how you think it works.

But there is a way to covert those scanned files to editable text after the fact. The full version Acrobat (not the reader) has a built-in conversion and OCR engine to output scanned document into editable text in the form of pdf files (which then can be converted to MS Word files if you prefer) ... I will write out the instructions if you have Acrobat.

[falcon2000]

Which OCR you have? The one that come bundled w/ the scanner? ... some better OCR softwares (such as OmniPage Pro) do have the ability to open and convert previously scanned image files ... may worth your while to look into the manual.

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Just play w/ the Textbridge Pro that come with one of my scanners ... have never used it before since I have Acrobat Pro which as mentioned has a OCR engine built-in ... it can OCR previously scanned image files ... but it is much more limited compared to Acrobat Pro ... for example, it does not OCR jpg's and although it OCR bmp's & tiff's but they must be binary B&W... not colour or grayscale ...

[gf1701]

Thanks for the information. I don't have the full Acrobat program, just the reader and an old version of the Distiller. For OCR with the scanner, I've just used the software that came with the scanner. I will take a look at Omnipage, but it sounds like I'm going to have to rescan.

[falcon2000]

See my PM to you.

[Dr.Gibbs]

Originally posted by photolady No, once you have scanned a text document as .bmp or .jpg it becomes an image, not a document. You'll have to rescan them using your OCR software.

Actually, that's not true. I have Omnipage SE (came free with my scanner), and it reads from files. I'd guess any halfway decent OCR software would. The only issue you might have is that the quality won't be as good if the image is small...