FYI Re: ocr query

[Helen]

http://www.simpleocr.com/

I haven't tried this yet. I just downloaded it and ran the short demo. It has a neat
demo (3 different durations to select from... the longest being 9 minutes, iirc).
I finally got the short one to run and it's interesting. It shows how to convert
cursory handwriting into text and it includes graphics.

The following is from the site.

We are proud to announce the release of SimpleOCR API 3.5! Version 3.5 adds
many important new features to the SimpleOCR engine.
a.. Template matching in OCR engine
Extract only the characters you want from a region, ignoring the rest
b.. Ability to limit the character set used in OCR
Improve accuracy by limiting results to certain letters or numbers
c.. Improved noise removal for shaded regions and speckles on images
d.. Comes with example projects in C++, Visual Basic, ASP, .NET and Delphi
e.. Returns coordinates of recognized words and images
Allows mapping of text to original image, typically for correction of hidden text PDF

SimpleOCR is the only OCR application that is completely free. It contains no adware or
spyware, you do not need to sign up for our mailing list and SimpleOCR will never expire. This
is one of the greatest deals in freeware--others charge $100-$600 for OCR applications.
a.. Competitive accuracy on most documents
b.. OCR scanned images or existing TIFF, BMP or JPG files
c.. English (US & UK), French and Dutch dictionaries
d.. Interactive verification and correction
e.. Output to plain text or formatted rich text (Word)
f.. Includes a 15-day demo of CharacTell's SoftWriting handprint recognition (ICR) software
Expiration date does not affect machine print recognition (OCR)
g.. Download the Freeware Now!
Download SimpleOCR a fully-featured, free OCR application. 100% ad-free. SimpleOCR is funded by
sales of our API and document imaging systems. Click here to request a demo of our API that
includes the SimpleOCR version 3.5 engine.

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[Kurt]

http://www.simpleocr.com/

I haven't tried this yet. I just downloaded it and ran the short
demo. It has a neat demo (3 different durations to select from...
the longest being 9 minutes, iirc). I finally got the short one to
run and it's interesting. It shows how to convert cursory
handwriting into text and it includes graphics.

I've used SimpleOCR intermittently for a few months now. It will do a
pretty fair job of converting scanned materials. It does take a little
getting used to though. I'm using it with a Cannon FB 6200 USB scanner.
I'd say that that I'm about 90% satisfied with the program.