HOW DO I ENTER TEXT ON DOCUMENTS SCANNED INTO WORD?

[Guest]

I AM TRYING TO SCAN DOCUMENTS INTO WORD SO I CAN FILL THEM OUT & PRINT
(I.E.-CREDIT APPLICATIONS, SCHOOL FORMS ETC.) ONCE I SCAN THEM I CAN'T TYPE
THE REQUIRED INFO INTO THEM. I HAVE LOOKED ON THE HELP MENU, ON LINE, ASKED
PEOPLE ETC & I CAN'T GET AN ANSWER. PLEASE HELP. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO
PURCHASE A SEPARATE PROGRAM TO ACCOMPLISH THIS. I WOULD RATHER USE MICROSOFT.
THANKING YOU IN ADVANCE.

 

[Taino]

This takes a few steps and not all scanner software includes OCR (Optical Character recognition). Yes the OCR has to come with the scanner. I have an Epson perfection 2400 Photo, scanner. I start a scan and select OCR it makes noise and ask me if I want the doc recognized, Duh. More noise and it ask what program I want it sent to,…that’s about it..
They don’t always look useable right away, if you have writing on the document and it can be erased do that first, writing freaks out the OCR.
help this helps

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?U0NBTk5JTkcgVEhFTiBUWVBJTkcgT04gRE9DVU1FTlQgSU4gV09SRA==?=,

I AM TRYING TO SCAN DOCUMENTS INTO WORD SO I CAN FILL THEM OUT & PRINT
(I.E.-CREDIT APPLICATIONS, SCHOOL FORMS ETC.) ONCE I SCAN THEM I CAN'T TYPE
THE REQUIRED INFO INTO THEM. I HAVE LOOKED ON THE HELP MENU, ON LINE, ASKED
PEOPLE ETC & I CAN'T GET AN ANSWER. PLEASE HELP. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO
PURCHASE A SEPARATE PROGRAM TO ACCOMPLISH THIS. I WOULD RATHER USE MICROSOFT.

Impossible to say for sure. Especially since you don't mention the version of
Word, or the scanner and software you're using.

Probably, though, the scanner is scanning the text as a graphic. You can do
this, but it means you'd need to create form field OVER the graphic. Best place
to start learning about creating and using forms is mousetrax.com, then the
word.mvps.org website.

Note: Writing in ALL CAPS is considered the equivalent of screaming in people's
faces. Sort of turns them off, so they may ignore such a message. Personally, I
find them very difficult to read. I realize that you may be using special
software, and may not have much choice how the text appears. But if you are
typing manually, please make a small effort and don't use ALL CAPS

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
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[Guest]

Sorry about the CAPS. I didn't mean to offend anyone. I am frustrated w/Word
2000, trying to scan from my HP printer, scanner, copier, fax machine then
type info onto the scanned doc. It will not let me. Any help would be
appreciated. Thank you.
Annette G

 

[Graham Mayor]

Place the scanned image on the page and set the layout option to behind
text. You can then type over it.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Annette,

As Cindy said, the scanner produces a graphic, a picture of the whole page
of the original form. Once you have that picture, there are two things you
can do with it to add information in Word:

- The HP probably came with a disk of software, which should include an
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program. This program analyzes the
picture and produces a text document that you can open in Word and edit
normally. Unfortunately, OCR programs usually don't do very well with forms,
and you often have to do a lot of cleanup work before you can even start
entering your own information.

- You can open a new blank Word document and use Insert > Picture > From
File to bring in the graphic saved by the scanner. While the graphic is
selected, click the Text Wrapping button on the Picture toolbar and select
"Behind Text". Then you can use Insert > Text Box and draw a box for your
information in the proper location on top of the scanned form; or use the
Table tools to create a table that matches the layout of the scanned form,
and insert Word's text form fields (from the Forms toolbar) in the cells of
the table.

 

[Guest]

I AM TRYING TO SCAN DOCUMENTS INTO WORD SO I CAN FILL THEM OUT & PRINT
(I.E.-CREDIT APPLICATIONS, SCHOOL FORMS ETC.) ONCE I SCAN THEM I CAN'T TYPE
THE REQUIRED INFO INTO THEM. I HAVE LOOKED ON THE HELP MENU, ON LINE, ASKED
PEOPLE ETC & I CAN'T GET AN ANSWER. PLEASE HELP. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO
PURCHASE A SEPARATE PROGRAM TO ACCOMPLISH THIS. I WOULD RATHER USE MICROSOFT.
THANKING YOU IN ADVANCE.

 

[Chuck Davis]

You are probably scanning the page as an image. A scanner is required that
uses optical character reading (OCR) software. Note that this software is
usually separate from image scanning software. Most new model scanners come
with both graphic and OCR scanning software. (BTW don't use all caps)

 

[Guest]

Mustang,
Thank you for the information. I really appreciate your time.
I apologized back in Aug for using all caps. I had no intention of rocking
anybody's boat. It sure is easier to find my question in all the postings.
though, hence easier to find the answers. Again, I have corrected the error &
believe me I will never do THAT again

 

[Pat Garard]

G'Day Nichols,

When you scan a document, a 'picture' (i.e. an image) of the document is
created - the type of image (jpg, gif, tif, bmp ... etc) depends on the
software used with/by the scanner.

That image may be manipulated only by graphics (i.e. drawing) software.

To obtain an editable document you need to use Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) software. This 'reads' and 'recognises' parts of
the image as 'writing' and the result can be sent to (say) Word.

Please research:
a. The software that came with your scanner - is it OCR? OCR
software may be purchased separately (from your scanner).
b. Microsoft Office Document Scanning (with recent versions of Office)
c. Microsoft Office Document Imaging (with recent versions of Office)

If b/c are installed they can be found in
Start>All Programs>Microsoft Office>Microsoft Office Tools
--
Regards,
Pat Garard
Melbourne, Australia
_______________________

<Nichols>; <Graeme &amp>; "Dianne"