How do I use OCR in Vista/Office 2007?

[Guest]

I'm not very PC savy. I have Windwos Vista and Office 2007 but I cannot seem
to be able to find a way to use OCR, which was so easy with previous
versions. Any iguidance?

 

[Malke]

I'm not very PC savy. I have Windwos Vista and Office 2007 but I cannot seem
to be able to find a way to use OCR, which was so easy with previous
versions. Any iguidance?

Optical Scanning Recognition software is provided either by the scanner
mftr. (usually a "lite" version) or you can purchase it separately if
you need more options. OmniPage is an example. So your OCR capabilities
in XP did not come from the operating system but rather from the
software that came with your scanner. You will need to check with the
scanner mftr. or purchase Vista-compatible OCR software.


Malke

 

[mlai]

Yes but OCR capability (although somewhat limited) came with Office 2003 via
MS Office Document Imaging.......
Nope, you won't find it in Office 2007.......

 

[David A. Lessnau]

Malke, in this case, that's not quite correct. Windows Fax and Scan (under
Vista) doesn't appear to have an OCR capability. If he didn't have Office
2007, then yes, he'd need some OCR software. But, according to:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HP010771031033.aspx

Microsoft Office Document Scanning (MODS) in Office 2007 does OCR on its
own. From what I can see, it looks like it's supposed to do OCR
automatically when it scans text documents.

C: I would have thought there'd be a "Document" setting under MODS. I
don't see one, though. It looks like the "Processing" tab under the "Preset
Options" item is the place to check. There's an OCR option there. Either
select and edit an existing preset or create a new one and make sure that
option is checked. Failing that, from within MODS, you should be able to do
an OCR conversion by clicking Tools | Recognize Text Using OCR.

Also, and obviously (so I apologize if you've already checked), make sure
you're running Microsoft Office Document Scanning and not Windows Fax and
Scan.

 

[Malke]

Malke, in this case, that's not quite correct. Windows Fax and Scan
(under Vista) doesn't appear to have an OCR capability. If he didn't
have Office 2007, then yes, he'd need some OCR software. But, according
to:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HP010771031033.aspx

Microsoft Office Document Scanning (MODS) in Office 2007 does OCR on its
own. From what I can see, it looks like it's supposed to do OCR
automatically when it scans text documents.

C: I would have thought there'd be a "Document" setting under MODS. I
don't see one, though. It looks like the "Processing" tab under the
"Preset Options" item is the place to check. There's an OCR option
there. Either select and edit an existing preset or create a new one
and make sure that option is checked. Failing that, from within MODS,
you should be able to do an OCR conversion by clicking Tools | Recognize
Text Using OCR.

Also, and obviously (so I apologize if you've already checked), make
sure you're running Microsoft Office Document Scanning and not Windows
Fax and Scan.

Thanks to both David and "mlai" for the correction. I have got Office
2007 installed on my Vista machine but have spent zero time messing with
it yet. I've made notes on what you've said. The information is much
appreciated.


Malke

 

[Donald Mills]

I have Office 2007 Pro w/ Vista Ultimate x86. Office does have OCR. I always
do a custom install rather than just taking standard defaults. If you go to
Control Panel, Programs, then highlight your Office 2007, select change or
add new stuff (my own tech talk), than down under Office Tools, there's MS
Office Document Imaging. OCR is in there. It's not active by default, so
turn it on.

Sorry for the 'down home tech talk.' Hope you catch the drift. Point is, MS
Office 2007 (at least Pro) has OCR that can be turned on.

Good luck...