Scanning to Acrobat

[Guest]

I want to fill out an Application Form for a job and thought it would look
more professional if I typed it, so I scanned it into Adobe Acrobat and then
tried to add text but to no avail, is there somehow I can scan documents to
file and then convert them from Jpeg or BPM and convert them so as to enable
one to add text to them??? Perhaps I am just missing something but this seems
like a reasonable function to ask of my PC in the 21st Century!

 

[R. McCarty]

You're speaking about OCR, Optical Character Recognition. A
simple scan is just that, an image. OCR allows you to scan &
then make changes to the document. It's improved markedly over
the years, but still not 100% perfect.

I suppose the pre-eminent software for that is "TextBridge".
Website here:
http://www.scansoft.com/textbridge/

Good Luck with your job search - Hopefully you're still young
enough and adaptable to find new employment.

"Leon (Unemployed at the moment) Luckless" <Leon (Unemployed at the moment)
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[David H. Lipman]

If you scan an object like a form into a PDF file, the information stored will be a graphic
and you will NOT be able to "copy text" from it or use edit it as a form. As for your
statement -- "...seems like a reasonable function to ask of my PC in the 21st Century!", you
misconstrue the Adobe Acrobat capabilities. While PDF forms are a viable option, they must
be created from scratch. A good example is the IRS 1040 PDF files. Not only can you open
the PDF file as a form and fill in the fields but you can also save the form, with the data,
in the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Based upon what software you have, you may be able to Original Character Recognition (OCR)
however, I don't think it will create a layout to your satisfaction. It is designed more or
less for extracting TEXT from a scanned document and not create a form. However, based upon
the size of the font, the type of font and the quality of the scan, the text imported into a
Wordprocessor document won't be perfectly interpreted.

--
Dave




"Leon (Unemployed at the moment) Luckless" <Leon (Unemployed at the moment)
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message
| I want to fill out an Application Form for a job and thought it would look
| more professional if I typed it, so I scanned it into Adobe Acrobat and then
| tried to add text but to no avail, is there somehow I can scan documents to
| file and then convert them from Jpeg or BPM and convert them so as to enable
| one to add text to them??? Perhaps I am just missing something but this seems
| like a reasonable function to ask of my PC in the 21st Century!

 

[David H. Lipman]

I have been doing OCR for a number of years and have seen an evolution in the ability to be
successful. When I first started doing OCR, I used WordScan which was based around a 16bit
card with its own CPU and 4MB RAM. When you loaded the software, it loaded the OCR engine
onto the OCR scan card and it would process the text interpretation. Now you can easily do
it on the computer's CPU and it has a higher success rate. But it still has limited uses.
In my client's office, OCR was relegated to scanning FAX information into MS Word documents
and usually required some "massaging" to make it the same as the scanned FAX.

--
Dave




| You're speaking about OCR, Optical Character Recognition. A
| simple scan is just that, an image. OCR allows you to scan &
| then make changes to the document. It's improved markedly over
| the years, but still not 100% perfect.
|
| I suppose the pre-eminent software for that is "TextBridge".
| Website here:
| http://www.scansoft.com/textbridge/
|
| Good Luck with your job search - Hopefully you're still young
| enough and adaptable to find new employment.
|
| "Leon (Unemployed at the moment) Luckless" <Leon (Unemployed at the moment)
| (e-mail address removed)> wrote in message
| | >I want to fill out an Application Form for a job and thought it would look
| > more professional if I typed it, so I scanned it into Adobe Acrobat and
| > then
| > tried to add text but to no avail, is there somehow I can scan documents
| > to
| > file and then convert them from Jpeg or BPM and convert them so as to
| > enable
| > one to add text to them??? Perhaps I am just missing something but this
| > seems
| > like a reasonable function to ask of my PC in the 21st Century!
|
|

 

[Matt]

You can add form fields to the scanned image in Acrobat using the form tool.

 

[Ken Blake]

In Leon (Unemployed at the moment) Luckless <Leon (Unemployed at the
moment) (e-mail address removed)> typed:

I want to fill out an Application Form for a job and thought it
would
look more professional if I typed it, so I scanned it into
Adobe
Acrobat and then tried to add text but to no avail, is there
somehow
I can scan documents to file and then convert them from Jpeg or
BPM
and convert them so as to enable one to add text to them???
Perhaps I
am just missing something but this seems like a reasonable
function
to ask of my PC in the 21st Century!

When you scan the form (or any piece of paper with text on it)
what you get is a picture of the text, not the text itself. To
turn that picture into actual text requires a process called
Optical Character Recognition, or "OCR" for short.

OCR is done by software, and there are several OCR software
products available. Often a light version of one of these
programs will come with a scanner, but if you don't have one,
they are available for sale.

I use an OCR product called OmniPage Pro, which I like a lot.
There are others that you can find with a Google search.

Note, by the way, that no OCR product gives perfect results all
the time. Although modern OCR products make few errors, errors do
occur (depending on what font the original uses, and the quality
of the printing) and it's important to proofread carefully.

 

[Guest]

Cheers Matt, I will try this out. Leon.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Ken, I am going to search for some of this software you mentioned
and hopefully this will in turn impress the selection panel with my
Application Form. I will tell you if I got the Job shortly.
Thanks again
Leon.

 

[Guest]

Many Thanks David, I now understand why I couldn't add text to the form. It
seems pretty obvious now that I know and feel rather stupid, but at least the
Application Form will now look better than using a quill, I will keep you
informed as to whether I get short listed for an Interview and hopefully go
on to get the Job, via this discussion group just look out for "Luckless
Leon".
Again many thanks for your response.
Leon (Luckless).

 

[Guest]

Thanks very much "R. McCarty" I have a much better understanding of why I
couldn't add text to the scanned document, seems obvious now that you have
explained it. I am about to look for some software you mentioned and
hopefully get shortlisted for an Interview with such a professional looking
Application Form. I'll post news of my success or not as to whether I get the
Job, just look out for Luckless Leon. Again thank-you for your response.
Leon (Luckless).