Optical Character Recognition Software

[ChristopherD]

Good Morning All,

Has anyone had any experience of OCR software?

I have a typed document on A4 sheets that I want to edit and update - needless to say I don't really want to retype it!

Regards,


Christopher

[LisaJC]

I haven't, but I remember someone mentioning it not that long ago! I'll have to rack my brains to think who it was!
My brain has gone all soft and soggy over Christmas!

[ChristopherD]

Hi Lisa,

I know the feeling!

I know Evernote does this - so you can search attached .pdf documents. But, it doesn't let you download that data into a word processor package.

Wishing all the best for 2021 - thank you for helping keep us sane over 2020! I dropped an e-mail to Helen Tovey at Family Tree Magazine - after reading the piece about the NNWFHS.

Best Wishes,


Christopher

[Nick Grain]

Hi Christopher
I don't believe it works with manuscript/written text, but if typed, Google Docs seems ok. I use it for reading pages from photos I've taken - I think the same facility is available for PDFs and the like. It does mean checking carefully after the document has been transcribed, but much quicker than re-typing the whole document. I'd be surprised if MS Word or Excel doesn't have a similar facility.
I'm currently considering whether I'll need to subscibe to G Suite when Google start charging in June, but my son assures me the free limit should be sufficient for my needs.
Nick

[ChristopherD]

Hi Nick,

I hope you are well.

I must admit I have never used Google for anything other than web browsing.

However, over the last couple of days the scanning function of my old HP scanner/printer/copier seems to have "died" and the ubiquitous IT solution of switching it off and on hasn't solved the problem! So, this may be the time to see if there are units available with this function "baked in". The desk top is of the same era getting very slow as well - 2021 may be a year to splash the cash.

So let's see what returns I get when I search "scanner OCR".

Regards,



Christopher

[Nick Grain]

Hi Christopher
I'm very well, thank you, and trust that you are, too.
I'm sorry to hear of the demise of your printer - I'm having similar problems with my favourite laptop. My first visit post-lockdown will be to find a replacement! I'm sure the latest OCR will be much better, things like that continue to improve rapidly.
Good luck,
Nick

[ChristopherD]

Hi Nick,

I think I'll need it.

I've been looking at scanners with OCR and trying to decide which way to jump!

Fingers crossed,


Christopher