Tech Stuff
Marker
Posts: 135MI6 Agent
I'm an analogue person living in a digital world but I thought it might be a good idea to open a thread were members can discuss and review new technology they've seen, used, bought. The more Q Branch better but as far as I'm concerned anything from robot vacuum cleaners to the latest car seat ejection system from Temu.
Also as a place where we can ask advice about tech matters.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Comments
I'll go first. I need some advice from you tech savvy people.
Is there any way I can transfer scanned documents into Microsoft Word (Word 7 in my case) so I can edit them? I've a load of typed documents which I want to transfer onto my PC and don't want the hassle of one-finger typing them all.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Mr Marker,
Here is an easy way to convert a digital or scanned PDF document into a word document, but it only works for Word 2013 and beyond (2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024).
If upgrading to a newer version of Word is not possible, you could try newocr.com.
Here is a video showing how it is utilized.
Here is the link for newocr.com
I hope this helps.
Thank you.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR in the above post)
a scanned document is just dots of colour, the computer doesnt know they represent text even though we humans can read the letters.
OCR is a process that recognises the patterns, eg the typical pattern of dots that makes a letter A, and generates a text file thats supposed to consist of the letters in the scanned document. It can produce lots of errors so you need to proof and correct the results.
My bank started using OCR in its ATM machines, and a couple of rent checks bounced because it misread the numbers I'd written. Not my fault the bank relies on such technology! I kept pleading with my landlord to quit using the ATM machine to deposit my check, just go the teller who is a human being and can read my handwriting!
on the other hand I've seen scanned survey maps where very tiny text running at all angles is (mostly) accurately OCR'd, and thats legal information so very important. so it depends on the algorithms for the OCR software. I'm thinking my bank just cheaped out.
@caractacus potts
Thank you for the primer on Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology.
@Sonero @caractacus potts thank you for your replies.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
@Marker
You are most welcome.