Quite often among scanner users the question arises of how to edit a scanned document. In general, a problem of this kind can be solved by using special software or an online service that supports conversion from PDF to any format convenient for editing. Below you can familiarize yourself with several popular software and services that will help you convert scanned documents for further editing.
Solving a problem using OCR
If you need to edit scanned documents, then use any OCR program whose function is optical character recognition. This software compares the characters in the scanned file with those characters that are in its database. After this, the program of this category converts the file into a convenient text format. However, keep in mind that not all OCRs can work for free - there are many paid options among them. Also keep in mind that depending on how well you scan the original, you may encounter various errors when editing the finished scan. To directly solve the problem related to how to edit scanned text, follow the following instructions:
- Download the OCR program from the official website of the developer or any reliable web resource and install it.
- Open the file you are editing in the program window. This process may differ for each software of this type, but in general you will need to open the file and then start the conversion process. Many of these programs allow you to select the appropriate output file format. The main thing is that the changed document type is convenient for you.
- After the conversion is completed, you will need to remove formatting from the finished file if there are any problems with it. The fact is that the software can take into account formatting, for example, fonts, line spacing, if the scanned file is not scanned smoothly enough. To remove formatting, use any text editor, for example, the usual Notepad. It, as a rule, is not able to recognize formatting, so you can paste text into it without unnecessary code.
- At the end, you need to open a new document in any convenient editor and begin the process of editing scanned documents. Be sure to use the spell check function to find all errors in time and correct them. But formatting errors will have to be corrected manually.
But before you turn on the scanner and scan this or that text, you should initially decide on an optical character recognition program that is convenient for you. Below you can see some of the most popular and widespread among them:
- One of the most famous programs in the OCR category is ABBYY FineReader, which operates on a paid basis. This software is used to convert scans into text files using patented algorithms that allow you to recognize even text that is not of very high quality. In general, the advantages of the program lie in the high accuracy of text recognition, the ability to transform the entire structure and appearance of scanned text. Consequently, it will leave not only the text in its place, but also tables, drawings, etc.
- Readiris Pro is also a fairly common OCR program that has a very user-friendly interface. With its help, you can save recognized text in formats such as XPS, OpenOffice, PDF, Word and Excel. It should be added that this program allows you to work with more than a hundred languages of the world and the DjVu format.
- Freemore OCR is a program that is completely free. With its help, you can quickly extract graphics and text from scanned images. The extracted text can be saved as a Word document. In addition, it has a multi-page recognition function. But keep in mind that the program interface is only in English. However, this circumstance does not affect the ease of use.
Solving a problem using online services
If you are interested in the answer to the question of how to edit a scanned document without installing special software applications, then use any online service that offers converting images to text. Usually all these resources work according to the same scheme. You just need to upload a scan of the document, having first saved it in PDF format, then follow the recommendation to select the desired task and click on something like “Convert” (it’s different everywhere). Then the service will give you the finished file in the form of a Word document.
- One of the most convenient and best services offering converting PDF to Word for the purpose of editing a scan is smallpdf.com. Its advantages include a simple interface, fast operation, excellent quality results, support for working with Dropbox and Google Drive, and a lot of additional functions. You can only use it for free twice an hour. If necessary, you can purchase a paid Pro account, as a result of which the list of functions will be significantly expanded.
- Zamzar.com is also a fairly convenient online conversion service. It features the ability to batch process files, a large number of conversion options, and is fast. Moreover, you can use this resource absolutely free. However, there are size restrictions - no more than 50 MB. To remove this limit, you will have to pay the corresponding tariff. In addition, the result can only be received by e-mail, which you will have to first enter before downloading the file.
Scan Corrector A4 is a program for convenient, simple and fast scanning of documents and images, adjusting them to improve visual perception (contrast, brightness, color), printing and saving. Designed for a wide range of users, it does not require special knowledge - only skills in working with common general-purpose programs.
Many users, especially those who need to frequently make electronic copies of documents in the common format of a regular landscape sheet (A4), are familiar with the situation when the quality of the original, and especially the resulting copy, is low and its content is difficult to recognize, i.e. the document requires correction (post-scan processing). The use of specialized graphic editors (for example, Adobe Photoshop) may be unavailable, or unjustified in terms of time and power of computer equipment, or simply impossible for the user due to the level of software proficiency at the moment. The way out of this situation is to use the ScanCorrector A4 program.
The advantage of the program is the small size of its complete package (only about 1MB) and the absence of the need for installation on the system, which allows you to always have it with you on a flash drive or other removable media and use it promptly. This is relevant, for example, for lawyers, design engineers, builders, etc.
The program provides:
1. Step-by-step scanning of A4 documents
2. Convenient, simple and quick adjustment of scanned images (or previously saved graphic files) to improve visual perception and printing
3. Print and save scanned images (or previously saved graphic files)
The program has the following additional functions:
1. Scanner selection (graphics input device)
2. Ability to take multiple images sequentially
3. Selecting a color mode (natural colors or grayscale)
4. Image adjustments (several typical fixed settings and manual adjustment of contrast and brightness)
5. Possibility of storing up to 10 sequentially entered images directly in the program itself without the need to save them and select the desired image
6. Setting up printing by calling the standard system interface
ATTENTION! A special feature of the program is the need to set the boundary of the scanning area when calling the scanner interface to the full A4 size! Otherwise, the image proportions will be distorted!
The program is designed to work under Windows 9x/NT/XP operating systems.
When working with documents and large databases, various problems often arise. This does not mean errors in the documentation that require adjustments and corrections. It's about simple laziness. But, as you know, laziness is the engine of progress.
People at all times wanted to quickly get rid of routine work and devote more time to relaxation.
But in order to do something pleasant calmly and carefree, you first need to do your job well. Very often, if documents need to be entered into a register or database, a large amount of information has to be retyped. This process often gets boring for users. To simplify this process, you can use a scanner and editing program.
Scanner Features
A scanner is a special device that allows you to transfer text from a printed source (magazine, newspaper, book, etc.) to a computer screen. The result of the scanner is an image of the page of the original document. Some devices use special programs that allow you to control the entire scanning process. It is also possible to select the format in which the material used will be converted. Scanning actually produces a simple snapshot of the document. Due to the inability to recognize characters, editing the document will not be possible.
What can you do with a scanned document?
The resulting document can be easily managed by editing the entire text or just a fragment of it. For this purpose, a special program for editing scanned documents is usually used. The main function of such utilities is to recognize a scanned image and convert it into a text fragment. It can be edited and processed later. Today you can find a lot of similar programs and applications. Each of them has its own characteristics and nuances. Let's look at some of these software products.
ABBYY FineReader
The most common program for editing scanned images is ABBYY FineReader. This software product is a set of editors designed to perform all kinds of operations with scanned documents. The program can recognize text documents from images of any quality. The program also implements the ability to recognize multi-level documents containing pictures, tables and other details. The functionality of the program allows you to set the language during text recognition.
You can also specify proper comparison symbols. This makes it possible to perform text recognition with a minimum number of errors. ABBYY FineReader works great with documents in PDF format. So, if you need to edit a file of this format, you can do this easily and without extra effort, just use ABBYY FineReader.
The program has a convenient and intuitive interface. To use this software product you do not need to have any special skills. It is precisely this accessibility of ABBYY FineReader that influenced its popularity among users around the world. After completing the text recognition process, you can easily open the file with the result and correct the errors that the program made. You can do this without leaving the editor menu. The result will ultimately be saved in the form of a separate document, which can be edited at any time.
Subtleties of working with PDF format
If the source file is in PDF format, then you can use some tricks when working with it. In the process of recognizing PDF files, it is especially convenient to use FineReader, but the cost of this software product often repels users and forces them to look for similar software products. Fortunately, there are several utilities that can be used to perform text recognition in PDF files.
PDFill PDF Tools
This program is designed specifically for working with files in PDF format. It has a number of separate options that allow you to combine several documents into one or, conversely, divide one document into several. PDFill PDF Tools also allows you to edit the contents of PDF files and convert them into images. In addition, the program makes it possible to create lists, work with embedded images, align text and carry out other operations that the user can perform when working with the Microsoft Office software package.
The program is distributed completely free of charge. It is intended for both home and corporate use. There are, of course, disadvantages. One of them is the program interface. It can't be called comfortable. But this shortcoming is more than compensated for by the wide range of program functions. It is also worth considering that there is no Russian version of PDFill PDF Tools yet.
Free PDF Editor
Another free application that you can use to edit PDF files is Free PDF Editor. The program has a simple and intuitive interface and is supported by many common operating systems. The only drawback of Free PDF Editor is this: the scanned result cannot be edited. You can scan directly into the program. However, you will have to additionally tinker with setting up a virtual printer. Otherwise the program will simply refuse to work.
OCR editor
If we are going to talk about free analogues of the ABBYY Fine Reader program, then we should definitely mention a program called OCR Form. This useful and functional utility will especially appeal to those users who have to work with several languages at once. OCR supports over twenty foreign languages. The utility also copes well with poor quality documents and printing. However, it also has its drawbacks. The program does not work very well with handwritten text.
Of course, the functionality of the program includes the possibility of operations with handwritten text, but the quality of the result is, to put it mildly, questionable. If we talk about the appearance of the program, then OCR may well be a worthy competitor to paid applications. Working with the program is very simple: just open the desired file, scan it and save it in the desired format. Another feature due to which OCR has gained popularity among users is the ability to self-learn. The program is equipped with an adaptive recognition system, which allows for better and better text recognition with each new request.
Another program from the OCR family is SimpleOCR.
This utility is a simplified analogue of OCR. This program has the ability to manually add words using the built-in editor. By the way, text editing can be done directly in the program window. You can work on several files at once. The program has a slightly unusual interface that can be confusing. But if you spend some time working with this program, you will get a very useful tool for editing scanned text.
Working with Images
In some cases, you have to deal with scanned documents in jpg format. Then the text recognition process will be carried out according to a completely different principle. After all, you need to not only recognize the picture, but also bring it to an acceptable form. For example, if you need to scan a diagram from a textbook, traces of ink from other pages will appear on the scan. In order to get rid of these shortcomings, you can use special graphic editors.
You can use an advanced tool such as Photoshop for this purpose. It can be used to edit scanned documents. Photoshop allows you to get rid of imperfections such as ink marks and smudges. You can also change the brightness and color of the image using various filters. On the Internet you can find many video tutorials on working with this software product. There are many other graphic editors with which you can edit a scanned document.
Optical text recognition program. ABBYY FineReader can recognize text from scanned paper documents, PDF files, and documents captured with a digital camera. Text documents recognized by the program can be further edited using Microsoft Office applications. If necessary, the entire structure of document design will be preserved during text recognition. FineReader works with all popular models of modern scanners and multifunction devices (MFPs). If the user needs to scan and recognize a large number of pages of text, then the program provides a special mode for working with automatic scanners (scanner with automatic paper feeder). The program can recognize text in files of the following formats: PDF, BMP, PCX, DCX, JPEG, JPEG 2000, TIFF, PNG, DjVu; if necessary, digital images will be processed to improve the quality of optical text recognition (the image can be cropped and cleared of unnecessary elements , eliminate inaccuracies, distortion of lines, rotate or mirror).The program is a comprehensive application for working with text documents. Its main purpose is optical character recognition. The creator of the program is the Russian company ABBYY Software (the world leader in the field of recognition systems). The application quickly and accurately translates scanned documents into an editable format, preserving all the original details of the source. FineReader can recognize PDF files, digital photos and paper documents. The program accurately reproduces the appearance of the original source, supports text recognition in 186 languages and provides direct export to Microsoft Office applications.
Using the application, tasks such as: creating and editing electronic documents based on paper sources, translating documents of poor quality into an editable format, processing documents with a complex content structure, including tables, illustrations, diagrams, etc., searching and editing text are solved in any formats. According to most experts, the program is the best in its field.
If we talk about the practice of using this program on the RuNet, then many users have long known this program Fine Reader (Russian translation of the name), the main purpose of which is to perform so-called optical text recognition. To put it simply, using this program, any text printed on paper can be converted into one of the electronic formats. The latest version of the program features not only an updated and more convenient interface, but also improved functionality.
In fact, all basic actions can be performed with one mouse click, which selects one of the actions offered when starting the program. Among them are the ability to scan documents into .doc format, convert photos, scan to Excel, save images and scan them, image recognition, etc. In order to improve the usability of the program, the work area has been enlarged, and the buttons that trigger this or that action have been expanded. are now in the sidebar.
In order not to confuse the user, by default all files that he opens are recognized automatically. If necessary, an experienced user can make deep adjustments to the FineReader functionality. And working with images has been greatly simplified thanks to the new dialogue. Using the application allows you to recognize documents written in more than one language, convert PDF files, recognize barcodes and conduct morphological searches. And although this is far from a complete list of its capabilities, this alone can encourage many users to install Fine Reader on a permanent basis and use it as needed.
And to summarize the above, we can briefly outline the functionality: this program is used for optical recognition of various text documents. When recognizing text, the program preserves the original formatting and design of the document (colored text, text against the background of pictures, different font styles, text wrapping around pictures, tables, etc.). FineReader can work with scanned paper documents (works with almost all popular models of scanners and multifunction devices), with documents captured by digital cameras, and recognizes text and graphics from PDF files. It also exports optical text recognition results to popular office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Lotus Word Pro, Corel WordPerfect, OpenOffice. Recognized text can be saved in various formats: PDF, PDF/A, DOCX, XLSX, RTF, DOC, XLS, CSV, TXT, HTML, Unicode TXT, Word ML, LIT, DBF.
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