Converting Scanned Documents into Editable Text

You can scan a document and convert it into editable text using an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program, such as ABBYY FineReader.

OCR software cannot recognize or has difficulty recognizing the following types of documents or text:

Handwritten characters

Pages that have been copied from other copies

Faxes

Text with tightly spaced characters or line pitch

Text that is in tables or underlined

Cursive or italic fonts, and font sizes smaller than 8 points

Follow the steps below to scan and convert text using ABBYY FineReader.

Load your documents (up to 75 pages) into the input tray with the printed side facing down and the top edge facing into the feeder. See Loading Documents for instructions.

Do one of the following to start ABBYY FineReader:

Windows: Click the

start button icon or Start > Programs or All Programs > ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Sprint > ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Sprint.

Mac OS X: Select Applications > ABBYY FineReader 5 Sprint Plus, and double-click the Launch FineReader 5 Sprint icon.

ABBYY FineReader window appears.

Click the Scan&Read icon at the top of the window. Epson Scan starts.

Note for Mac OS X users:

If you do not see a Scan&Read icon, choose Select Scanner from the Scan&Read dropdown menu, select your scanner, and click OK. Then select Scan&Read from the Scan&Read menu to start Epson Scan.

Select one of the following settings as the Document Source setting:

Single-Sided: Select this setting when you scan only one side of your document page.

Double-Sided: Select this setting when you scan both sides of your document page.

Carrier Sheet (Single-Sided): Select this setting when you scan irregularly shaped documents or documents with folds or wrinkles using the carrier sheet.

Carrier Sheet (Stitch Images): Select this setting when you scan documents larger than letter- or A4-size using the carrier sheet. Epson Scan scans images with double-sided setting, then outputs a stitched image.

Select the size of your original document as the Size setting.

Select Portrait (tall) or Landscape (wide) to change the orientation of your document.

Select Auto, Color, Grayscale, or Black & White as the Image Type setting.

Select a Resolution setting between 200 and 400.

Make any other necessary Image Adjustment settings. See Adjusting the Color and Other Image Settings for details.

Click Scan. Your document is scanned, processed into editable text, and opened in the ABBYY FineReader window.

Note:

If the characters in your text are not recognized very well, you can improve recognition by selecting the Text Enhancement check box or adjusting the Threshold setting. See Adjusting the Color and Other Image Settings for instructions.

Follow the instructions in ABBYY FineReader Help to edit and save your document.