Is there a way of creating a interactive word document?

[scanning 100pages document] What is the fastest way to translate to word documents?

• Hi, I have this 100 pages printed document. And I need to make copy of them, BUT in word documents. First I thought I type all of them, but it will take a aweful time and my friend told me that I can scan all of them and translate them into word document by using OCR. Do you think this is the fastest way? So I am scanning all pages right now. Each page= one jpeg file. I am planning to translate into word document After I make 100 of jpeg file...but it takes time and I am wondering if there is another way to do this. Is it possible to translate and scan at the same time??

• Answer:

  It's possible to OCR and scan at the same time but a setup with such a capability is out of the price range of most home users ($700+). You're looking at a scanner with built-in graphics processing and expensive software. (Fujitsu, Kofax, etc.) Otherwise, there is already a cheap (if not free) post-scan option for most users via Office 2003. Here's how to OCR using MS Office 2003: You don't need to purchase anything. If the computer you're using has Office 2003, it already comes with OCR. Here's how to use it: 1. Connect your scanner. Place a page of text in the scanner. 2. Click Start, All Programs, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Tools, and then Microsoft Office Document Imaging. NOTE: To see the OCR options, click the Tools menu and choose Options. Click the OCR tab. The default settings are recommended. Click OK. 3. From the File menu choose Scan New Document. 4. Click the Scanner button. Choose the driver for the scanner. It will likely be a TWAIN driver. Again, the defaults should be fine. If the process fails and the scanner is not recognized, if you have a 2nd option here, change to that driver and try again. Click OK. 5. For OCR, select either Black and white or Black and white from color page depending on the type of text you are scanning. NOTE: If you want to change the Presets or have other Custom settings (need to scan Legal pages), click the Preset options drop down menu. Choose the desired choice. You can edit the paper size, where the files are saved, etc. 6. If you have multiple pages to scan, click the Prompt for Additional pages checkbox. If you only have a single page, un-check it. NOTE: Please leave the View file after scanning box choice selected. 7. Click the Scan button when ready to proceed. 8. If you choose the "Prompt for Additional pages" checkbox, place the next page in the scanner. Click Continue. Repeat this as needed until all pages are scanned. Click Done when complete. NOTE: What you will see on the screen is a TIF or image file. Word cannot these files as TIF's. 9. From the Tools menu choose Send Text to Word or click the Send Text to Word button on the toolbar. 10. You can send all pages or just the selected pages to Word. You can also choose to have the pictures included in the Word document as well. To change where the Word file will be created, click the Browse button and choose the desired folder. 11. Click OK when ready. 12. The document will be opened in Word. Go to the File menu and choose Save As. Save the file as a .DOC file rather than a .HTM file. (source: http://it.cas.psu.edu/training/howto/scanner/officeimaging.html) Or you can scan the documents into TIFF files at 240dpi (300dpi or better recommended). Then obtain and install a FREE OCR program from http://www.brothersoft.com/utilities/free-printer_scanner_fax/. Use that OCR program to OCR your scanned document.