At some point in the future, I'd like to follow the recommendations of some various sites I've seen online and scan most of my paper archives to PDF. It looks like this would be the best solution (I'm a Mac user) – or, at least, that's the device I've seen recommended a few million times. However, I really can't see having the discretionary $417+ to purchase this device, not for a very, very long time. Does anyone offer this device for rental? (I live in Chicago.) Is there a RipDigital equivalent for this kind of thing (a very long time ago, they did the initial move of my music from CDs to MP3s)? Are there cheaper alternatives that are just as good?
posted by WCityMike on Nov 21, 2009 - 9 answers

My (really not great) handwriting into pretty, pretty computer text? Is Livescribe the answer? [more inside]
posted by eb98jdb on Sep 23, 2009 - 4 answers

ATM check deposits. OCR or just instantaneous offshore data entry? TIA.
posted by @troy on Aug 6, 2009 - 16 answers

Where can I find recommendations for document scanner to handle what I'd consider "medium - large volume" scanning of our office files? [more inside]
posted by dukes909 on Jul 27, 2009 - 7 answers

How can I convince a document management vendor to stop embracing 100 DPI / JPG as a universal format for scanned documents? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on May 20, 2009 - 13 answers

My husband has been wondering about getting an OCR scanner pen. There have been a few questions before on this topic, but the technology may have moved on, and he has some specific needs. [more inside]
posted by jb on Apr 17, 2009 - 13 answers

I have 18 copies of a 47-page document, scanned with handwriting on them. I want to extract the handwritten bits (i.e. compare, page-by-page, and eliminate the "constant" part), despite skewing, offset, and some noise in some copies. I want to use Perl or Python with e.g. ImageMagick or gd or something. Any pointers? I'm not talking about OCR -- just comparison, with one output being the graphical bits that don't match. [more inside]
posted by Michael Roberts on Apr 9, 2009 - 12 answers

How can I best OCR an oddly formatted document using Adobe 9 Standard? [more inside]
posted by Sheppagus on Feb 24, 2009 - 5 answers

How can I quickly and easily increase the contrast on every page of a PDF? [more inside]
posted by Outis on Feb 22, 2009 - 6 answers

Is there Mac-based software available that will search my entire hard drive or designated folders for image-only PDF files (have not been OCR'ed) and then automatically run OCR (using Acrobat Pro or whatever) and override the original file with a searchable version? [more inside]
posted by randex8 on Dec 16, 2008 - 4 answers

I am looking for the best of the best OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software out in the market that can translate images ( through scanner) of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into editable text.
posted by omaralarifi on Sep 14, 2008 - 9 answers

Any good free (or really inexpensive) OCR software out there? I looked through the archives here but couldn't find any info that was quite right for my needs. [more inside]
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit on Aug 22, 2008 - 20 answers

I have a Wacom graphics tablet. Is there a (preferably free or at least cheap) kanji handwriting recognition program for WinXP that would let me write kanji by hand without knowing the correct stroke order, and produce a translation and/or Unicode characters that I can cut and paste? [more inside]
posted by martinrebas on Apr 22, 2008 - 5 answers

I am in need of a server-side Linux or Unix-based software solution that will sort uploaded PDF files that can be PDF-native (that is, created in such a way that the text in the PDF is freely copyable), PDFs with embedded text over images (usually the result of a previous OCR job), and PDF-scanned, which are PDFs containing no text, only scanned images. The PDF-native files and PDFs with embedded text it will extract text from, the PDF-scanned files it will then OCR and export that text. [more inside]
posted by Mo Nickels on Mar 17, 2008 - 4 answers

Are there any OCR programs that can read Syriac? [more inside]
posted by perpetualstroll on Mar 14, 2008 - 3 answers

What is the best Windows TIFF combiner? [more inside]
posted by yesno on Jan 24, 2008 - 11 answers

What do I do with my voluminous diaries (mostly in spiral notebook form) that span 20 years of my life? [more inside]
posted by desjardins on Dec 3, 2007 - 23 answers

OCRfilter: any software that will take a PDF and convert it to Excel? [more inside]
posted by bartleby on Oct 23, 2007 - 9 answers

Help me format, for print, a giant list of phone numbers in Microsoft Word. [more inside]
posted by dirtdirt on Jul 23, 2007 - 5 answers

What's out there as far as affordable OCR software? Are there any good SourceForge choices? I don't use OCR enough to justify paying the typical $150 prices I keep running across. I'd be fine with something that just OCRs a pre-existing file (like a TIFF) or runs on the command line (Windows).
posted by stam_broker on Jul 10, 2007 - 10 answers

I need OCR software which will scan a page of a book and then produce an output which has the image of the scanned page on one side and the scanned text on the other. So: side A = perfect copy of the original page; side B = the text as processed by the OCR software. Does such a thing exist?
posted by humuhumu on Jul 4, 2007 - 2 answers

Looking for an inexpensive (under $200) scanner with a document feeder. This will be used for OCR, including MUSIC OCR using "Photoscore" software so greyscale resolution should be good. Speed and capacity are important -- I'd like to be able to put a stack of pages in and let it run while I'm out of the room. Duplex would be a plus.
posted by Alabaster on Mar 24, 2007 - 5 answers

Figuring out digital photography to support an OCR project [more inside]
posted by gov_moonbeam on Mar 24, 2007 - 6 answers

I'm looking for a script or application that I can run on a website that will scan an image for text (OCR) or bar codes. Know of any? Should be open source, freeware, or shareware.
posted by paulrockNJ on Dec 8, 2006 - 2 answers

I am thinking of archiving a student newspaper which goes back nearly a century. However the money simply isn't there to go to a corporation to do it-- does anyone have any suggestions as to how to go about doing this in-house and on a tight budget?
posted by perpetualstroll on Oct 11, 2006 - 6 answers

What software should I use to archive/organize scans of personal finance information? [more inside]
posted by Alterscape on Sep 24, 2006 - 3 answers

I care enough about getting all my physical media into digital form that I'm ready to hand-scan my remaining books where necessary. Before I do this, what are all the ways I should search to be sure a given book doesn't exist as an ebook I could buy (or in any other digital form)? Also: any hints for efficiently doing the scanning & OCR?
posted by allterrainbrain on Sep 17, 2006 - 10 answers

Is there a good OCR program that can convert my old government science papers into nice electronic replicas? [more inside]
posted by shannymara on Jul 16, 2006 - 4 answers

Help my girlfriend get her writing out of a top-secret government compound! [more inside]
posted by smartyboots on Nov 27, 2005 - 26 answers

Document scanning and archiving? (MI) [more inside]
posted by mireille on Feb 16, 2005 - 7 answers

Document management. I get a lot of paper documents (bills, letters, invoices, etc) and want to catalog them digitally. I want a program that scans a sheet (or multiple sheets), turns them into PDF and catalogs them (title, category, and maybe even del.icio.us style tags). Acrobat will do the first two stages, but I want something that does the cataloging too. Any suggestions? OCR not needed whatsoever.
posted by wackybrit on Jan 9, 2005 - 10 answers

I need to convert a scanned pdf to searchable text, without printing it out and scanning it back in using OCR. Also, I'd like a cheap or free solution since I'm not likely to use it often ever again.
posted by nomis on May 6, 2004 - 17 answers

Does anyone know anything about OCR software? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by rorycberger on May 5, 2004 - 9 answers

I'm proofreading an OCR file of a 25-year-old book, and after I fixed it up the company (whose history it is) said I had to put back in all the original (non-OCR) mistakes (words spelled wrong, incorrect tenses, text inconsistencies, semicolons used miserably) for copyright reasons. I told them it's their copyright, and they can do whatever they want with it. No, they say, it's a historical record. It's also their money, so I'll do whatever they want . . . but are they right? Are misspelled words and poor punctuation a copyright issue? [more inside]
posted by LeLiLo on Apr 28, 2004 - 19 answers