Key Steps in Editing a Scanned Document Using Free OCR Services

Hello there, this is Julie Clements. I’m the Chief Solutions Manager here at Managed Outsource Solutions. Wanted to talk to you today about how to edit a scanned document using some free online OCR services.

Many businesses are moving towards a paperless working environment, which is great. In fact, going paperless not only clears the clutter from your office environment but also allows companies to operate more efficiently. It also helps save money, reduce carbon footprint, minimize storage space and increase employee productivity and generate higher earnings. Partnering with an experienced document scanning company can help scan all paper documents and convert them into digital format, relieving the business from the hassles associated with paper files. One of the key advantages of scanning paper documents is that it helps protect important documents from disasters. However, it must be possible to edit the scanned documents to make necessary modifications and maintain authenticity.

To edit your scanned PDF documents, you can utilize free OCR services available online such as at www.onlineocr.net and www.newocr.com. You may have to register at the website to start using the service and here are the steps for editing scanned documents.

• First off, we can scan the document in PDF. If possible, use black and white to make it easy for the characters to be recognized.
• Then open the online OCR service website and you can convert the scanned documents into plain text, and you can then edit from here.
• Also you can click choose file button, at the top of the page, which is grey in color. This will open the windows explorer or finder on your Mac.
• Select the scanned PDF file. For that you have to click the scanned PDF file’s location folder on the left side of the window.
• Click open. This will upload the PDF file to the website.
• Click PDF + OCR button which is at the bottom of the page and this will convert the uploaded PDF to text.
• Scroll down and click download button which is on the left side of the page and this will prompt a drop-down menu.
• Click Microsoft Word DOC, on the drop-down menu prompt.
• Now, edit the scanned document in Word and save the edited Word document as PDF.

By converting to Tiff format, PDF documents can be easily edited, modified and updated due to the flexibility of the format. Here are steps to edit a Tiff file.

• If you scan the document, ensure that the edges of the document are smooth and precise.
• Scan the image in black and white to avoid errors and other issues of readability.
• Then save the file as a Tiff file and not PDF.
• Click on the control panel – programs – program and features – download and install Microsoft office document imaging. Right click on the Word version and click change, then select add or remove features.
• After installing, load Microsoft office document imaging.
• Then open the scanned Tiff document to the program.
• Load Microsoft Word.
• Open a blank document and paste the content of the image file.
• After editing, save the newly edited version.

Alternatively, there are several OCR applications available to edit a scanned document. Some of them include ABBYY FineReader, PDFelement, PDF OCR and more.

If you have any further questions, you can also visit our website at www.managedoutsource.com.

Thank you!