How to Use OCR Software on an HP Scanner
By Steven Symes
OCR or Optical Character Recognition is a software application included with certain HP scanners. Traditionally, documents scanned into a computer are saved as PDFs and can be read only on a computer. OCR allows a user to scan documents and save them to a computer, but also to be able to edit the documents. OCR software also gives users the ability to search scanned documents for certain key words and phrases. HP includes a software CD to install the OCR program onto your computer.
Ensure that you have installed the Readiris Pro OCR software on the computer that is attached to the HP scanner. If you have not installed the software, insert into your computer the CD labeled "Readiris Pro" that came with your scanner. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the OCR software.
Find the OCR icon on your computer's desktop. If you cannot find it on the desktop, click on "Start" then "All Programs" and find the folder named "Readiris Pro." Click on the OCR icon to launch the software.
Place the document to be scanned either into your scanner's document feeder or onto the scanning glass. Wait for the Readiris welcome screen to come up on your computer screen.
Click on the icon in the Readiris welcome screen labeled "Scanning" and then click on "Scan" from the drop-down menu. The scanner will scan the document and send a copy of the scan to the Readiris desktop.
Save the scanned document once you have finished editing it. Click on the "Recognize and Save" icon to the left of the document, then click on the program to which you want to save your program. Once you have saved your document to this program, you can open the scanned document and begin editing it further.
References
Tips
- HP cautions that the Readiris software will not work with "highly stylized" text, such as ornate cursive.