Using Omnipage Pro

There are several ways to accomplish OCR with Omnipage Pro. You may use the Auto OCR Wizard button (the oversized button leftmost on the toolbar), or you may take a somewhat less automated approach. We outline here a manual method which you may use to convert all or part of your printed copy into PC readable text:

1.

Place your copy in the scanner. Be sure the page is flat against the copy glass.

2.

Click the Start button and then select Programs - Caere Applications - Omnipage Pro 8.0

3.

If you wish to change the output format options for the OCR session, from the Omnipage Tools menu choose Options. From this dialogue box you can set options such as source print format (normal or dot matrix), page columns, languages, et cetera.

4.

In the Process menu choose Scan Image. After a time the scanned image will appear on the screen. To vary the view zoom factor, right click on the image and choose a magnification level from the Zoom menu.

5.

If you do not wish to process the entire document, create zones for OCR recognition within the scanned image. Zones are areas which will be processed for conversion into text--everything else is ignored. Various zone types are available; to set up a ``rectangular'' zone:

(a)

Make sure the Rectangular Zone icon in the Zone toolbar is selected

(b)

Draw on the image one or more rectangles using the mouse and left button

6.

Perform the OCR:

(a)

In the Process menu choose OCR and Check

(b)

After the OCR session has completed use the Correct Words dialogue box to correct any spelling errors.

7.

In the File menu choose Save As.... Select an output format that is compatible with the application you will be exporting the text to. If you will be editing the text in Microsoft Word 7 choose Word 7.0 as the output format. If you will be editing the document in an unknown version of Word or an unsupported word processor try saving the document in RTF format. Word for Windows 6.0 format may be useful if you will be sending the document to someone using an older but undermined version of Microsoft Office or Word.