Save the text on a picture to a .txt file..?

keiramackenziekeiramackenzie
edited October 2005 in Science & Tech
Dear all,

I'm trying to transcribe a very old will which is written in a script that is bearly legible.

What I want to do is somehow extract only the text from the picture, so it is readable in word, and I can change the font to be able to read the writing!

I have tried many picture to text converters, but of course the converted picture comes up as symbols, and computer codes I don't understand, so if anyone knows how I can do this, I owuld be much appreciative

Thanks for reading
Keira

Comments

  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    Hmmm... script is tough, even for a good OCR program.
  • keiramackenziekeiramackenzie
    edited October 2005
    Really?

    Excuse my naivety but what is an OCR program? Ah, I've just looked that up...

    Could anyone recomment a good OCR program that might have a chance of scanning and recognising complicated script writing?
  • rykoryko new york
    edited October 2005
    you need a scanner, and it should come bundled with a decent OCR app.

    for instance canon bundles omnipage pro with their scanners.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    The best OCR program is scansoft's OmniPage Pro. I still don't think it will work with script, though.

    Your best bet is to recreate the document or have it professionaly recreated in a digital form.
  • keiramackenziekeiramackenzie
    edited October 2005
    :wtf: Thanks to all, and thanks primesuspect, but this is what I was tyring to see if I could avoid.

    What about the program Finereader XIX? I think this may have a chance of doing the job, don't you? MIght aswell keep searching for myself, as I know you get a scansoft program with scanners, and do have a scanner, but i'm looking for a much more refined program, not just to scan things, but to be able to scan a picture, save the text in that picture to a txt, or doc file, so that I can change the font!

    Does anyone know of a program equal to, or alike Finereader Xix for reading, and capturing ancient documents?

    THanks Keira
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    I'm not talking about the scansoft bundled software that comes with scanners. Bundled software sucks.

    I have done professional OCR for a living, and I am going to say again that Scansoft (formerly Caere) OmniPage PRO (as in the professional version, not the crap version they bundle with scanners) is the best OCR software out there. I have no experience with Finereader, but my personal experience with the professional version of omnipage has been quite excellent.

    The pro version is $500
  • keiramackenziekeiramackenzie
    edited October 2005
    Oh I see.Thankyou for your feedback, and pls. excuse my lack of understanding of your previous post.

    I will try this program out, as you reccomend it so highly.

    Thank once again
    Keira
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    We used to get handwritten sheets on lined notebook paper and OmniPage Pro 10 was actually uncannily accurate with that garbage. They are up to version 15 now, and it only gets better with each revision. Best of luck! :thumbsup:
  • rykoryko new york
    edited October 2005
    in your first post, you didn't give that much info. you mentioned nothing of a scanner or what exact programs you have already tried. you also didn't mention anything about the cost you are willing to incur to get this problem solved. that's why started at step one and suggested a scanner and the (cheap) software that comes bundled with it.

    anyway, i also used to do professional document imaging for a living. i have used both abbyy finereader and scansoft omni page pro. we ended up getting slightly more accurate results with finereader, but we were scanning really old depostions (many of them were lithiographed) that had very faded ink or illegible characters. we were not scanning script, and we were using professional grade document scanners so YMMV.

    in some cases the documents were in such bad shape that they could not be feed through the scanner or the characters on the page were so faded that our OCR app couldn't read anything. in these instances, we had to have those documents transcribed manually. as in we had to re-type the entire document. i think this might be were you are at. it will be more cost effective to go with data entry than professional document imaging.
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