First, we might need to understand the term. OCR Or Optical Character Recognition This is the process of converting printed media, such as paper, magazines, contracts, or any other information in paper document form, into digital text that can be further utilized or made more intelligent than its original state.
Converting to plain text means that the content can be saved in a word processing file format that is easy to edit and store, such as Word or Text. This technology allows for the use of various materials or devices for data backup, requiring minimal storage space. This is in contrast to storing data in paper form. OCR technology has significantly impacted the methods of data storage, sharing, and editing, particularly before the advent of Optical Character Recognition. If someone wants to convert a book into a word processing program, each page must be typed out one word at a time until it is complete.
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OCR technology requires both hardware and software. Additionally, complex OCR systems necessitate the use of additional circuit boards, which are installed in computer devices or specialized OCR data-reading equipment, such as check scanners. This ensures that the entire process can be completed autonomously. An optical scanner uses light and lenses to scan text on a page and convert the characters into a series of dots, known as a "bitmap." The software can read commonly used fonts and distinguish between the beginning and ending lines. This bitmap is ultimately translated into computer text. |
While Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology has advanced significantly over the past several years, it still falls short when applied to handwritten data or fonts that resemble handwriting. Many systems in the banking industry utilize OCR technology to attempt to read handwritten amounts on checks, working alongside computers to recognize routes and account numbers.
Why do we OCR documents?
Every day, various business sectors generate a vast amount of new documents, a trend that is expected to continue growing. This creates a need for storage space to manage these documents. Fortunately, modern computers can solve this problem by converting paper documents into electronic files, which can be stored in compact electronic media and accessed in just a few seconds.
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But paper documents still occupy space and have become an integral part of our daily office life. Often, we need to convert information in paper form into digital formats (such as converting to electronic forms), agreements, or contract documents for digital copies. Of course, you can scan your documents, but a scanner only produces image files, which are merely a method of capturing the printed characters on paper. These images cannot be edited using general text editing programs such as Notepad. What are the necessary tools to extract text/character data from image-based document forms and then create a new electronic file that is virtually identical to the original document? |
The tool in question exists and is commonly referred to as character recognition software or OCR software. OCR programs enable computers to read scanned data by distinguishing text from images and other format elements. Can learn and analyze tabular data, and more. After the data recognition process is complete, the computer will reconstruct the document with a structure that closely resembles the original document! Additionally, it allows for editing of formatting, fonts, and sizes of data within the newly created document. This method is more convenient than the traditional method of manually typing data into a new document.
To visualize the capabilities of this OCR, let's look at a real example. Imagine that Police stations that store all criminal records in large document cabinets. Although scanning millions of documents is quite costly and time-consuming, the benefits gained from this scanning process are enormous. When OCR systems are used to convert scanned pages into text that computers can read and understand, the results are tremendously valuable. For example, an investigative officer can retrieve all criminal history records within just a few seconds. Conversely, if the same records were to be searched manually using traditional methods—such as searching through physical files—it might not be overly difficult. However, imagine if the officer had to search for every criminal record that occurred between 8:00 and 8:30. How would they go about it? And this is just a glimpse of the power of searching through all possible character sets. This is the very reason why many companies and institutions spend millions of dollars to perform OCR on their existing data.
| One of the most popular OCR programs currently available on the market is ABBYY FineReader Not only is the accuracy of printed character conversion recognized, but also the preservation or maintenance of the character formats as they appear in the output document, making them identical to the original document. This includes the precise positioning of characters, which is closely aligned with the original document. FineReader is a program that creates highly accurate tables, a capability that surpasses that of its competitors. It is easy to use and reliable, making it widely accepted in the OCR software market. This program is used by general office clients, large organizations, and individual users worldwide. |
