How to Edit a Scanned Document
Sometimes something as simple as scanning a document to the computer can be baffling. Scanning works extremely well, when you simply want to scan the image into the computer and leave it at that. But problems occur when you actually need to edit a document. This can happen when you are scanning in old family documents, an old manuscript or other information that existed prior to computer technology. Learn how to edit a scanned document through wikihow.com.
The actual scanning of a document is very simple. All you need to do is lay the document on the scanner glass and press the “Scan” button. Once you see the scanned document in the application window, you want to save the document as a file. However, unless you convert it to text, this file is simply a picture of the document. To make it editable you need to use an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program. But this is nothing to worry about, as all scanners come with some type of OCR program included with the installation CD.
Besides allowing you to edit the document, converting the document image to a real document saves space on the computer. Once you save these documents, you can also search through any of the scanned documents for important key words or phrases.
To convert the document, simply insert the installation CD that came with your scanner in the CD/DVD tray of your computer. When the installation wizard starts look for the OCR program category. Click this to start the installation. Open the program and click “File” and “Open” to open the document image and convert it to a text file. Some programs may require you to click an additional “Convert” button to complete the process.
If you don’t have OCR software, use Microsoft OneNote to either obtain the scanned image or open the scanned file. You simply need to open the OneNote program located in the Microsoft Office group. Click “Insert” and choose “image.” Select the document image and OneNote will open it on the screen and automatically convert it to OCR. To finish the conversion click on “Save as” and choose “Microsoft Office Document” under the File Type. Click “Save” again to complete the process.