What the heck is 'OCR'? |
5 Comments |
Posted by Marc Saltzman at 8:55 AM | E-mail this post
Question: Marc, I'm shopping for an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier and often see this "OCR" feature listed on the box but I have no idea what this means, and neither do the salespersons at the store. Any help?
- R. Dawson, Mississauga, ON
Answer:
You came to the right place! In this context, "OCR" stands for "optical character recognition," a handy feature when scanning in documents because OCR software can translate typewritten (and in some case, handwritten) words into editable text on your PC.
Think of it this way: Without OCR, when you scan, say, a newspaper article, it saves it as an image file on your computer, such as a .JPG. Now, if you want to search for a keyword in this article, you won't be able to. With OCR, however, this text can be read inside of a document, like Microsoft Word, and therefore you can now search within the text or move the words around, and so on.
OCR software uses pattern recognition and artificial intelligence to predict what the words are. They're not perfect, but can be a handy feature if OCR software is included with the scanner you're purchasing. You can also download OCR software from the Internet to use with existing scanners.
If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to this blog via RSS? It's easy and you'll never miss another sync article.
Posted by Marc Saltzman at 8:55 AM in Computers & Software
| Permalink
| Comments (5)
Sharon Langton on November 8 at 6:14 AM | Report abuse
Canada Post uses this in their machines to sort mail.
J Lewis on November 8 at 4:24 PM | Report abuse
Hi Marc
Can flash drives(specifically the LG Mirror 4 GB)be plugged directly into a USB port, or do we need to use a USB cable? Need to transfer data from old iMac DV to new Samsung laptop. First has no Windows, second has XP Pro, and
the drive is compatible with both operating systems. But do I need a cable?
Thanks in advance.
Potvin on November 9 at 12:39 AM | Report abuse
Hi J Lewis,
I may not be Marc, but I've got your answer. I checked up the flash drive you were talking about (thank you for specifying) and yes, that's the beauty of all flash drives. They don't have cables because they are not necessary. It's like plugging a floppy disk into your computer.
The only tricky part is that your computer must recognise the fact that something has been plugged into it. With XP Pro, no problem. XP detects it automatically. In the case of your first computer, well, you can always plug it in and see, but you may have to go download the drivers for the LG Mirror 4 GB and install them on the first computer. The drivers are what permits you to use printers, scanners, even some mouses and other things hooked onto a computer. You can usually search on the Internet for the driver and it should be available for download.
Hope this helps!
Kevin Eisler on November 24 at 1:07 AM | Report abuse
Does anyone know where I can get a scanner that is capable of scanning photo negatives larger than 35 mm? I have hundreds of old B&W negs approx 3 X 4 in. and larger that I would love to scan and return to "positive" images. Most scanners with this feature seem to only accept slides, 35 mm or 110 size film sizes. Any leads would be greatly appreceated.
Kevin Eisler
Kevin Eisler on November 24 at 1:09 AM | Report abuse
Does anyone know where I can get a scanner that is capable of scanning photo negatives larger than 35 mm? I have hundreds of old B&W negs approx 3 X 4 in. and larger that I would love to scan and return to "positive" images. Most scanners with this feature seem to only accept slides, 35 mm or 110 size film sizes. Any leads would be greatly appreceated.
Kevin Eisler