Advanced OCR
with OmniPage and FineReader
Overview
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Optical character recognition
Structural recognition
Options
Loading
Zoning
OCR
Editing
Optical Character
Recognition (OCR)
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OCR turns pictures of text into e-text
Does well unless…
– The
– The
– The
– The
– The
picture is fuzzy
contrast is poor
font is unusual
font is too small or too large
material has unusual characters
Structural Recognition
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Analyzes the layout of the page
– Columns
– Headings
– Graphics
– Tables
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Usually does fairly well, unless the
layout is non-standard
Programs that Run OCR
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Programs for consumers
– Kurzweil 1000, 3000
– OpenBook
– Intel Reader
– Many others…
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Programs for production
– ABBYY FineReader
– Nuance OmniPage
Consumer Programs
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Highly automated
Designed for individuals who have
print disabilities
Are not good production tools
– Do not provide flexibility
– Do not allow much overriding
– Interfaces not designed for editing
Production Programs in
General
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A good program for production allows
you to…
– Control the zones (areas or blocks of text
and graphics)
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Add, delete, change
– Edit easily
– Improve recognition
Preferred Programs
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ABBYY FineReader
– Relatively easy to learn
– Fairly intuitive
– Good structural recognition
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Nuance OmniPage
– Less intuitive but more accessible
– Often does better with technical materials
Both Good Tools
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If you can afford to have both, it’s
nice, but not absolutely necessary.
If you have both, run a couple test
pages through each to see which is
doing better on a particular job.
Under the Hood
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For best results with a program, set up
your options before you begin!
Tools > Options
Lots of Languages
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FineReader and OmniPage handle
multiple languages.
For foreign language, turn on all the
languages in the book.
– It will recognize the diacritical marks.
– Turn on what you need, but only what
you need.
Math
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If you are running OCR on math, try
turning on Greek.
– Greek will allow the program to recognize
alphas, deltas, sigmas, etc.
Another Decision
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Detect page orientation or not?
– Does not always get it right
– Try it if you have many pages turned
Considerations
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You may or may not want to keep
headers and footers.
– I generally keep them to pull the page
numbers.
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You may want to keep the page
breaks.
– Retaining page breaks helps to maintain
one-to-one page correspondence with the
book.
Fitting Everything
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In some cases, you may need to work
with a custom paper size to fit
everything onto one page.
This feature can be helpful when you
are retaining everything on the page
but not the layout.
Loading Files
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“Open”
– Opens saved program files
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“Load”
– Loads image files to process
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Note that this same issue comes up
with saving!
Wizards Are Evil…
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Do not rely on the automation
Load the image file and choose the
processes you want
Workspace
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The program has three primary areas
Pages Pane
– Either thumbnails or details
– Allows simple navigation of pages
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Image Pane
– Your graphic
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Text Pane
– Area where the text from OCR will show
More Accessible
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Both programs have a detail view.
– Shows text instead of graphics
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Detail view is more accessible for
screen readers.
Otherwise, it is personal preference.
Two Ways to Save
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To Save the program file to access
later in the OCR program, choose File
> Save
– This saves your work file.
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You save your converted file during
the last phase of the processing.
Production Tips
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Work with dual monitors
– Check your computer and video card
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Stretching an OCR program across two
monitors is a HUGE time-saver!
Learn to use keyboard shortcuts.
– They save tons of time!