What is OCR?

It is a process we offer with all of our scanning services but what is OCR?

OCR or Optical Character Recognition to use its full term, is a tool used during document scanning and data entry which makes scanned documents text searchable. It also makes these documents fully editable. OCR processes have dated back to the 1910s and have since developed into a useful service for businesses which are in the process of digitising documents. After the scanning process is completed, these companies save time, money and space as we have mentioned in previous articles but OCR processing is usually a vital part of the scanning process for organisations wanting to make full use of their digital files and documents.

Why Do We Use It at Pearl Scan?

Here at Pearl Scan, we can apply OCR processing to your scanned documents. We recognise the big advantages that come with being able to edit and search for your documents by their contents.

• You can access documents quicker.
• Documents can be edited right there rather than having to be completely rewritten
• We can OCR process multi lingual documents from languages including English, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Urdu, Arabic and Russian (and all other major world languages, subject to testing).
• You won't have to pay for someone to rewrite the text in order to edit it.
• Tables and original layouts can be recreated using the latest software.

While one of the disadvantages listed about OCR is its lack of 100% accuracy, Pearl Scan employs a number of experienced staff who will check over all of your documents and ensure everything is correct so you don't need to worry.

Other uses for OCR technology

While the above use is still very useful, OCR processing can also be used more productively to assist people who are blind or partially sighted. Ray Kurzweil invented a machine in 1974 that was to change the world for these people. It was a reading machine for the blind. Combined with a flat-bed scanner and a text to speech synthesiser, the machine provided a lifeline for those who otherwise would not be able to read what they wanted to.

If you are interested in learning more about our document scanning services including the OCR process, get in touch today. For a free, no obligation quote, fill out our quote request form by following the relevant links below.

 

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