Plan to spend time to learn more about OCR software. These products have improved dramatically and are now in widespread use to reduce data entry time for accounts payable invoices, barcoding inventory, control of shipment locations and more. Investigate the various methods that can save your firm time and money.

OCR software basics requires an understanding of the different software options and a clear understanding of your firms needs and how it will be implemented in your firm. Pay attention to the responses from your front line staff to evaluate the potential problems with an OCR software implementation. Read the three steps below to learn more about OCR software.

1. Download optical recognition software.

2. Register for a course in optical recognition software.

3. Explore an optical recognition software supplier directory.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Test optical recognition software

Write down a list of the features you require from an optical recognition software. Include all the document formats, sizes and the orientations. Think about the number of files, rate per day and the number of users who will need the OCR software installed on their computers.

I recommend: Download a demonstration version of the OCR software. Iris Link and Abbyy are both well known OCR software providers. Install the software and change your business practice to incorporate OCR software. Evaluate the two software products to determine which works best for your firm.

Take a class in optical recognition software

Register for an optical character recognition software course. Look at the different courses covering the concept of optical text scanning and the impact of optical document imaging on the document storage industry. Hand's on training is critical when teaching adults software. Make sure the classes contain an exercise portion and are not lecture based.

I recommend: Look at the online courses offered by Simple OCR. Contact Parascript to arrange for a training session on your OCR software. Both firms provide OCR software products and optical text scanning. Institute a schedule of training sessions, hosted by staff who attended the course on a monthly basis. They can provide a presentation to the other staff on one specific feature they learned about in the course.

Look at a directory of optical recognition software suppliers

Review the directory of optical document recognition software suppliers and attend presentations of their optical document scanning equipment to understand more about this technology and its impact on the business world. Optical document recognition technology involves both hardware and software and the more knowledge you have, the better.

I recommend: Invest the time to expand your knowledge of OCR software suppliers in your area. Free OCR and DMoz both provide a directory to suppliers and distributors of OCR software related products. The implementation of optical text recognition can save your firm significant time in data entry.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  OCR software basics are important to understand before making a selection of software products and features. It is better to investigate and learn first, than to make a decision in haste that is not satisfactory.

Optical character recognition software (or OCR software) works through your scanner to convert paper documents to digital files you can store, edit and find through search. OCR scanner software helps sort mail in mailrooms and records paper invoices and claim forms. Untold millions of business cards collected at trade shows go into contact files through OCR software.

Most likely, your scanner came with basic OCR software. Do you need to amp up your optical character recognition software beyond that? Probably yes, if you’re a big paper pusher. Some decision points to consider:

1. Know the limits of OCR document scanning software. OCR software works fastest and most accurately on documents that are printed, are free of blurs or smudges, have type that’s 8 points or bigger and are consistently formatted (not switching from book pages to forms, for instance).

2. OCR software won’t eliminate humans. For best results, somebody needs to set up scan jobs on OCR software. You may save a lot compared to manual data entry – if document scanning software works accurately on your types of documents and humans don’t have to go in to tidy up the text after.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Compare features of optical character recognition software

Check the websites of the leading OCR software brands to find your best fit. Compare specs on speed, accuracy (99% usually claimed), number of pages stored on a single document, numbers of languages besides English, special vocabularies for medical or legal documents, recognition of non-text pieces (handwriting, barcodes or graphs), ability to retain original layout, ability to interpret images from digital cameras, and compatibility with enterprise-wide document management systems and your network's operating system.

I recommend: Scan these major brands of optical character recognition software: OmniPage, I.R.I.S., Kofax, Kodak, Adobe and ABBYY. Many makers offer a trial free OCR software download so you can see how you like the interface.

Try OCR free software

Google and others offer free OCR software download - so what have you got to lose?

I recommend: Get Tesseract OCR free software from Google or try SimpleOCR free software.

Look for OCR software for a specific need or type of business

Some optical character recognition software packages focus on one part of the paper trail, like the mailroom, or are specialized for the vocabularies and document layouts in law, medicine or other businesses.

I recommend: ReadSoft specializes in mail-room scanner software and Datacap in invoice document scanning software. EMR4doctors makes OCR software for medical records.

Find alternatives to buying OCR scanner software

Before you buy that box of optical character recognition software, stop and ask if you need a bigger solution, a company wide document management system - they may come with OCR software built in. Or look into staying with manual data entry but outsourcing to cheap providers overseas. Finally, consider dumping your piles of paper on scanning and archiving specialist companies.

I recommend: HOV Services provides outsourced scanning and outsourced data entry. Look for document management services and software at Business.com or at WebBuyersGuide.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Some OCR software packages can now interpret images from digital cameras so you can shoot and capture a document or even a sign on the spur of the moment. Accuracy will be lower than scanned documents.
• •  Interested mainly in optical character recognition software for business cards? You have a wide selection of specialized, small scanners with OCR software built in.
• •  Many businesses use optical character recognition software to help meet Sarbanes-Oxley rules on saving records.

Explore the OCR software and equipment that you will need to purchase to implement this product into your firm. OCR software pricing and costs are comprised of three components, purchasing software, hardware and service. Make a list of what types of features your require and the basic functions the hardware must perform.

Take the time to read through the details of the sale agreement. Check the length of the manufacture warranty and any service contract offered. Follow the three steps below to learn more about OCR software.

1. Locate optical recognition software.

2. Identify optical text scanning hardware.

3. Determine a short list of optical document scanning software suppliers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find optical recognition software

Identify the features required from the optical recognition software you are considering purchasing. Talk with colleagues and contacts within your industry about the type of OCR software they are using and their experiences. Issue a request for proposal to suppliers of optical document recognition software in your area.

I recommend: Review the submitted responses to the request for proposal. There are three kinds of solutions, out of the box, stand along and server based. Review the responses to see what fits. Simple OCR is a free OCR software product and Iris Link provides a link to a directory of OCR software providers. Read about the scanning software offered by Microsoft. When purchasing this software, the costs are between $250 and $3,000. Installation, training and customization are extra.

Price optical text scanning hardware

Optical character recognition software requires optical text scanning readers and scanners. This type of hardware is often available from the same supplier as the software. Evaluate the type of hardware that you need and negotiate a competitive price for the package. This improves compatibility between the hardware and your optical document scanning software systems, as any issues need only be addressed once.

I recommend: The cost of OCR hardware for your optical character recognition software ranges from $200 to $600 for handheld scanners or $500 to $10,000 for flatbed optical text scanning equipment. Obtain quotes from multiple suppliers to get the best value. Scanoptics and Scanstore both provide OCR hardware. Check the warranty on these units before making a purchase.

Find optical document scanning software suppliers

Installation of an optical document scanning software system is not included in the purchase price. Ask specifically what this cost will be, in addition to the service contract on the hardware. Obtain quotes for the ongoing maintenance of your optical document scanning software system.

I recommend: Ask for and check references from suppliers of OCR software and hardware. Check the standard hourly rate and ask about travel time, equipment expenses and any other item that might increase the costs. The cost for this type of service ranges from $2,000 to $25,000 per year, depending on the number and type of units. The more complex the set up, the higher the installation costs will be, due to the additional expertise required. Plan On Store and OCR Limited are both well known OCR service providers. Read about the different options available with software provided by Executive Assistant.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Weight the price of optical text recognition software and hardware against the service and maintenance costs. It is false economy to purchase the cheapest solution, but be without the benefit of the equipment due to recurring service calls.

Optical character recognition (OCR) software, generally used with scanning devices, transfers paper documents that are handwritten, typed or printed into digital “images” or files. The finished product can then be used with desktop publishing and word processing programs or text editing products. OCR software is not new to the world of digital imaging. It has seen a resurgence in popularity, however, as products offer more formatting options and better support for muddied or “imperfect” documents. The key to successfully using these products is to first understand basic OCR terminology.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Portable document format (PDF)

A portable document format (PDF) can include graphics and text. This type of document is commonly used for file sharing. Some OCR software is designed for creating PDF files.

I recommend: Investintech offers a more detailed definition of PDF.

Dots per inch (DPI)

Dots per inch indicates the print quality of an image. The term also refers to the output resolution of a printer. In OCR software, DPI refers to the number of 'dots' per linear inch. The more dots per inch, the better the print quality. Most OCR software scans documents at 200 DPI.

I recommend: Articlesbase.com explains DPI. Dan Heller Photography gives additional information on DPI.

Pixel

The term pixel combines the words picture ('pix') and element. In OCR software, it generally refers to the smallest bit of information present in a digital image. The more pixels an image contains, the more the final image will look like the original. Pixels are typically organized in a two-dimensional framework that may be depicted as dots, squares or rectangles. Arranging them in this fashion allows multiple operations to be used by applying the same procedure to each individual pixel.

I recommend: Scantips provides basic information about pixels.

Bitmap

Bitmap is the most basic type of image. Bitmap images are a compilation of squares that when coupled together create an image. These 'bits' can be various colors but they are uniform in size. Generally, OCR software can convert bitmap images into text that can be imported into a word processing program.

I recommend: Helpwithpcs defines bitmap.

Raster image

In OCR software, a raster image is a group of pixels. The most common types of raster images are GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group).

I recommend: SignIndustry.com defines and compares raster and vector images.

Vector image

Vector images are a group of connected lines, curves, points or shapes that create an object. These images are defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels.

I recommend: TechFaq clarifies the term vector image and lists its advantages and disadvantages.