Document Imaging Tips: Scanning Into PDF Without OCR Is A Waste

[Micheal Alexander]

Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is an electronic conversion of digital images of typed, handwritten text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, it can be used to identify text in a document that can be searched, extracted or even altered. Document scanning services Century City

When PDF (portable device format) companies famously launched the .pdf format, there was a lot of excitement in the business world. The .pdf paved the way for sending documents that were small in file size and able to be quickly and easily viewed and printed. Unlike .doc files, which would allow the recipient to reformat the layout of the page, the .pdf was like a next-generation photocopy. And because of its small file size, it didn’t take long for the .pdf format to be seen as the obvious replacement for paper filing systems.

Now more than ever, typical computer users can easy scan documents into .pdf format, thus erasing the need for paper filing. But if you aren’t using OCR to capture data, .pdfs are little better than paper.

When PDF companies famously launched the .pdf format, there was a lot of excitement in the business world. The .pdf paved the way for sending documents that were small in file size and able to be quickly and easily viewed and printed. Unlike .doc files, which would allow the recipient to reformat the layout of the page, the .pdf was like a next-generation photocopy. And because of its small file size, it didn’t take long for the .pdf format to be seen as the obvious replacement for paper filing systems.

It might come as a surprise hearing that from a blogger on a blog dedicated to document imaging and scanning tips. But now that hard disk space and cloud storage have made it increasing easy for even average computer users to store vast amounts of data, a plain, old .pdf is a clumsy, limited data source. Aside from being easily e-mailed and stored, its lack of interactivity makes it a somewhat legacy technology. Mail scanning service

Haver you even landed on a website, found what you were looking for, and then realized that the information was not contained on an .html page, but rather on a .pdf that you had to download and view using a PDF program? This scenario — which everyone has experienced — proves my point: contemporary computer users are used to real-time engagement with data. A file folder on your computer filled with .pdfs is cumbersome; you cannot easily index, access, or work with the data contained on them.