Today I received a 130-page document from a potential client, around the same time my Adobe Acrobat software decided that an update was necessary. I clicked the update button…and then the email arrived.
The document was text was contained in an PDF image, pretty much what is created when someone copies a document on and the document is later scanned as a PDF. Since I needed to get an accurate word count in order to provide a quote for the translation job, I had to wait on my Adobe Acrobat to finish updating so that I could use the OCR Text Recognition tool (under Document on the menu bar). In the meantime, I decided look around the internet for other OCR text recognition software and websites offering the services. Here’s what I found:
NOTE: This is just a list of options found on the internet. I am not being paid to promote/advertise any products. The searches were conducted using bing.com and google.com. Anyone downloading software should take some time to learn how to protect against viruses or other executable files that could damage your computer!
1. Freeware: http://www.simpleocr.com/
2. Omnipage software http://www.nuance.com/imaging/products/omnipage.asp
3. Upload your document and scan it online at http://www.free-ocr.com/
4. Adobe Acrobat http://www.adobe.com (purchase alone or as part of suite)
What other options are you using? Let’s share ideas!
Well, after a few days of trying out Windows Live Workspace, I have to say it’s very useful way to back-up files, and also as I mentioned in Part I of this post, it helps me with document version control! One issue with Workspace so far: my PC runs on the Windows Vista O/S and when I use the service in Internet Explorer, the Vista “ring of doom” appears on the screen quite often.* So, I probably won’t use the service too often until all the beta “bugs” are worked out. If you’ve used Workspace, let me know what you thought about it. Let’s share ideas!
*Note, I just updated to Internet Explorer 8, and I didn’t see much difference in the program compared to 7. I was going to attribute my problems with Windows Workspace to the new version of the browser; instead, I will use the problem to start another research project to find ways of speeding up my system. More later on this topic!
Have you ever received or downloaded a protected document (i.e., you are locked out of parts of or the entire document) and experienced a huge amount of frustration with using the document? Well, I’ve experienced that frustration on occasion but thanks to a colleague, I can now share how to override the document protection. So far, I know this works with Microsoft Word.
In brief:
1. Open the document.
2. Save it as a template (1997-2003).
3. Close the document.
4. Create a new document using the template (double-click on the template or if you are using Office 97-2003, File>New (from template) and choose your template).
5. Turn off protection in the new document.
Note: This is useful information for those who intend to protect their documents!
I work on multiple computers and I sometimes have trouble with version control. I thought I would solve the problem by only working on one computer for one set of clients, and on the other computer for other clients. However, as freelancer, I answer email messages all day and I download files on the computer where I happen to be working. Then, I edit, upload…and so on. Hence my dilemma with version control.
I have used Google Docs on occasion and it worked fine as long as I didn’t have to download the spreadsheet or word processing document, which rendered the document useless. Online, the versions worked as well as Excel and Word but with some annoying delays that I could never overcome regardless of the type of web browser I was using.
Well, now Microsoft has come out with Windows Live Workspace (workspace.officelive.com/)
It’s in beta stage but it looks promising. I’ll be back to revise this post after I use it more to let you know if it helps me!
If you’re already using Windows Live Workspace, let me know how it’s working for you! Let’s share ideas!
