By default, scanners scan a document or page as an image. Although this image can be adjusted through an image editor, if the document contains text, that text cannot be changed or inserted into another document. If you want to scan a text document and adjust or modify its text, you must use a software program with OCR (optical character recognition) capabilities. The following sections contain a short listing of some programs with these capabilities.

OCR online services

  • Free-OCR

OCR software programs

  • FineReader - ABBYY

  • Omnipage - ScanSoft

  • Readiris - IRIS

  • Textbridge - ScanSoft

  • Search for other OCR software solutions.

Using one of these programs, you can scan a document, convert the document with OCR, and save it as a standard text file. You can then edit or search the text file with your favorite text editor.

  • See our OCR definition for more information and related links.
  • Scanner help and support.