Scan documents with OCR technology

Here are some tips if you are scanning documents with optical character recognition (OCR) technology:
  • Scan the documents at 300 or 600 DPI.
    note
    600 is recommended.
  • Scan documents with 10-point text size or larger.
  • Use gray-scale instead of black and white.
  • Verify that the lines of text are parallel with the page.
  • Documents should be on clean paper, without lines or ink blotches.
  • Screen captures don’t scan well with OCR.
    note
    Screen captures are images generated by pressing Print Screen on your keyboard.

Troubleshooting

If the OCR technology can't read the document, it may be because:
  • The document was scanned at a low resolution and the words are blurry. Scan documents at a higher resolution.
    note
    For example, scan documents as a gray-scale TIFF file with 600 DPI.
  • The document was scanned upside down or sideways.
  • The document has lines that cross out or stains that cover the scanned words.
  • The font spacing in the scanned document is tight and the letters run together.