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This application looks to me like a case for Adobe Acrobat Capture. This
controls the scanner and creates a PDF file. Depending on your settings, it
does keep the base scan (as TIFF, I believe) and does some OCR (which seems
to be astonishingly good). The OCRed text can then be indexed etc.
You might look at Adobe's website for more about Capture. There is also a
mailing list to which you can subscribe as follows:
____________
* CAPTURE is a specific list for discussion of Adobe's paper-to- PDF
scanning software, Acrobat Capture. To join, send the following text in the
BODY of a message:
Max Wyss
PRODOK Engineering AG
Technical documentation and translations, Electronic Publishing
CH-8906 Bonstetten, Switzerland
Fax: +41 1 700 20 37
e-mail: mailto:prodok -at- prodok -dot- ch or 100012 -dot- 44 -at- compuserve -dot- com
Bridging the Knowledge Gap
______________
>Tracey wrote
>
>"I have to write a draft (Beta) users guide in three weeks. We use Word 97.
>Our application is VERY graphic and so the users guides contain lots of
>screen scrapes. I have written two guides so far in Word 97, and it's been a
>nightmare. The graphics don't stay locked in place....."
>
>I have a related problem!
>
>One of my clients has a "simple" need; - to use a modern computer with
>scanner attached, and using Word 97 as the primary tool, to replace the
>traditional paper filing system for the information relating to her "cause".
>The filing must use graphic images rather than OCR conversions - mainly
>copies of letters and newspaper articles.
>
>The focus of her activity is her cause, and all other things around her are
>subordinate. She has (recently) adopted her computer system as an important
>aide and I need to define a simple process for her to be able to record the
>information dear to her. At this time, retrieval of same is not important,
>but it will be.
>
>I thought it would be a simple matter of scanning each document into a
>contiguous series of images to be easily recorded and subsequently viewed,
>in Word 97.
>
>But NO!
>
>Best I can see, after many hours of trying alternatives, "Tracey's
>complaint" frustrates the objective.
>
>I have tested/followed up on all of the contributions made to the list and
>none are relevant, or user friendly enough, to be usefull!
>
>The issues are:
>
>- is it within the capability of Word 97 to "simply" acquire, and coherently
>re-present a contiguous series of graphic images that have no associated
>text?
>
>- If the answer is YES - how?
>
>- if the answer is NO - how else?
>
>
>
>
>Stuart Rowe
>dms -at- peninsula -dot- hotkey -dot- net -dot- au
>