How do I scan a document that I have and then fill it out on the computer?

Answer 1

There are a number of ways but what you are trying to do is not as easy as it should be.

The best way I have found is by using Microsoft Excel. Have you used Excel before?

What you do is insert the scan (picture) from file (Insert/Picture/From File...) then set the picture properties to not move or size with cells (Right-Click/Format Picture/Properties tab). Then from the 'Picture' tool bar use the 'Set Transparent Color' tool to make the background transparent. Then size the columns and rows to fit your form.

If you do all that right you can fill in the cells that line up with the form and print it when you are done.

Good luck!

P.S. you may need to size the picture or use the 'Scale to fit' feature when printing.

P.P.S lots of people are recommending OCR - that is great if you want to reformat the entire form (an ocr scan looks very little like the original - the text is editable though). If you just want the text then, yeah, go with OCR. I was thinking you wanted the form to remain unaltered.

Answer 2

Two ways:

1. You need OCR software that will read the document into rich text or Microsoft Word where you can edit it.

2. You need Adobe Acrobat (the full program, not Adobe Acrobat Reader) to scan the document and then created fields on it to type into.

I recommend option one. If it's a one time thing, you can download ReadIRIS Pro which is a great OCR utlity but it's shareware.

Answer 3

Hi Tina
You can Scan the document using document scanner.
Then you use OCR on that document.It will become editable format.There are number of OCRing Softwares available . It is better to scan your document in pDF/Tif format.
For more info contact me:
Good luck

Answer 4

You can scan it in I think Editable Text format and then fill it out... although the scan comes out pretty much rough and sketchy, so you might have to edit the document.

Answer 5

Tina B

You will need to get an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) package if you are using Microsoft office document scanner that comes with Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business. Then it will do the OCR for you if not you will need to find an OCR program that will do it for you. There are many packages out there do a search for OCR software.

Answer 6

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/