I have scanned a form, saved it to Word but am unable to type into the boxes on the form.?

Question

Does the scanner have to have certain functions to allow me to do this?

Answer 1

OCR is Optical Character Recognition software.
A scanner makes an image file, not a text file.
Basically, what you're doing is like trying to change the colours or contrast of a photo using Word. Word can't, its a typing program. You have to use image editing software to change an image.
OCR software lets you use the scanner and turns the image into an editable text file. So you can type in the boxes, or change the text.
Or as another poster said, open the image in Paint, and use the text tool to add your text, then print it out.

Answer 2

Above answer is spot on - your scanned form is now an image and cannot be eddited by simply typing.

HOWEVER

You said it is now in Microsoft Word. You could use text boxes over the image (the form you scanned) t give the effect that it has been filled in.

See short tutorial here ( http://learngen.org/resources/leobjects/lg0003ta.html )

Answer 3

Use text boxes instead in Word. Place them on top of the spots you want to fill in and when you print, they'll be there provided you've saved a new version of the doc.

Answer 4

No. I am afraid that you cannot do it.
The form is now a picture on your pc, like a photo if you like.
It will be very difficult.
What I would to is to print it off, write in the boxes on the printout, then scan that one in instead.

Answer 5

when you scan the form in , does it go to adobe photshop or similar? If so then you have an option in there to edit/modify your document

Answer 6

You need to use an OCR application, your scanner should have came with one...if not, try SimpleOCR:
http://www.simpleocr.com/

Answer 7

Scan it to paint programme on ur pc, it works I have done it myself successfully.