(Archived) Picture to Text

[abhijagdev 0]

Hi

I am new to evernote and so far loving its features but one question that i have is is it possible to take a picture of whiteboard or greenboard or just plain taking picture of a page holding in your hand and then convert that image context to plain text for example holding a printed page from a computer take a picture in evernote program and then hopefully converting it to text format. Thank you for helping!!!

[engberg 89]

http://www.evernote.com/pub/ensupport/f ... a213010e4c

[jjones67@comcast.net 0]

Hello,

While I understand the way that Evernote does text conversion, it seems to me that it would be fairly easy to do a "test" conversion, by picking the highest ranking recognized word for each, and put them together for a completely converted document (knowning the accuracy won't be 100%). Or, maybe partner with someone and use a third party OCR technology?

I think this is becoming more important, as tools like FastFinga and SpeedText become more popular, thanks to things like "The Trunk" and The iPad (where more people are starting to actually take Notes with their fingers or some of the new iPad pens coming out.

Any thought on reconsidering this request? I know I certainly would take advantage of it, as well as several other people in my company who also take hand-written notes, and would like to convert them.

Thanks - Jeff

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Any thought on reconsidering this request? I know I certainly would take advantage of it, as well as several other people in my company who also take hand-written notes, and would like to convert them.

You could always use a true OCR app. I would guess EN is not investigating this, since they try to hand off existing tasks to third party apps. IE, they utilize your own third party app to edit images, rather than reinvent the wheel. This way, they can focus on what they do best...saving, organizing & retrieving your information.

[jbenson2 2,149]

picking the highest ranking recognized word for each, and put them together for a completely converted document (knowning the accuracy won't be 100%). Or, maybe partner with someone and use a third party OCR technology?

That is an interesting concept.

I wonder how long it would be before the lawyers start filing lawsuits for incorrect conversions.

Yeah, I know this sounds crazy, but who would have thought a woman could collect $2.8 million because her McDonald's drive-through coffee was too hot when she put it between her knees and drove off.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

who would have thought a woman could collect $2.8 million because her McDonald's drive-through coffee was too hot when she put it between her knees and drove off.

Who is it? Starbucks? Prints on their cups "Caution, of course the beverage you're about to enjoy is hot." I silently chuckle each time I see that. Yup. Who would have thunk it?

[engberg 89]

The algorithms aren't tuned for this type of usage ... if you just grabbed the result with the highest score from an average image, the results will tend to be more humorous than useful.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

the results will tend to be more humorous than useful.

That could be a premium only feature.

[engberg 89]

Yeah, our R&D folks have experience with people making fun of their recognition results, since many of them worked on the handwriting recognition for the Apple Newton.

http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/retro/t ... 30827.html

[jefito 5,598]

Ouch. I remember that series from when it first appeared.

~Jeff

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I just spent the morning in the hearing aid place with my mom. Deja vu all over again.