(Archived) OCR can't read default OS X font on desktop?

[ljun 0]

Last night I did a screenshot (using EN) of my desktop, which has folders/files on them. I let it sync to the service, and 24 hours later, the text from the screenshot doesn't turn up in the search results.

Odd. The words seem as clear as you can possibly get, but it's not recognizing it.....

anyone else?

I did a screenshot of my iCal appointments, and those showed up in OCR .....

[ljun 0]

anyone else with this issue?

This is a pretty big deal to me since a lot of my screenshots involve taking them of the desktop .....

[melchioe 0]

I hadn't tried it until you mentioned it, but I have a very similar issue. It seems to me that the problem has to do with font style and background. It isn't that it does not recognize ANYTHING, but only that it does not recognize SOME things. For example, I have a picture of my granddaughter as the desktop background (in a nice little pink onesie with a snowflake pattern). I also have a file called "Camino-1.6.dmg" on the desktop. If I capture that with the pink background, it recognizes the text for that filename in EN3. If I remove the pink background, and make it all white, it no longer recognizes it. I also have different results if I move that file to a different location on the screen. I have similar issues with other filenames. Sometimes, if I only type part of the filename instead of the whole thing, I see the file in question.

However, if I open the desktop in the Finder, and screen capture the file list from there, I get MUCH more consistent results. (I actually coud not make it fail at all.)

I have a feeling it has to do with backgrounds and the odd shadow font Apple has on the destktop (that I have not been able to find out how to change). It has less to do with the EN3 engine than it has to do with the eminently readable OS X desktop. In my opinion, Apple made some design decisions to make filenames readable on the desktop by the original pattern-recognition engine (the human brain), and those decisions, while artistically and aesthetically sound, are not compatible with the current state of OCR. Stupid artists. (That was Homer Simpson talking, not me. He takes over from time to time. Mmmm, donuts.)

YMMV.

-e-

[ljun 0]

That is true, my background is a flat grey color. Maybe this can help the developers tailor the OCR a bit more? Would posting a screenshot help?