(Archived) Background OCR

[gazumped 12,004]

I'm possibly the last person on the planet to realise this, but just in cases there's someone else out there..

Scanning with most OCR systems (ie both the ones I've tried) seems to be a 'real time' process, in as much as you scan, wait for the OCR, rename the file if you're so inclined, then save it. Despite the fact my ScanSnap S1500 fairly zips through the pages, I have to wait for Adobe or ABBYY to chomp through the file - during which process the scanner is as inert as a lumpy inert thing can be. Slow progress.

So a while ago I adopted the scan first, OCR later process that seems popular amongst those of us into heavy-duty scanning. The process is now - Scan to folder <repeat until cross eyed> then dump contents of 'scanned' folder into Adobe's batch OCR window and go have a coffee. Much faster to scan, and I don't have to twiddle anything while the OCR is happening.

Then I forgot to tidy up the folder last night and had to start a batch scan this morning. I'd been really busy scanning a couple of manuals. And without thinking about it I started up scanning again while OCR was still running. Which worked fine - although I changed the destination folder because my OCR is saving back to the 'scanned' folder and I didn't want new scans to get lost in the OCR'd old ones. And my OCR and scanner are running quite happily alongside each other, minding their own business all the while.

It's not rocket science, and quite clearly the OCR and the scan are being run by separate apps that have no reason to trip each other up. But it does mean that I can do that tidy-up exercise each morning at the same time as new scanning, keep scanning a little longer each day, and cut down a little on my caffeine intake. All of which is good news.

The new process means one new folder - scan to 'scanned' / move files to 'OCR in progress' / OCR and rename / move to Evernote.

Just thought you might like to know.

Gaz