Software Engineer

curiouswebster

<div>
I guess I was unclear about the PDF containing the text. Where did this text come from in the case of a fax, dowloaded as a PDF, for example, from MetroFax?<br />
<br />
Is that an OCR service MetroFax offers, to &quot;pre-process&quot; the PDF and sent as complete a PDF as possible?<br />
<br />
How do I determine if a PDF has text in it or not?<br />
<br />
Is it the PDF Normal File which has some or all of the field already converted to Text?
</div>


I guess I was unclear about the PDF containing the text. Where did this text come from in the case of a fax, dowloaded as a PDF, for example, from MetroFax?

Is that an OCR service MetroFax offers, to "pre-process" the PDF and sent as complete a PDF as possible?

How do I determine if a PDF has text in it or not?

Is it the PDF Normal File which has some or all of the field already converted to Text?

<div>
&gt; Each page will have a form-feed character, so a 1,000-page doc with no text would be 1,000 bytes. <br />
<br />
You're a genius, Joe.<br />
<br />
I love &quot;poor man's&quot; solutions like that.<br />
<br />
I will read the rest of your post today and ask a few more questions.<br />
<br />
Thanks!
</div>


> Each page will have a form-feed character, so a 1,000-page doc with no text would be 1,000 bytes.

You're a genius, Joe.

I love "poor man's" solutions like that.

I will read the rest of your post today and ask a few more questions.

Thanks!

<div>
I have another question, already.<br />
<br />
If we are running a superior OCR tool, then do we even care if there is test in it? Or, is there a smarter way to:<br />
<br />
- leave the PDF untouched<br />
- generate a new text file<br />
- supplement the text file with the text already in the PDF?<br />
<br />
That superset may be closer to the 100% we seek.<br />
<br />
Does this make any sense?
</div>


I have another question, already.

If we are running a superior OCR tool, then do we even care if there is test in it? Or, is there a smarter way to:

- leave the PDF untouched
- generate a new text file
- supplement the text file with the text already in the PDF?

That superset may be closer to the 100% we seek.

Does this make any sense?

<div>
You're welcome. If you wouldn't mind re-opening and re-closing the previous question as I suggested in <a href="https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29110491/how-to-programmatically-isolate-PDF-from-image-scan-versus-an-original-PDF.html?anchorAnswerId=42633654#a42633654" rel="ugc">my last post there</a>, I'll appreciate it. Thanks, Joe
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You're welcome. If you wouldn't mind re-opening and re-closing the previous question as I suggested in my last post there [https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29110491/how-to-programmatically-isolate-PDF-from-image-scan-versus-an-original-PDF.html?anchorAnswerId=42633654#a42633654], I'll appreciate it. Thanks, Joe

<div>
Joe, there are these fancy ways to reach you with EE, but none involve a simple email. I want to talk to you about a project. How can I get in touch with you?
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Joe, there are these fancy ways to reach you with EE, but none involve a simple email. I want to talk to you about a project. How can I get in touch with you?

<div>
EE doesn't allow sharing email addresses in the public forum...I'll send it to you in a PM.
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EE doesn't allow sharing email addresses in the public forum...I'll send it to you in a PM.

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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Baby steps with PDFtoText for OCR<br />
<br />
What steps are the first for me to take as I create a proof of concept that will be:<br />
<br />
- a C# Winforms program<br />
- uses the PDFtoText library for OCR<br />
<br />
Are there any demo programs I can review? Should I just dive in?<br />
<br />
Thanks
</div>
</div>


Baby steps with PDFtoText for OCR

What steps are the first for me to take as I create a proof of concept that will be:

- a C# Winforms program
- uses the PDFtoText library for OCR

Are there any demo programs I can review? Should I just dive in?

Thanks

Baby steps with PDFtoText for OCR

A printer is a peripheral which makes a persistent human readable representation of graphics or text on paper or similar physical media. Traditional printers are being used more for special purposes, like printing photographs or artwork, and are no longer a must-have peripheral; 3D printing has become an area of intense interest, allowing the creation of physical objects. An image scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Hand-held scanners, where the device is moved by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands" to 3D scanners used for industrial design, reverse engineering, test and measurement, orthotics, gaming and other applications.

Printers and Scanners

Document imaging is an information technology category for systems capable of replicating documents commonly used in business. Document imaging systems can take many forms including microfilm, on demand printers, facsimile machines, copiers, multifunction printers, document scanners, computer output microfilm (COM) and archive writers. Document imaging is a form of enterprise content management, built around the need to manage and secure the escalating volume of electronic documents (spreadsheets, word-processing documents, PDFs, e-mails) created in organizations.

Document Imaging

Photo and imaging software is used to edit and compose raster images; Adobe Photoshop, which dominates the market, has its own topic. Common actions include cropping, slicing, retouching, color replacement, masking and erasing. Other programs include Apple Photo, Corel PaintShop Pro, GIMP, Serif PhotoPlus, Pixlr, PhotoScape, Picasa and IrfanView.

Images and Photos

C# is an object-oriented programming language created in conjunction with Microsoft’s .NET framework. Compilation is usually done into the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), which is then JIT-compiled to native code (and cached) during execution in the Common Language Runtime (CLR).

Optical character recognition (OCR) is the mechanical or electronic conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used as a form of data entry from printed paper data records, including passport documents, invoices, bank statements, computerized receipts, business cards, mail, printouts of static-data, or any suitable documentation. It is a common method of digitizing printed texts so that it can be electronically edited, searched, stored more compactly, displayed on-line, and used in machine processes such as machine translation, text-to-speech, key data and text mining. OCR is a field of research in pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and computer vision.