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How to scan legal size documents into microsoft 2010

Anonymous
2013-04-05T17:05:29+00:00

I have been scanning documents into another software but I am trying to learn how to do more with Microsoft 2010.  I think it may offer advantages that I think I would appreciate.  However, when I tried to scan legal size documents the entire document did not come out in my blank document.  My page orientation was set for legal but it didn't work.  I really would like to do a lot more with micosoft 2010 since I am an executive secretary of a body of churches and I also do other things on the side.  I would hate that one simple thing such as this would hinder me from utilizing something that I would feel could bring enhancement to so many areas in my life.  Would you PLEASE help?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Charles Kenyon 166.7K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2013-04-17T19:23:18+00:00

    Some thoughts that may help: Scanners produce picture files as a starting place. Thus while a picture of an automobile can be quite engaging, trying to drive it anywhere will leave you frustrated. Likewise, a picture of text is just that, a picture.

    Word does try to interpret that picture and turn it into text. This is called optical character recognition (OCR). There are other programs, probably one that came with your scanner, that are better at this than Word. None are perfect. If you are using scanned text, you need to proof-read.

    I am a lawyer. I use scanned text often. When I do, I scan into a pdf form that is searchable. This means that an OCR process has been applied to the text. Then I copy the scanned text into a Word document as plain text (without formatting) and apply formatting using Styles in Word.

    This gives me something that I can use for years without formatting problems. Just scanning directly into Word will give me a document that looks good, but is put together like a jigsaw puzzle. When I try to edit it, weird things happen.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-17T17:38:34+00:00

    MS 2010 OCR is not very good, you should ideally be scanning the document as a picture, once that is done, you could use ocr tools available online to move over the text to word.

    Onenote is also as option, which you may look into.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-19T00:12:55+00:00

    Some thoughts that may help: Scanners produce picture files as a starting place. Thus while a picture of an automobile can be quite engaging, trying to drive it anywhere will leave you frustrated. Likewise, a picture of text is just that, a picture.

    Word does try to interpret that picture and turn it into text. This is called optical character recognition (OCR). There are other programs, probably one that came with your scanner, that are better at this than Word. None are perfect. If you are using scanned text, you need to proof-read.

    I am a lawyer. I use scanned text often. When I do, I scan into a pdf form that is searchable. This means that an OCR process has been applied to the text. Then I copy the scanned text into a Word document as plain text (without formatting) and apply formatting using Styles in Word.

    This gives me something that I can use for years without formatting problems. Just scanning directly into Word will give me a document that looks good, but is put together like a jigsaw puzzle. When I try to edit it, weird things happen.

    Thank you for your response.  It was helpful.  I discovered by using the printer/scanner itself, I needed to set the scanner size of paper.  I was unaware of this because when I used WordPerfect, I was able, until recently, to communicate with the scanner through the software.  I thought I would also be able to do that with Microsoft Word.  I think the problem is solved. 

    Again, thank you for your response and help.  I think this is something I'm going to like especially since there is MUCH I would like to learn so I can get the most out of Word.  THANKS!

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-08T18:41:00+00:00

    Thank you, Aravinda, for your attempt to help me.

    I did change the default printer to XP, which what was available on my system, but the problem persists.  There are so many things that I need to learn about Microsoft since I have been use to another software for, I would say, over 20 years, but I thought I would give it a try.  I am working on a program booklet that I wanted to  present in Word, but I'm probably not ready for that challenge just yet.  However, I digress.

    Whatever the problem with the scanning of 8.5 x 14 document it has me quite stumped.  Perhaps I shall discover the problem somewhere down the road.  Since  I submitter the cry of desperation, another issue has arisen, but we'll see what happens.

    Thank you for your response.  I was pleasantly surprised at the speed of help that was offered.  Just another reason that I think I would like to conquer the world of Microsoft Word!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-06T12:40:02+00:00

    Hi Anthony,

    Before we proceed, I need more details:

    How does the document appear in the print preview?

    Let us try changing the default printer to XPS writer and check if the issue occurs. To change the default printer follow the steps in this link:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows7/Change-your-default-printer

    If you are able to print after changing the default printer, then you may have to update the printer drivers.

    Hope this helps. Reply with details and results to assist you better.

    Thank you.

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