How to Use OCR Software with the Brother a3 Scanner

Brother has developed a reputation as the leaders in producing A3 scanners at affordable prices. They have moved in the direction of all-in-one multifunction printers. Brother has the best selection of affordable multifunction printer/scanners for A3 on the market.

Using OCR software

If you have ever had a document that you were given or that you printed out with text that you wanted to change, then you will understand how annoying it is to try to edit text in image software. Trying to cut out words and replace them with pictures of other words can be a very tedious task and it is not recommended because of how it will most likely turn out.

It is very time consuming and will have bad results. There is technology that allows you to use a scanner such as the Brother A3 scanner and convert the scanned image of text in to an actual editable text file. Sometimes they will even have the formatting intact as well.

This software is called OCR or optical character recognition. The program recognizes the words and will transform pictures into text.

With this software you can scan any previously difficult to edit text in to actual text files on your computer that are effortless to change. This technology also works very well with other tasks such as making computer friendly versions of books.

This technology is what Google books run on. Google along with several other companies pay workers to take books and convert them in to editable text. These text files can then be formatted in a more computer friendly way as well as made in too much smaller files.

Reading a set of pictures instead of editable text on a computer would be a nightmare. All of the book files would be very large and they would not be fun to file through. Think about what it is like to slide through a file of pictures.

Now imagine that file has over 500 pictures and they all have text on them. That would be a very annoying task as well as inefficient. A 500-page text file would only be a few megabytes in size while a 500-page folder of images would be closer to 2 Gigabytes in size. The difference in sizes is tremendous between these two methods.

OCR technology now comes standard with most printers and it can prove itself very useful indeed. You will be able to take other people’s print offs and edit them to your heart’s content. If you see a flier that you like, or you receive a company newsletter that you want to change around you would not have a problem with OCR software.

The best scanners for OCR uses are the ones with auto feed technology. There is nothing worse than standing next to a scanner all day trying to scan a 300 page book when a machine could be doing all of the work for you.

Today most of the scanners come with an auto feeder anyways.

Using OCR is just one-way in which you can expand the capabilities of the Brother A3 scanner or whatever scanner you happen to own.

Choices from Brother

[easyazon-image-link asin="B004G5ZZO6" alt="Brother MFCJ6510DW Business Inkjet All-in-One Printer with 11-Inch x 17-Inch Duplex Printing and 11-Inch x 17-Inch Scan Glass" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414qNWmNMFL._SL160_.jpg" align="left" width="160" height="98"] As said earlier, Brother are market leaders in producing A3 scanners but have focused on all-in-one printers which are surprisingly affordable considering they are multifunction. They have developed a reputation for reliability in this field and value for money.

An example of a multifunction printer that is capable of scanning A3 size is the Brother MFCJ6510DW Business Inkjet All-in-One Printer. They are available from Brother for around $250 which is a great deal but can be found far cheaper if you look around. Amazon have them available for as little as $155 which is an amazing deal.

[easyazon-image-link asin="B004RCORWO" alt="Brother MFCJ6910DW Business Inkjet All-in-One Printer with 11-Inch x 17-Inch Duplex Printing, 11-Inch x 17-Inch Scan Glass, Dual Paper Trays & Touchscreen" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21GgmR9hZQL._SL160_.jpg" align="right" width="160" height="160"] Another choice is the Brother MFCJ6910DW Business Inkjet All-in-One Printer with 11-Inch x 17-Inch Duplex Printing, 11-Inch x 17-Inch Scan Glass, Dual Paper Trays & Touchscreen, which is available from brother for around $350 but on Amazon it can be obtained for less than $320.

[easyazon-image-link asin="B004G5ZZQY" alt="Brother MFCJ6710DW Business Inkjet All-in-One Printer with 11-Inch x 17-Inch Duplex Printing, 11-Inch x 17-Inch Scan Glass & Dual Paper Trays" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41lS0KDGvIL._SL160_.jpg" align="left" width="160" height="113"] More choices from Brother include Brother MFCJ6710DW Business Inkjet All-in-One Printer, the model with 11-Inch x 17-Inch Duplex Printing, 11-Inch x 17-Inch Scan Glass & Dual Paper Trays retails at $300 which is good value in itself but with a little searching it can be obtained for even less. On Amazon, you can save a third on the retail price where they are available for as little as $200.

[easyazon-image-link asin="B001GFA8T6" alt="Brother MFC-5890CN Professional-Series Color Inkjet All-in-One with Networking and Large-Size Printing" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41cVwdNRvKL._SL160_.jpg" align="right" width="160" height="108"] There are several models that fit this category and the last one featured here is the Brother MFC-5890CN Professional-Series Color Inkjet All-in-One with Networking and Large-Size Printing available on Amazon at $200.

Searching A3 scanners

Searching for A3 scanners can be a little difficult if you don’t know how to go about it. Just entering A3 scanner could be a fruitless search as the term is rarely used. When reading the specifications, it rarely says A3 size. What you need to search for is ledger size or 11’’ x 17’’.

For scanners in this category then Brother IS without a doubt the best place to look and where the best value is available.

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About James Wikkee

James Wikkee has held several positions at two of the largest printer and scanner manufactures in the world. He knows the in and out of these devices through his +13 years of experience in the field.

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