Scan and Copy

Question submitted by donna on Tuesday, Feb 26, 2021 at 02:46:00 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question: i get very confused on scanning from my epson, i have a resume that i am try to scan and copy so i can copy and paste it to a application im filling out can you please direct me as to the steps i need to do to get this on my computer so i can copy it for pasting, thank you so much for any help donna --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Answer: Dear Donna, the problem you are having is not uncommon. Most users get confused by the whole scanning thing. I have customers ask me all the time how to digitize data to make it easier to store and transmit. The problem is the limitations of the technology.

When you scan something you create an image of the page. That image can then be attached as either a graphic file (.JPG, .BMP, .TIF) or an Acrobat (.PDF) file depending on the version of your scanning software. Some scanners also give you the option to transfer that graphical information into text. This technology is commonly referred to as OCR (optical character recognition). When the scanning software captures the image it tries to translate the text into the text that corresponds with the image. This has mixed results depending on the quality of the page you are scanning and the quality of the OCR software. A plain page of text with no graphics and square on the page can get about 95% of the text correct. You still need to proofread it after you scan and OCR to make sure the software got the text right.

A resume usually has formatting that may or may not OCR well (depending on the format). You should look for the OCR option on your software and test it out. More than likely though you're going to need to just send a scanned graphical version of your resume along (.JPG or .PDF) to have it formatted correctly. Or you can re-enter your resume into MS Word or some other word processing software so that you can then copy and paste it into whatever form the submission site requires (I believe most will take word formatted documents directly.

Hope this points you in the right direction,

Ed Smit Questions@JustAskEd.net For more answers to your computer questions go to JustAskEd.Blogspot.com