In the technological era in which we currently live, the management and use of documents is mainly done in a in digital. Hence the need for convert documents using scanner a editable files such as Microsoft Word. This process allows transform physical documents such as writings, printed documents, drawings or any other format that is on paper in digital files that you can edit, manage, share and store digitally from your computer or smartphone. This is something that has been possible for many years, but with current advances this task is much easier since we can do it from our mobile phone and it will only take a few seconds.
This is especially important if you are used to work with Word documents Or if you want effectively store your writings on paper so you never lose them. If you want to know how you can start using your paper documents from your computer or mobile You are in luck, since in this article we will tell you the main tools and methods that you can use and that simplify this process so that it is very simple for you and you can start implementing it right now.
Why convert scanned documents to Word?
Before starting to talk about the methods and details of how to convert a scanned document or writing to Microsoft Word, it is essential to understand why this process is important. Currently, practically all relevant documents are processed in digital form, regardless of the field in question. Even those that are formalized in writing are later digitized to be stored in the cloud. However, many times when we scan these documents they appear in image format and we cannot work directly on them or modify them, so It is important to know how to convert them to editable Microsoft Word documents to take advantage of all the advantages it offers us, especially if they are written documents. In the case of photographs, this will not interest us as much since the images would lose quality and it would be more logical to keep them in a specific format such as JPEG or PNG.
Methods of conversion to digital format
We will begin by explaining the traditional methods that have been used for a long time to convert written documents to digital files such as Word. They are tools that you can use although they will require more time and effort than new technologies developed to do this same task.
Rewrite the document
This method is probably the more easy of everyone. it implies transcribe the content of the written document in a new word format digital, copying directly everything written on paper. Without a doubt it is a laborious work What can be useful for short documents in which this transcription is easily done. There are tools like voice dictation which they can help you rewrite the document is much faster, although you have to be careful with the transcription errors.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
El OCR software is used for identify text in scanned documents and convert it to text in digital editable format. These tools are present in various free programs and applications and the results are surprisingly good, although it will depend a lot on the quality of the scan, the original state of the document, the readability... You can always try one of these tools as an initial step and, later, edit what is missing or that the OCR has not read correctly.
Advanced tools
Nowadays, great advances in technology have meant a big change in document transcription and scanningOffering faster, more accurate and easier solutions to use for users. Here we present some of the tools of the moment to convert your documents into Microsoft Word files.
Integrated OCR software
Many Modern scanners include built-in OCR software allowing transform scanned paper documents to digital files editable text. Without a doubt this is a great advantage since They perform the conversion at the same time as the scan and, due to its precision, the results are usually very reliable and fast. This tool is currently the Better option if you want to carry out this task with guarantees, although it has a higher economic cost than the other options.
Mobile apps
You can currently find multitude of applications available with OCR software to directly convert photos from files and documents to Word. We will only need a camera and download any of these applications. Most of them are free and, in addition, you can convert documents to other formats such as PDF. Without a doubt, this option is very valid if we want to convert a document quickly, although obviously some transcription errors may be observed.
Online applications and websites
Like mobile applications, we can also find various online services from which we can convert scanned files to word. On these platforms you must upload the already scanned files, and you will receive the editable text document. Some well-known websites are Google Drive and OnlineOCR.
Considerations before converting a document
If you want to transform and scan a document to Word, it is important that take into account a series of aspects so that this task is much easier to carry out and the errors that appear are minimal.
Scan quality
Before converting the document, it is important have a scanner of the best possible quality, especially if they are important files or documents. The clearer the document, much easier will be character recognition by OCR software. If you are going to scan from your mobile, make sure you have ideal lighting and image quality.
Document format
If the document only contains text, it will be easy for the software to recognize. However, when this includes graphs, images and tables can be difficult and on many occasions we will see conversion errors. It is important tomatch the format to the content of the file.
Error correction
Always after transcribing to Word, carefully review the scanned document since errors may appear for example if a part of the file was not displayed correctly.