Scanning text into Word 2003

[TallTravel]

Here is my objective:

To learn as much as I can from a 1000 page Cell Biology book as rapidly as possible. This is highly technical stuff for me, and repetition is critical. Reading something over and over out of a book, highlights or no, simply does not get it into my long term memory without 100 times as much effort. Since college I have discovered 3x5 cards are far and away the most effective way for me to truly remember things, especially new ones.

The paragraph and section headings in this book are the ideas I want to put into 3x5 card format. I want to be able to use these in traffic, in the house at night and on weekends, etc. By scanning them into Word I can also choose to convert them to a series of MP3 files as well, I am guessing, which again is important for the way I actually learn things.

So the textbook is designed with paragraph and section titles which are complete sentences like " All prroteins are complex chains of amino acids linked to one another ". These are the only parts of the text I want to scan, import, and manipulate into 3x5 cards printed from my printer and Windows XP.

My goal is to take 1000 pages of these statements, of which there might be 1-2 per page, one to two lines per item, and convert them into 3x5 cards. There might be 1000-1500 of these sentences, all of them bolded, in this book. A part of me says just write them out yourself, you lazy SOB. Another part says " scan them into a computer, convert to MS Word, and print them on a set of 3x5 cards for actual learning.

So to scan a page in a book, put it in to Word (once I get them there I can simply use the label maker to print 3x5 cards), any experience or ideas? Would it make more sense to use Powerpoint?

[pam123]

It sounds like you need OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that will put what ever you scan into Word.

This program has a trial version : http://www.abbyy.com/scantooffice/

There is a free program but, well, read what they have to say about it and decide if you want to try it : http://www.simpleocr.com/Scanning/Do...an_to_Word.asp

[TallTravel]

Yes, Pam, I ought to have used the term OCR, as I knew I was looking for that, but I neglected to use the term. That is what I want.

That being said, my brother is in publishing and he suggested I would be better off in Powerpoint than Word, at least given my brief description of my uses for the information once I get it in to my learning format. Specifically, I am thinking of using the same raw data to generate audio files to reinforce the learning beyone the vidual.

Technology has changed a lot of the options for learning, hasn't it?

[glc]

Most scanners ship with basic OCR as part of its scanning suite.

[TallTravel]

Originally Posted by glc Most scanners ship with basic OCR as part of its scanning suite.

Thanks. I am going to look for a simple hand held scanner, and I presume it will have OCR software with it then.

Back when I was in IT, many years ago, I knew a tiny bit about this scanning stuff, and it sounds like it has not changed all that much in the past 10-15 years. I trust the scanning software is smarter, though.

[glc]

Don't even bother with a hand scanner - flatbeds are dirt cheap these days.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16838111121

That will do everything you need. Doesn't even need AC power, it runs all off USB. Comes with basic OCR software.

[TallTravel]

Originally Posted by glc Don't even bother with a hand scanner - flatbeds are dirt cheap these days. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16838111121 That will do everything you need. Doesn't even need AC power, it runs all off USB. Comes with basic OCR software.

That is the perfect answer, glc! Thanks a million!

I have an HP All in One with scan as one of the functions, but it must be fed one page at a time, not a solution for a 1000 page Biology Book.