Re: j Macarty, could use your assistance! was: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers

  • From: "inthaneelf" <inthaneelf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2007 14:32:55 -0700

ah, thanks, must include that

Inthane
. For Blind Programming assistance, Information, Useful Programs, and Links to Jamal Mazrui's Text tutorial packages and Applications, visit me at: 
http://grabbag.alacorncomputer.com
. to be able to view a simple programming project in several programming languages, visit the Fruit basket demo site at: 
http://fruitbasketdemo.alacorncomputer.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Macarty, Jay {PBSG}" <Jay.Macarty@xxxxxxxx> 
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2007 8:42 AM
Subject: RE: j Macarty, could use your assistance! was: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers 


Jamal,
Thanks for the feedback. Actually, as I think of it, the option to
output to MDI isn't something directly connected to PrintKey which is
likely why you don't see it in the doc.  When I bring up the print
dialog of any application, one of my printer selections is Microsoft
Office Document Image Writer. Selecting this as my printer allows me to
output in the MDI format.


-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jamal Mazrui
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 11:29 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: j Macarty, could use your assistance! was: Re: Introducing
PDF2OCR and seeking testers

Thanks, Jay and Inthane.  I did some web research and found out the
following.

The current version is PrintKey Pro 1.04, costing about $20 and
apparently
published in 2003.  A 30-day, fully functioning demo is available from
http://www.warecentral.com

I installed the demo and converted the CHM help file to text in the
archive at
http://www.empowermentzone.com/pkey_doc.zip

Several graphics output types are possible, though Microsoft Document
Image format is not mentioned in the documentation or listed in the
options dialog.  TIFF is an output type, which I then tried to convert
to
text with Tesseract-OCR.  Unfortunately, the result was gibberish, even
though Tesseract recognized it as a TIFF type it could handle.  I
suspect
the problem may be one of resolution since Tesseract reported only 96
MDI.
Unfortunately, however, I have not found a setting that can increase
TIFF
resolution.  If anyone else does, please let me know.  Although the
program would not be free, at a modest cost one could tie together
components that let one perform OCR on a window that a screen reader
fails
to incorporate readably in its off screen model.  The converted text
could
automatically be presented in a message box, multiline edit box, or JAWS
user buffer.

Jamal

P.S.  I was confused by the one from Grab Bag partly because the
PrintScreen key was not bringing up the program for me, and there had
not
been any messages when I ran the program.  It turns out that my computer
does not let PrintKey grab the PrintScreen key, but this is a known
issue
with some computers, so the program allows one to change the hot keys.
I
later learned about Alt+PrintScreen for the active window only, which
does
work in the current demo.  The program is also available in the system
tray.
On Sat, 15 Sep
2007, Macarty, Jay  {PBSG} wrote:


Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 07:48:50 -0500
From: "Macarty, Jay  {PBSG}" <Jay.Macarty@xxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: j Macarty,
     could use your assistance! was: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and

seeking

    testers

inthane,
You have summarized the features of PrintKey nicely; thanks. Just a
couple of additional notes.

1. The most recent version of PrintKey is a licensed software package

(I

don't recall the cost at this point). The latest free version was
version 4.0 which is the one I posted about originally.

2. My most common method for invoking PrintKey to capture a window is

to

launch the software by selecting the printkey.exe program in Windows
Explorer or FileDir.  Then, I normally use the keystroke to capture

only

the specific window with focus; the key is alt+printscreen. That way I
only get the window I am interested in and not everything around it.

3. Once you press printscreen or alt+printscreen, you will hear a

sound

like a camera and then the PrintKey window will pop up. I then select
the print button and my printer dialog is set to go to a .MDI document
instead of a regular printer. It should be noted that one other useful
action when the PrintKey dialog comes up is to press ctrl+c to send

the

window image to the clipboard. Then, you can paste it into a document

or

an e-mail.

4. When the print selection creates the .MDI document, you will
automatically be placed in the Microsoft image viewer program. You

then

select the Tools menu and press enter on Send this image to a Word
document. You will then be asked if you want to perform OCR on the
image. I am not sure if you can override the OCR program the viewer
invokes at this point but it would be worth researching.

I'm thinking that, if PrintKey has the ability to save the image in
another format such as tif, it might be possible to try running the
image through the tool included in Jamal's PDF2OCR package to compare.
My general impression is that the OCR included with Office Tools isn't
the greatest. PrintKey gives you the ability to play with some aspects
of the image in order to get it like you want and some of those

setting

may allow for better OCR translation. I just haven't been able to find
what might improve it.



-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of inthaneelf
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 1:58 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: j Macarty, could use your assistance! was: Re:

Introducing

PDF2OCR and seeking testers

Jamal,

all I have at this time is the information that j Macarty's E mail

gave,


which I included in the text around the link. its a stand alone
application,
and if I remember right, one starts the application by entering on it,
then
uses the screen print key on the image one is trying to OCR and I
believe
the application will open then to ask what you want to do with this
captured
image.  and I believe that you save it as a .MDI document, then you

open


that file which should start the correct Microsoft  program to OCR the
file
and render it for your reading.

if j catches this post maybe he can clarify this whole thing further
than
this, and I'll nab his explanation and put it with the application for
folks
to get with it.

I set it up and ran through it once, found that it seemed to be

working

alright, and haven't put it back on my newly reloaded machine yet due

to

the
fact that I rarely deal with screen images, the old "once in a harvest
moon"
scenario.

there is stuff on the web about it though, I found the app in a Google
search after J's post on the list about it and its value to him.

sorry I can't be of more help at this point, but if he doesn't have,

or

he
misses this post and doesn't expand on it, I will see what I can find.

inthane
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jamal Mazrui" <empower@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 8:21 PM
Subject: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers


> Thanks for the info.  Can you distribute more documentation with it?
I
> guess PrintKey.exe is the utility, itself, rather than an installer.
> When I ran it, there were no messages, either from a GUI or a

command

> prompt.  I tried typical help command-line parameters to no avail.
What
> is .mdi format (I have not heard of it before)?  Can any version of
> Microsoft Word read it?  How does one do this with Word?
>
> Assuming the program works as you have described (though I need to
learn
> specific steps of invocation), it seems considerably different in
purpose
> than PDF2OCR.  It seems that PrintKey is for learning about a screen
> image, whereas PDF2OCR is for learning about a PDF file.  Both

involve

OCR
> (though PrintKey does not do this, itself), but the types of
information
> to be accessed in a typically temporarl, static screen image are
usually
> different than the content of a potentially large or formal piece of
> writing in a PDF.
>
> Jamal
> On Fri, 14 Sep 2007,
> inthaneelf wrote:
>
>> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 16:03:32 -0700
>> From: inthaneelf <inthaneelf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Reply-To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers
>>
>> you can google for it, but I have put it up on my grab bag site for
>> download, and the text that accompanies the link tells you how to

use

it
>> for
>> this purpose.
>>
>> its a self contained executable, that you generally would go and
click on
>> to
>> use, I put it in a folder in my programs files folder and generally
put a
>> shortcut to it in CO:\Documents and Settings\[my user named
folder]\Start
>> Menu\Programs\Startup
>> or for a universal (all users of the computer run on it:
>> CO:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
>>
>> this loads it at start up and makes it available by just hitting

the

old
>> "print screen" button on your keyboard.  but you can just make a
shortcut
>> to
>> it anywhere, and start it if you need it, so your not loading
unneeded
>> items
>> at boot up.
>>
>> HTH,
>> Inthane
>> . For Blind Programming assistance, Information, Useful Programs,

and


>> Links
>> to Jamal Mazrui's Text tutorial packages and Applications, visit me
at:
>> http://grabbag.alacorncomputer.com
>> . to be able to view a simple programming project in several
programming
>> languages, visit the Fruit basket demo site at:
>> http://fruitbasketdemo.alacorncomputer.com
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Eileen Lafond" <Eileen.Lafond@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 2:38 PM
>> Subject: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers
>>
>>
>> Where do you get print screen?
>>
>> Eileen La Fond
>> Phone (206) 386-0011
>> e.mail Eileen.LaFond@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> >>> "inthaneelf" <inthaneelf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 9/14/2007 2:29 PM >>>
>> I understand, print screen is a small utility that Jay Macarty ,

put

out
>> as
>> a interim solution for folks that had to deal with screen images

sent

to
>> them by clients, to OCR them, so I thought in the spirit of seeing
how
>> this
>> free OCR module that your using did compared to other scanners that
are
>> free
>> also I would run it through it.
>>
>> and yes, the setup I am talking about is for OCRing a completely
graphic
>> image and attempting to render it into a text version.
>>
>> I wasn't trying to be offensive Jamal, but testing your program
against
>> some
>> others isn't a bad idea, to give you an idea of how well it, and

this

>> freebee OCR module does compared to other things out here, that are
free,
>> or
>> included in suite's that a lot of us have?
>>
>> inthane
>> . For Blind Programming assistance, Information, Useful Programs,

and


>> Links
>> to Jamal Mazrui's Text tutorial packages and Applications, visit me
at:
>> http://grabbag.alacorncomputer.com
>> . to be able to view a simple programming project in several
programming
>> languages, visit the Fruit basket demo site at:
>> http://fruitbasketdemo.alacorncomputer.com
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jamal Mazrui" <empower@xxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 5:29 AM
>> Subject: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers
>>
>>
>> > FYI -- the 1.0 release version is considerably better than the

beta

>> > version due to performing OCR on a page-by-page basis and to the
>> > convenience of converting any number of PDFs in a directory with

a

>> > single command.  PDF2OCR does work on text-based as well as
image-based
>> > PDFs, but the results on text-based ones are generally not as

good

as
>> > with other utilities that extract the text directly rather than
>> > analyzing the picture of each page.
>> >
>> > Jamal
>> > On Thu, 13 Sep 2007, inthaneelf wrote:
>> >
>> >> Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:52:12 -0700
>> >> From: inthaneelf <inthaneelf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >> Reply-To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >> Subject: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers
>> >>
>> >> and print screen, lets see how this freebee works out, smile
>> >>
>> >> and Jamal, I appreciate what your working on, just want to make
sure
>> >> your
>> >> getting at least 60% of what your hoping for out of it.
>> >>
>> >> inthane
>> >> . For Blind Programming assistance, Information, Useful

Programs,

and
>> >> Links
>> >> to Jamal Mazrui's Text tutorial packages and Applications, visit
me
>> >> at:
>> >> http://grabbag.alacorncomputer.com
>> >> . to be able to view a simple programming project in several
>> >> programming
>> >> languages, visit the Fruit basket demo site at:
>> >> http://fruitbasketdemo.alacorncomputer.com
>> >>
>> >> ----- Original Message -----
>> >> From: "Lloyd Rasmussen" <lras@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >> Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 3:47 AM
>> >> Subject: RE: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> > If someone wants to submit a sample, I can run it through the
PDF
>> >> > tools
>> >> > that
>> >> > come with OmniPage 15.  Also, someone else should run the

sample

>> >> > through
>> >> > the
>> >> > image printer and OCR built into MS Word.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, Maryland
>> >> > Home:  http://lras.home.sprynet.com
>> >> > Work:  http://www.loc.gov/nls
>> >> >
>> >> >> -----Original Message-----
>> >> >> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >> >> [mailto:programmingblind-
>> >> >> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jamal Mazrui
>> >> >> Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 5:42 AM
>> >> >> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >> >> Subject: Re: Introducing PDF2OCR and seeking testers
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I would expect better results from Kurzweil 1000, which uses
>> >> >> arguably
>> >> >> the highest grade commercial OCR technology.  The free Adobe
Reader
>> >> >> does
>> >> >> not do OCR, so would not make the sample file accessible.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Jamal
>> >> >
>> >> > __________
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