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

  • From: "Dale Leavens" <dleavens@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 13:31:52 -0400

So,

Is it likely this could be used to read those graphics used to secure Web 
sites, the image of a password or number the user must enter to gain admission?


Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada
DLeavens@xxxxxxx
Skype DaleLeavens
Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jamal Mazrui" <empower@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 12:28 PM
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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