Saturday, May 19, 2012

Typewriter Text to Your Computer

Hi, there. I know that it's been a while. It appears that I've been writing these things monthly. I guess my writing has kept me busier than I thought.


On that note, since I've been using a typewriter to do my rewrites, I've been looking for a way to convert scanned PDFs of my chapters into text. I noticed that Adobe had that option for roughly $20 a year and looked into it. Well, according to reviews that I searched for because I needed to know if they could convert text that had been typed out with a typewriter, I found that their PDF to Word conversions couldn't handle it. Why? Apparently their OCR software couldn't read the inconsistencies that come with typewriter text.


For those who don't know, OCR is the alphabet soup term for optical character recognition software. It's a program that reads the characters of a text and tries to turn it into the closest representation possible. From my research I discovered that most versions of the software aren't good enough to handle inconsistent characters well. None of them can handle handwriting. It was frustrating. Then I found this article that listed 10 softwares that have free options, five for online and five for desktop. It pretty much did the work for me.


I experimented a bit with the Google Docs option, but my PDF files were all too big. So decided to try the one that the article recommended: OnlineOCR. To say that this was a god send would be a little over the top because the free service can be a little limited. It only does 5 pages an hour for guest users. So, I suggest registering if you're going to use this service. They give you 20 credits (a credit per page) to start out and you can do PDF files, an option you don't have when a guest user. Additional credits can be purchased, or earned through their Bonus Program.


I took advantage of the 20 credits, and had one of my PDFs converted. It took a minute for the file to upload to the site, but then the conversion was relatively quick. (Although, this could depend on your internet speed, and your computer.) Even though it wasn't entirely accurate, OnlineOCR did a pretty good job. I'll still have to go through and fix the little problems like wrong letters, missing words, and formatting, but it beats transcribing my work. While not perfect, the service saved me quite a bit of time and effort that I can put back into my writing. (And gave me a good laugh. It's like reading auto-correct texts.)


So there you are. My first advice blog to the people who can't afford one of those fancy USB Typewriters or have the skills to do their own soldering. Or for those who have a monster collection of those clack-clack machines and still transcribe their own writing. I'm sure many of you have looked into such software, and been unhappy. So far, I have not been disappointed.


Now back to my novel.




Update: If you are a blogger, and are happy about the service that Online OCR provides, they will reward you credits for a blog review written by you. Just make sure you send them an email with the link, something not posted on the site that I had to discover by myself. It's worth it if you have a mound of pages. (Added 5/21/12)

4 comments:

  1. Hi, thanks for the info. I'm always looking for a better process for my writing work flow now that typewriters are a part of my tool set. Yes, OCR aren't perfect. I use goog docs to OCR. To get around size I use apps that will break the PDF down to smaller sizes (pages) for older work ( or print X pages to PDF) and upload in segments. It's a work around.

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    1. Your welcome. I thought it would be nice to tell others who needed help.

      May I ask what app you use to break down your PDFs?

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  2. Hi,

    I am considering buying a typewriter to, well, write. I am a technical writer, and from what I read, a typewriter introduces a very special flow due to its specific features. It makes you think more about what you write, and there are no distractions. I am not sure if this is true, and that the device would not just collect dust. Care to share your own experience in this regard? Thanks in either case ;)

    Regards,
    Maxim

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    1. So you wish to know about typewriters, eh?

      I'll admit up front I'm still new to the typewriter community, but I recently finished my novel on a typewriter. This is what I found. I did get more done, but mostly because I'm a tactile person. The sterility of a computer lacks the stimulation my brain needs to be creative. The energy and effort to press the keys; the motion of pressing the lever; the rewinding of the spools; the changing of the paper; all of this adds to a very tactile experience.

      I often describe using a typewriter as being like driving an old steel bodied car with a manual transmission instead of a modern car with an automatic. It takes effort, and is thus a more engaging experience.

      Another reason for my attraction to typewriters is I was taught to type on one. It's easier to maintain proper typing posture and decreases the risk of carpal tunnel versus using a computer keyboard.

      There is also that typewriters are just plain cool. Or, at least I think so. Many of the machines range from over 100 years old to a couple of decades. There are beautiful pieces and some not so much. As I tell my friends, they are classic cars for bibliophiles.

      A good site to swing by is The Classic Typewriter page: http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/index.html

      and mytypewriter.com.

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