Unable to Scan OCR on a Photosmart All-In-One model B109n-z

[BWK]

My solution Centre software downloaded from the HP website does not provide functionality to scan in documents for PDF Searchable, .txt or .rtf as it used to and as advised in the on-line manual.  Has this changed and why does the OCR functionality not exist.  The Solution Centre softward downloaded was version 14  - I'm using Vista 32 bit?

Can you advise?

BWK 

[GregCo]

the OCR software is delivered via the in-box CD - any chance of finding that?

[GregCo]

could be bad news:  this part of the online specs for the B109n omits any mention of OCR - it may not have been included...


Scanning specifications

• Image editor included

• Twain-compliant software interface

• Resolution: up to 1200 x 2400 ppi optical (depends on model); 19200 ppi enhanced (software)

• Color: 48-bit color, 8-bit grayscale (256 levels of gray)

• Maximum scan size from glass: 216 x 297 mm (8.5 x 11.7 in)

[BWK]

Thanks, I did try to reload the solution centre software from the original CD, but it still didn't include the OCR functionality.  Would the OCR functionality normally reside as a seperate application on the CD?

BWK 

[BWK]

Thanks, but when I first acquired the printer the OCR funtionality was one of the reasons for the purchase and although I haven't used the OCR feature, for some time, I did at some point further back. The problem stems from the fact that I had to reload the Solution Software on my laptop and done this using the Solution Software from HP's drivers webpage.  Also the following is extracted from the electronic manual for the printer on my hard drive - the problem is that the features below are now not available to me:

 Scan a document for searchable text

The HP Scanning software can create a searchable PDF file from a text page. You can use the find functionality in Adobe Acrobat Reader or another PDF reader application to search for specific text within this file, but you cannot edit the text.

To save a scanned document as a searchable PDF file, select Save to file, and then select the PDF (searchable) (*.pdf) file type.

Scan a document for editable text

The HP Scanning software uses optical character recognition (OCR) to convert text on a page to text that you can edit with a word processing program. For most HP scanning devices, the OCR software is installed automatically when you install the HP software.

To save a scanned document as an editable text file, select Save to file, and then select one of the following file types:

• Rich Text Format (*.rtf)

• Text File (*.txt)

• HTML (*.htm)

Tip    If you are creating HTML files in languages other than the language of your computer's operating system during scanning, do not use extended ASCII characters in the file name.

Thanks

BWK

[GregCo]

The OCR would be on that disc.  yes, It may be a separate applicaiton installed separately.

[BWK]

Thanks, I have looked at the contents of the CD since your last posting and there a lot of files/folders on there, but from this I can't tell where the OCR is and as I'm very technical, it's difficult to understand the contents of the disk.  When the CD runs it more or less goes straight into the install routine for the Solution Software without giving any other options.  When I installed from the CD yesterday all it done was install the Solution Software without the OCR functionality.. 

There is an option once the Solution Software is installed called 'Add Device'  would this be the option for installing additional requirements like OCR.  I went onto HP's Software Drivers site yesterday and found a seperate OCR application but it wasn't for my printer.  I did try to install this but it wouldn't install.  Therefore do you know of a seperate OCD suite for my printer, or are there any instructions available to locate or recover the functionality?  Or any ideas on how I can locate this on my CD?

Thanks

BWK

[PellaCAD]

Hey HP...we're still waiting for some help.

Where's the OCR capability for our printer-scanner-copiers??

[Timoto · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

I like you was unable to scan to OCR.

A search revealed the following:

http://ascomputerz.blogspot.fr/2011/03/missing-ocr-software-on-deskjet.html

which in turn led me to what seems to be an HP FTP file site = ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/printers/ocragent/

where there is (a) a word doc with instructions (very easy - basically keep the HP software running and printer on) and (b) a 50MB file which adds IRIS OCR software to the existing HP software.

I tried it - and within a few minutes I had my first .rtf (rich text file) with nicely scanned live characters.... Incidentally, it was a complicated document which worked quite well 1st time out the gate.

et voila. Happy hunting :-)

[BWK]

Fantastic! Many Thanks Timoto, I had given up on this problem but followed your instructions and as you say, it works perfectly! 

I had previously downloaded a couple of free OCR packages which were OK but neither is anything like as good as your solution.

Thanks for the post - much appreciated......