If the item can be unbound, a document feeder can be used. Alternatively, crisp, clear photocopies of bound originals can be scanned and document feeders can be used. Specialized feeders may be rented or purchased. As with fax machines, black areas on photocopies, or black or dark pages take slightly more time to scan. Images, complex formatting such as tables, inadequate gutter margins, etc. may require text blocks to be delineated and ordered by the operator so that OCR can interpret the arrangement of text properly.
Text is run through a standard spelling checker.
Painstaking visual comparison can be made against the original. For example, HTML coding, or parsing for entering into a database may be required. While OCR reliability is continually improving, and prices for all ranges of OCR software are decreasing, it is important to evaluate materials for OCR case by case. Nevertheless, documents that present any one of the factors noted above should be carefully analyzed to ensure that OCR is the appropriate and cost-effective digitization solution. 1 Digitization can also refer to the process of transforming analog audio or video recordings into digital recordings.