Convert a PDF or Scanned File into Editable Text, Using Google Drive

Apply OCR to Previously Saved or Scanned Documents;
Easily Convert PDF Files into Editable Formats

 

The articles in this blog are inspired by real life issues.  This weekend, I received a call from a less-skilled user. All of his electronic files had "disappeared" from his PC, and he was busy trying to recreate them from hard copies. He had already scanned a bunch before he discovered the scanned files were not editable.  Rather, he had a bunch of files that had basically been scanned into giant graphics. Was there anything he could do?

We discussed that, in the future, he needed to look for a "Scan to OCR" option in his scanning software. Most scanners include a Scan to OCR plug-in. (We also had a long conversation about disappearing files, and what that might mean, as well as setting up cloud backup through Backblaze to prevent these issues in the future.) But believe it or not, all was NOT lost. It is NOT too late to convert those scans. There is an easy way to apply OCR to saved files, using Google Drive and Google Docs.

What is OCR

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. OCR takes electronic information stored in an image format, (like GIF, JPG, PDF, or PNG,) and converts it into characters your programs can understand.  When you copy or scan something, basically a device is taking a picture of whatever you lay on its bed. Electronically, it saves a series of dots, rather than a series of letters and numbers. If you wish to edit a scanned document, first you MUST convert it back from a bunch of dots to characters software can recognize and understand. This process is called OCR, or Optical Character Recognition.

Most popular scanners come with OCR software.  If you are scanning a document, and you will want to edit it later, you should look for the “scan to OCR” option in your scanning software.  (It may also be called "Scan to Doc.")

If you have a document that has already been scanned to an image-based format, you will need to convert it using OCR BEFORE you can edit it.. This is also true for files you have stored on drives and other media.

OCR Using Google Docs

Google Drive contains a free and easy way to convert image-based files to editable text.  This is especially handy for PDF files, as well as files received as e-mail attachments. Google Docs has hidden OCR capabilities. You can open a file stored in Google Drive with Google Docs, and run it through an OCR plug-in while you're doing so. The steps are outlined below.

A Review of Quibblo, a Quiz Creating Tool, and A Quiz: How Facebook Savvy Are You?

This is the second in a series of articles discussing the privacy implications of Internet Quizzes.  The first, The Dangers of Internet Quizzes, is available at https://techlaurels.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-dangers-of-internet-quizzes.html

Quibblo: A Review

WWW.Quibblo.com

NOTE: Our quiz  (see the bottom of this page) is hosted over on Quibblo.  Quibblo is supposed to be a free source for creating quizzes that can easily be shared on Social Media.  If you are following the "journey" of this blog, I originally headed over to Quibblo to investigate its use as a resource.  Supposedly, you can embed the finished quizzes on your blogs or Social Media Pages, and several sources touted it as a good resource for bloggers. My research does not necessarily concur.

Quibblo is supposed to generate content that is easy to share and easy to embed, either on your own web site or on one of the major blogging platforms.  And quizzes can be good traffic generators for Social Media. Before you start, Quibblo promises your creation efforts will be rewarded with a widget in the sidebar to help you share, embed, or promote your content. But alas, the promised code-generating widget is absent in all three browsers!  I have contacted Quibblo to see how to get the embed code.  I will update this post when I hear back.  In the meanwhile,  the quiz is linked from the bottom of this post.  That, of course is NOT the ideal situation. Generated content should be as easy to embed as the giveaway widget featured on our giveaway post.  It is not.

This post was going to be a fun quiz about Facebook Savviness.  But it evolved as I was developing the quiz and writing the post.  The quiz is no longer the highlight of this article.  Rather, the post transformed into a warning about these quiz generators, and a review of Quibblo specifically.  I am kind of sorry my research lead me to consider Quibblo as a good option.

Quick Tip: What "Refresh" Means in Windows 10

Refreshing Your Operating System is
NOT Similar to Refreshing Your Screen

The term "Refresh" has been around since the days of MS-DOS. We've learned that the circle with an arrow icon stands for refresh, and that refreshing or reloading may help when things go wonky.  If you keep getting that "more stories" link on Facebook, images aren't loading, or your desktop suddenly looks strange, refreshing your screen has become almost second nature.  If things just don't look right, refresh.  99% of the time, that fixes things. We right-click and select "refresh," hit the F5 key, or click that circle with an arrow icon all the time to fix issues.

Then along comes Windows 10. Windows 10 was the first Operating System distributed primarily by downloading an update.   Few users have install disks, even if they bought a PC with Windows 10 pre-installed.  And Windows 10 looks A LOT different, confusing a lot of users.  All of the Tech Gurus tell new Windows 10 users not to worry, because it operates just the same.  All of the things that worked in previous versions of windows work in Windows 10.  The same keyboard shortcuts and right-click commands are there, and they perform just like they always did.

And so your PC starts acting up, and you're sure you should try the same old tricks you've tried in the past to avoid a visit from your Computer Person.  You start exploring the settings menu,  You click on the settings menu to try a system restore, when you come across the option to refresh your system. "Okay, let's try that," you think.  You tell Windows to refresh your PC, thinking it will just log you out of everything and reload it, similar to the way refresh works in every other situation.  Your PC reboots itself, and EVERYTHING is gone.  You panic.  "Where is my Quicken?  Where is my Outlook and all of my e-mails...it's can't be just all gone?  My games are gone, and I'd just reached that impossible level.  UGH!"

Quick Tip: What is a "Hamburger" Menu?

I got a call from one of my people the other day: "I am supposed to open my Hamburger Menu. What in tarnation is that?  Do I need to hit a McDonald's?"  I laughed and explained it is just a term for modern day application menus.

Those of us who computed pre-Windows recall having to remember what each function key did.  We used templates for every program, reminding us which function key corresponded to what menu command.  When Windows came out, using function keys was replaced with using pull down menus, accessed via the ALT key or through a mouse click.  We got used to using pull down menus.  We liked pull down menus.  But then they started disappearing.
   

   

The "Hamburger Menu" is what has begun replacing pull down menus.  This is, in part, due to the "Mobile Revolution" and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets.  On mobile devices, touchscreen and taps replace mouse clicks.  Pull-down menus were difficult for fat fingers.  Mobile devices do not have a lot of screen real estate either, leaving little room for a menu to stretch across the screen.