For Best OCR accuracy use:

• An original printed document.
• A scanned image where lines in document are on a horizontal plane (skewed/tilted images will not OCR correctly as the OCR engine reads content horizontally left-to-right)
• A document which is free of lines, marks or smudges.
• A document whose characters are distinct and separate from each other and are not bleeding together (charcters that are faded or do not have distinct edges will not OCR correctly).
• A document without underlined characters (Documents with underlined text are difficult to recognize accurately because the underline changes the shape of the letters, especially the letters g, j, p, q and y).
• A document free of handwritten notes lines or doodles. Anything that is not printed text will hinder the OCR recognition process.
• A document with black text on a white background. (Colored text, gray backgrounds, images or logos may cause problems.)

OCR accuracy can be Improved by:

• Scan at a Proper Resolution (DPI) - Make sure you've changed your scan settings so that you are scanning at or above 300 dpi. For most documents, 300 dpi is the best resolution but if you have small fonts (less than 9 point) try scanning at 400 dpi.
• Scan At the Proper Brightness - When scanning, make sure you have the proper brightness set for your scanner. If individual letters are broken or illegible, adjust the brightness level so each individual letter has no broken lines.
• Keep Documents Straight - Documents that are scanned in at an angle or more difficult to recognize than straight ones. Make sure that each page has been scanned so that all the lines of text are straight.

If Document Integrity or higher OCR accuracy is desired:

• ScanSoft TextBridge Pro software, perfect for Small Office, Home Office OCR needs
• Nuance (formerly ScanSoft) OmniPage Pro, a professional grade and more robust OCR product