Can openoffice edit scanned documents

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[Solved] Fill areas by typing in document from a scan

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5 posts • Page 1 of 1 Merguaz#103 Posts: 2 Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:09 pm

[Solved] Fill areas by typing in document from a scan

Post by Merguaz#103 » Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:14 am

on my macos monterey 12.4 , if i scan a document that requires filling in the blanks , sending it to open office , is it possible to use text document to type in the required information , how do i get open office to type ? Thank you , Merguaz#103

Last edited by Hagar Delest on Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: tagged solved.

MacOS Monterey 12.4. Apache open office 4.1.12 FJCC Moderator Posts: 9391 Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:08 pm Location: Colorado, USA

Re: typing a document

Post by FJCC » Tue Jun 21, 2022 3:09 am

In what format are the documents produced by the scanner?

OpenOffice 4.1 on Windows 10 and Linux Mint
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Hagar Delest Moderator Posts: 32759 Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 9:07 pm Location: France

Re: Fill areas by typing in document from a scan

Post by Hagar Delest » Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:08 am

No, it is not possible.
A scanner will produce a picture (at best some parts of text if submitted to OCR). Thus, AOO cannot do anything with that.

Better use a PDF reader with commenting capabilities. I use Foxit Reader that can do that. Then you can save the PDF with the added text and send it back.

LibreOffice 24.2 on Xubuntu 24.04 and 7.6.4.1 portable on Windows 10 John_Ha Volunteer Posts: 9584 Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:51 pm Location: UK

Re: Fill areas by typing in document from a scan

Post by John_Ha » Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:29 am

You can do it with a workaround but it is a pain.

1. Use the scanned image as a background image to the page. Now add small frames over each box where you need to type. Set the font size appropriately in the frame. The user can now only type in the boxes.

2. You could even do it without the frames by adjusting the font sizes for empty paragraphs between the boxes so that the lines you type are in the same places as the boxes. Use tabs to tab right so that you start boxes on the right at the start of the box. You now type over the image. The problem is the user can type outside of the boxes.

The best method is to recreate the document as a form - see the Writer Guide. Save it as a PDF form. You now have a PDF with fillable boxes.

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