During recognition Readiris converts color and grayscale images into binarized, black-and-white images, on which it performs the OCR. When opening or scanning extremely light or extremely dark grayscale and color images, it may be necessary to adjust their binarized counterparts in order to obtain satisfactory OCR results.

To adjust images:

•  Open or scan a color-grayscale document.

Make sure that the scanner settings are correct.

•  On the Process menu, click Adjust image. Or click the corresponding icon on the image toolbar.

Readiris uses intelligent binarization routines to convert color- grayscale images into black-and-white images, which are used to perform OCR on.

o  Select Smoothen color or grayscale image to even out the image.

This option renders grayscale and color images more homogeneous by smoothening out differences in intensity. As a result, a stronger contrast is created between the foreground (text) and background (artwork).

Note: this option appears to be the same as the one on the Preferences menu but is applied at a different stage of the recognition process.

Note: sometimes smoothening is the only way to separate text from a colored background.

o  Use the slider to increase or decrease the Brightness.

The Brightness settings determine the overall brightness of the image. Use these settings to darken or lighten the image when the text is illegible.

Example 1: lighten a dark image to eliminate the page background.

(Color image)

(Binarized image. The default binarization settings yield a black image)

(The lightened image yields satisfactory recognition results)

Example 2: darken an image when the text is so light it doesn't show up in the binarized image.

(Binarized image. The default brightness settings yield fragmented characters)

(The darkened image yields satisfactory recognition results)

o  Use the slider to increase or decrease the Contrast.

The Contrast settings determine the contrast between darker and lighter zones of an image. Use these settings to make character shapes stand out against a colored background.

(Increased contrast settings yield satisfactory recognition results)

o  Use the slider to increase or decrease the Despeckle options.

Despeckling removes small spots from black-and-white images. Note that this Despeckling function is not the same as the ones you

find on the Settings menu and under Options on the main toolbar: the former function applies to binarized images while the latter functions are applied during scanning.

•  Click Apply to preview the results.

•  If the results are satisfactory, click OK to save and close the settings. If not, click Cancel and modify the settings.

• Click Recognize + Save to recognize the document.

Or use the command Save document on the File menu.

You can also save a selection of pages by clicking Save Selected Pages on the File menu.