ABBYY Finereader Professional Edition (I have used v8) makes a good job of scanning and converting columnar data automatically into Excel format where the rows and columns are well defined (ie with horizontal/vertical lines in the original document). If they are not well defined the software enables you to put in "separators" yourself - something that can be done quite quickly. You can also load .pdf documents into it, OCR them and also output to Excel format. However, regardless of the source, once loaded in Excel all numbers are treated as text and use of one of Excel's text to number features is necessary to convert the numerical information into numbers.
Hope this helps
Posted by: David at March 23, 2007 10:38 PM
I am interested in David's comment on3/23/07. I want to scan an Excel document with vert. and horiz. data that is calculated by formulae in the document. Will the scanned in document include the fomulae?
Posted by: Robert Sorem at August 1, 2008 11:53 AM
Robert, man that takes the cake. and the pie too. thanks for making my day. And will send you a new cupholder for your terminal.
Posted by: y at January 22, 2009 10:53 AM
now i have to check if my scanner came with ocr, thanks for the tip..
Posted by: roland m at February 12, 2009 6:19 AM
I had a Excel spreadsheet that I had printed out years ago but I couldn't find the file on my computer. I did have a copy of the printout and I just tried using ABBYY "Scan to Office" program and it worked great! It's a lot cheaper than the ABBYY Finereader Professional, too!
Posted by: Gary at February 14, 2009 2:49 PM
Another tip I have used successfully is to draw the vertical lines with a ruler and a pen in the document (the original or a copy). Then, after scanning it into word it is easily recognizable as a table, and then you can paste it into excel.
Posted by: Guaro at October 19, 2009 10:49 PM
how do i scan a document into my computer?
Posted by: Alva Lichtenstein at January 5, 2010 12:51 PM
Abbyy Scan to Office is a great little program but you are not able to buy it anywhere. Abbyy in their wisdom have discontinued a perfectly usable program for everyday people and have replaced it with another program that does not have a trial period and cost $50 more..
Posted by: TONI KLEMKO at March 31, 2010 12:03 PM
OCR softwares are everywhere nowadays. I prefer online ones they don't need installation and most of them are free, like this one: Free OCR.
Posted by: wonderhowto at August 22, 2010 7:58 PM
i have tiff image and fonts are in French script Mt and i tried so many software. can u help me.
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ABBYY Finereader Professional Edition (I have used v8) makes a good job of scanning and converting columnar data automatically into Excel format where the rows and columns are well defined (ie with horizontal/vertical lines in the original document). If they are not well defined the software enables you to put in "separators" yourself - something that can be done quite quickly. You can also load .pdf documents into it, OCR them and also output to Excel format. However, regardless of the source, once loaded in Excel all numbers are treated as text and use of one of Excel's text to number features is necessary to convert the numerical information into numbers.
Hope this helps
Posted by: David at March 23, 2007 10:38 PMI am interested in David's comment on3/23/07. I want to scan an Excel document with vert. and horiz. data that is calculated by formulae in the document. Will the scanned in document include the fomulae?
Posted by: Robert Sorem at August 1, 2008 11:53 AMRobert, man that takes the cake. and the pie too. thanks for making my day. And will send you a new cupholder for your terminal.
Posted by: y at January 22, 2009 10:53 AMnow i have to check if my scanner came with ocr, thanks for the tip..
Posted by: roland m at February 12, 2009 6:19 AMI had a Excel spreadsheet that I had printed out years ago but I couldn't find the file on my computer. I did have a copy of the printout and I just tried using ABBYY "Scan to Office" program and it worked great! It's a lot cheaper than the ABBYY Finereader Professional, too!
Posted by: Gary at February 14, 2009 2:49 PMAnother tip I have used successfully is to draw the vertical lines with a ruler and a pen in the document (the original or a copy). Then, after scanning it into word it is easily recognizable as a table, and then you can paste it into excel.
Posted by: Guaro at October 19, 2009 10:49 PMhow do i scan a document into my computer?
Posted by: Alva Lichtenstein at January 5, 2010 12:51 PMAbbyy Scan to Office is a great little program but you are not able to buy it anywhere. Abbyy in their wisdom have discontinued a perfectly usable program for everyday people and have replaced it with another program that does not have a trial period and cost $50 more..
Posted by: TONI KLEMKO at March 31, 2010 12:03 PMOCR softwares are everywhere nowadays. I prefer online ones they don't need installation and most of them are free, like this one: Free OCR.
Posted by: wonderhowto at August 22, 2010 7:58 PMi have tiff image and fonts are in French script Mt and i tried so many software. can u help me.
Posted by: Nayandeep at January 21, 2011 6:44 AMTo post a comment on "How do I scan a document into Excel?", please return to that article's main page.