How to scan a book to use as Word document or similar?

[CargoMatatu]

Techy type question!

I have a book that I want to scan to Word or .pdf, so that I can have it on my iPhone as a kind of virtual ebook.

It's a small pocket-sized book of many pages and is not available as an ebook. I don't want to carry the book around in case I lose it. I am a cautious man!

Of course, questions arise as to how to avoid visible curve to opened pages, etc.

[jimtherev]

You have a scanner? Yes?
With it would have been bundled an OCR package of some sort. If you didn't install it from the CD when you got it, you can now!
Try to scan / OCR a couple of pages into a .doc or a .rtf file: examine results.
Yes, page curl, darkness into the margins of the 'inside' of the pages may be a problem - but suck it and see. If you don't mind a little bit of damage to the spine, try really pushing the book into the scanner bed as it scans.

Once you have a document, you can format it any way you like to read on your favourite gadget.

Good luck.

[Saab Dastard]

It will almost certainly be far cheaper to just buy another copy to carry around.

The easiest way to scan the book (copyright allowing, of course) is to cut it up so that you can a) keep the pages flat and b) feed it through a bulk paper handler (as you would find on any decent photocopier).

Otherwise you will spend many mind-numbingly boring hours manually scanning page after page, and then probably have to OCR to text to overcome the (inevitable) curl, then proof-read / cross-check the text, then format it then save to pdf.

SD

[mixture]

One of these should do the trick....

http://www.atiz.com/image/index/pro-large1.jpg

[Bushfiva]

If you're happy to slice the spine off the book, you can feed it through a scanner such as a Fujitsu ScanSnap, saving the pages to OCR them later. If it's a well-known publication, you may find others have done this before you, even though the book is not nominally available as an ebook.

There are also services in several countries that will scan books for you. In Japan, for example, such services are very cheap and exploit a local variation in copyright law.

[cdtaylor_nats]

Have you searched the various torrent sites - someone might have scanned it already?

[mike-wsm]

Try this
Plustek OpticBook 3600 (Book scanner) #OpticBook3600 - eXpansys Luxembourg (http://www.expansys.lu/plustek-opticbook-3600-book-scanner-198339/)

[Loose rivets]

So when it comes to it, even shying away from e-reader format and getting a book into print, is no guard against ripping it to a .doc file?

I was aware books were being photographed and put into .pdf format, but that would still be hard to convert.

As one who is on the cusp of making a decision of which way to go with years of work, it's a bit depressing to know how easy text interpretation/conversion is.

[green granite]

Quite a few of those Plustek OpticBook 3600 scanners available on E-Bay for around £100 - £200.

[mike-wsm]

So when it comes to it, even shying away from e-reader format and getting a book into print, is no guard against ripping it to a .doc file?
You could print it in captcha format. ;)

[Loose rivets]

No point. When I'm done inventing my time machine, I'm going back to dispose of the person that invented wiggly writing . . . and leaf blowers.:*

[Gulfstreamaviator]

There are several companies that publish in E Book format, as well as hard copy format.

glf

[lovely_jack]

A scanner is used to transform a book or article into computerized text, if it is not already on disk or CD ROM. Scanning text can be done in four ways: 1) from the actual book placed on the scanner bed and scanned one or two pages at a time.
2) from separated pages of the book placed on the scanner one or two pages at a time
3) from actual book pages bulk-loaded into the automatic document feeder of the scanner, or
4) from copies of book pages, which are then either scanned individually or bulk loaded into the automatic document feeder.
Scanning can be done almost effortlessly if you choose the right approach. This article will help you understand what this approach should be.
Scanning involves a little bit of learning, but once a book is turned into ASCIItext, it can be read by everybody in a school system without any repeating of these steps. It can be mailed as a diskette or sent by modem, etc.
First, a few words about copyrights. Be sure to get copyright permission first before any wide dispersal. Proportional Reading was designed to help people read who would otherwise not be able to benefit from printed text. Publishers almost universally are very helpful in allowing special treatment of their works for the learning disabled and physically disabled.
Furthermore, Proportional Reading is designed for average readers to use on their own reading material which they already have in their possession. This private, non-profit copying of books is within purchase rights, and it makes reading possible for many and increases purchase of books.
Most importantly, the basic thrust of Proportional Reading as applied to scanning books is to return to the original book for the graphics (charts, illustrations, drawings, graphs, pictures, etc.) and to see the original text layout. To this end Proportional Reading keys to the original page numbers of the original text. As a result, actual use of the basic text book increases, not decreases. This will be especially true as millions of people become able to read and start to love learning. In all these ways Proportional Reading actually helps publishers.
Finally, the formatted or Proportionalized version of text requires a special program to play. So, the formatted text by itself is of little or no use without both the playing software as well as the original book.
In this article you will learn how to add colored pictures to scanned text. However, this process adds tremendously to file size and is therefore impractical except for short articles or articles saved on CD ROM or removable cartridge. It is usually much easier to refer to the original book for pictures and other graphics.




Apex Computer Repair (http://www.apex-computer-repair-london.com/information_5.html)

[SunnyManju]

well this is old now, but there's a company called 1dollarscan that scans books for you really cheap. If you are looking for a word document, they give you a searchable pdf that you can copy and paste into a word file. It's good for the big manuals too.

How did you finally scan your book?