how to convert text books into soft copy?

[medicofarhan]

I have few books which i want to convert into soft copy such that i able to copy text frm it and use it in my thesis(word format file). If i scan the book it gets saved in image format and as far as i know i cant copy the text frm it. only option left for me is to type watever matter i want manually. is there some way out???

[pimpom]

OCR?

[medicofarhan]

thanks, searched ocr in google and now looking for a ocr freeware

[pimpom]

Many scanners come with OCR software bundled in the driver CD. See if yours comes with one.

You can also take a look at what Wikipedia has to say. They list several OCR softwares - freeware, commercial, online services:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical...er_recognition

[dheeraj_kumar]

I recommend SimpleOCR, its free and the level of recognition is pretty high.