#Facts About OCR Technology

[techsoulculture]

Facts About OCR Technology That You Need to Know 2023

OCR Technology, or optical character recognition, is a technology that scans printed or handwritten text and converts it into digital text that

[afutureworththinkingabout]

Further Thoughts on the "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights"

So with the job of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director having gone to Dr. Arati Prabhakar back in October, rather than Dr. Alondra Nelson, and the release of the "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights" (henceforth "BfaAIBoR" or "blueprint") a few weeks after that, I am both very interested also pretty worried to see what direction research into "artificial intelligence" is actually going to take from here.

To be clear, my fundamental problem with the "Blueprint for an AI bill of rights" is that while it pays pretty fine lip-service to the ideas of  community-led oversight, transparency, and abolition of and abstaining from developing certain tools, it begins with, and repeats throughout, the idea that sometimes law enforcement, the military, and the intelligence community might need to just… ignore these principles. Additionally, Dr. Prabhakar was director of DARPA for roughly five years, between 2012 and 2015, and considering what I know for a fact got funded within that window? Yeah.

To put a finer point on it, 14 out of 16 uses of the phrase "law enforcement" and 10 out of 11 uses of "national security" in this blueprint are in direct reference to why those entities' or concept structures' needs might have to supersede the recommendations of the BfaAIBoR itself. The blueprint also doesn't mention the depredations of extant military "AI" at all. Instead, it points to the idea that the Department Of Defense (DoD) "has adopted [AI] Ethical Principles, and tenets for Responsible Artificial Intelligence specifically tailored to its [national security and defense] activities." And so with all of that being the case, there are several current "AI" projects in the pipe which a blueprint like this wouldn't cover, even if it ever became policy, and frankly that just fundamentally undercuts Much of the real good a project like this could do.

For instance, at present, the DoD's ethical frames are entirely about transparency, explainability, and some lipservice around equitability and "deliberate steps to minimize unintended bias in Al …" To understand a bit more of what I mean by this, here's the DoD's "Responsible Artificial Intelligence Strategy…" pdf (which is not natively searchable and I had to OCR myself, so heads-up); and here's the Office of National Intelligence's "ethical principles" for building AI. Note that not once do they consider the moral status of the biases and values they have intentionally baked into their systems.

Read the rest of Further Thoughts on the "Blueprint for the AI Bill of Rights" at A Future Worth Thinking About

[tahlia-desn512]

Formative Submission

Rationale

Whilst living in Aotearoa I have connected to our taiao (or our environment). I believe as individuals we all have an obligation to now protect this environment that we can call home. Being born in 2004 I have found that the last 20 years have been imperative to the development of our country. Within my lifetime groundbreaking discoveries have been made regarding the ever-changing conditions of our planet and the substantial increase in waste in our throwaway society. Looking at behaviours that contribute to pollution, global warming, deforestation, and declining biodiversity interests me.

I have always loved the ocean so one of the behaviours I wanted to touch on when it came to my 2 posters was over-consumption and how it affects our seas. Whilst huge corporate companies, commercial fisheries, or oil drilling changes the planets environment more drastically I would feel it not beneficial to direct my message towards them as it is a more drastic issue that targets a smaller audience. But making it more intimate and less broad makes the viewer look at their behaviours inwardly and could contribute to them thinking more critically about what they spend their money on and where products go when they dispose of them. It is our personal actions that do make a difference.

The “barcode” is a renowned symbol of consumption and I found conforming my text to it was much more eye catching than my other design explorations. Furthermore including “OCR-B Standard” as a typeface carried the theme through both posters as it commonly used on barcodes. The label or tag is another symbol of consumerism (particularly the waste surrounding fast fashion) and was a more experimental way of including environmental facts such as the considerable number of plastic debris in our oceans, the amount of endangered marine species, and the deaths of marine animals due to plastic each year. The large, pixelated fish was not only illustrated to create a flow between the two posters but also becomes symbolic of how much waste is in technology.

[automatedinvoiceprocessing]

Automated Invoice Processing

Automated Invoice Processing : Complete beginners guide

Vision and making money are two core aspects of running a business. Imagine, your team works days and nights on a project to bring some miraculous results to fruition. Every breakdown right from onboarding vendors, making that perfect project plan, and the final delivery of goods/services was handled perfectly. 

Now, the time has come to get rewarded in cash and kind for the same. A tricky situation arrives. The accounts team on the client side is yet to process your invoices. They are adept at their job but stuck with tools that require multiple manual inputs, falter on compliance rules, and cannot be trusted with accuracy. You cannot blame them either as most businesses enter 57% of invoice data manually.

The project you have delivered required multiple guidelines to be followed and your invoices were on point. A chain reaction of frustration ensues as time gets wasted on both ends in following up and you think why even work on such a project? 

While things eventually settle down, there are facts that both parties need to understand about eliminating such situations in the future. The only thing that needs to be done is to work on the very essence of business and that is- Automated Invoice Processing. 

If you are wondering how it can address the above-mentioned issues, fulfill all guidelines, keep track of project milestones, and clear invoices on autopilot, this blog will put an end to all your doubts!

Automated Invoice Processing: What is It All About? 

Automated invoice processing encompasses tracking supplier invoices, addressing discrepancies if any, getting them rectified, and clearing payments. The process involves a series of steps until the accounts are cleared and settled. 

With tons of responsibilities in the accounts department, right from managing orders to supplier invoicing, even the most organized departments can be prone to-

-Delayed reimbursements

-Double payments 

-Risking relationships 

-Losing out on supplier’s trust 

Because of juggling with a pool of invoices from different vendors that hinders typical processing times; multiple finance teams are leveraging automation to save time, simplify collaboration, and aid growth. From extracting invoice data, updating ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) entries, and boosting overall efficiency automated invoice processing tools not only save time and money, but they massively reduce errors and instances of fraud. 

Routine accounts also benefit manifolds with these tools due courtesy- 

3-Way Matching- Comparing purchase order, goods and receipt, and the invoice before approving the invoice

GL(General Ledger) Coding- Assigning alphanumeric codes to each financial entry in an organization’s ledger

Data Entry into ERPs

When teams are free from repeated manual work they can focus on faster closures and working on other activities. 

How Does Automated Invoice Processing Work? 

Automated invoice processing involves three simple steps:

1. Capturing Invoice Data

Businesses receive invoices from multiple sources. Automated invoicing solutions consolidate invoice data from all these channels and send them to a single receiving email address. Moreover, physical invoices are scanned in bulk and then sent tool 

Invoices are then pulled into the system and saved in a folder or cloud then synced in real-time with invoice automation software. Once this is achieved the system reads the data using AI, ML, and OCR technologies for further verification.

2. Interpreting Invoice Data as per Business Rules

Now that the data is placed, a few verifications are performed based on the business rules. Automated tools verify if the vendor exists as per their database or not. Invoices are then matched against POs and other records to ensure data consistency. Invoices that don’t clear these verifications are flagged immediately.

3. 3-Way Match

The next and final step is to route the invoices to the right decision-makers. Once this is done the payment is settled. Post that you can export a final report containing all data in a format compatible with ERP. These tools offer multiple integrations and can be used to achieve organizational transparency with ease. 

Must-Have Features in An Automated Invoice Processing Tool

Now that you know how these tools work, it is time you also understand how to single out the right solution among a host of options in the market.

1. User-Friendly Interface 

An automated invoice processing solution that is intuitive, easy to use, and has a short learning curve will ensure smoother transitions.

2. Adherence to Industry Practices 

A software solution must ensure compliance, protect data, and offer additional security features.

3. Reliable Customer Support

A vendor that provides exhaustive training, timely support, and maintenance is a must for regular upgrades and smooth implementation in the long run.

4. Customization

Businesses will have their processing requirements and rules to be followed. Thus, you must look for solutions that offer in-depth customization capabilities.

5. Scalability Check 

The chosen automated invoice processing solution must be able to handle a large volume of invoices while paving the way for future growth. This feature ensures that the solution doesn’t become redundant as your business grows in capacity.

6. Integrations Offered 

Seamless integration with existing ERP and accounting systems is a must to eliminate silos and ensure data consistency at all times. 

Benefits of Using Automated Invoice Processing Tools 

Well, if you are still thinking whether to invest in a solution or not, we are sure these benefits will put an end to your thought train.

1. Prevents Errors 

Human errors lead to dire consequences and when money is involved such risks need to be mitigated. Luckily, the software can process large data minus errors.

2. Increases Productivity

What if your accounts team could work 75% faster? Did that sound like more money? Well, that could be true as opposed to the fear finance professionals face when it comes to automation. Rather, it gives them the freedom to perform tasks they are skilled at.

Moreover, with accounting automation, reconciliation, financial closing, and cross-referencing records can be achieved the moment balances are settled. Lastly, with no scope of error, businesses can be ensured that their money is always safe.

3. Provides Full Accessibility 

Not only can your accounts team save trees, but they can also permanently say goodbye to paper-based accounting. With cloud-based automated invoice processing tools, you can access your accounts anytime anywhere. The only need is to have a good internet connection.

4. Encourages Autonomy

The best invoice automation tools help teams across the organizational spectrum streamline workflows, reimburse expenses, cut micromanagement, and streamline workflows with enhanced ease. 

Tracking KPIs of Your Automated Invoice Processing Tool 

To evaluate the success of your invoice automation tool you will need to calculate tangible benefits and ROI for the same, here is how you can do it:

ROI = (Benefits – Costs) / Costs x 100%

To accurately calculate the same, you will need to consider the following factors:

1. Processing Time

Measure the time it takes to clear the payment from the time a receipt is received. If there is a decrease in time then you have made the right choice. 

2. Error Rate

Have you been able to eliminate duplicate payments and improve accuracy by significant margins? 

3. Invoice Approval Time

Is there a significant reduction in the time it takes to get invoice approvals? If yes, you are on the right track. 

4. Cost per Invoice

Have you been able to calculate the cost of processing each invoice? If not, a way needs to be figured out.

 5. Supplier Satisfaction

Conduct surveys to gauge supplier satisfaction and analyze how it impacts business relationships.

Serina: Revolutionizing the Word of Automated Invoice Processing 

An informed customer will seldom make a wrong choice. We at Serina believe that our customers deserve better than the best. 

Thus, we have created a solution that knows when and what to do. Here are just a few benefits of making Serina a part of your team-

Gain real-time visibility by accessing all invoices and payment details at any workflow stage 

Track outstanding payments and enjoy streamlined collaboration with interactive dashboards 

Get assistance with multiple invoice types 

Keep your vendors happy with AP (Accounts Payable) automation and building trust 

Experience an 83% reduction in data validation efforts with automated line-item data capture.

Wait, there is more to it!

With dedicated bots for automated data interchange, invoice processing, and expense analytics at a glance, API and BPM tools for smoother optimization, and top-notch risk management abilities, you are in for an experience of a lifetime. Dedicate your precious time and resources towards strategic and analytic endeavors and leave the rest to us!

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. How Much Time Can Be Saved With Automated Invoice Processing?

A lot. Although time savings depend on the regular activities assigned to the accounts team, automated invoice processing in large setups can save as much as 900+ hours in a single month.

2. What type of invoices can be processed with an automated invoice process?

Automated invoice processing is capable of processing all major invoice types including direct utility invoices and PO-based invoices while maintaining the desired accuracy, precision, and compliance requirements.

3. How can our team and vendors benefit from automated invoice processing?

A lot of time is spent on calls between accounts team and vendors to understand why certain invoice(s) are pending or rejected. When the whole invoicing process is automated, the increased transparency through vendor portal tracking strengthens vendor relationships too.

4. Why make a switch to automated invoice processing?

Manual invoice processing is highly prone to errors resulting from lost invoices or even double payments. Both instances can be eliminated with automated invoice processing as you maintain a centralized repository, making the whole process hassle-free with appropriate workflows.

5. From what sources can an automated invoice processing system fetch?

An automated invoice processing system can fetch invoices through multiple sources like API, emails, sharepoints, and web and you can upload them to the portal with ease.

[govindhtech]

Explore PaLM2 and AI Documents to Question Your World

Question your documents: PaLM2 and AI documents for question answering

Physical or digital documents hold a wealth of information, provided that the information can be used to support personnel in carrying out their duties. The goal of internal IT and content management teams has always been to enable knowledge workers to engage with a document, or better yet, a corpus of documents, without having to search through them by hand.

This objective remained unachieved for years because, before the development of generative AI models like PaLM2 and AI Documents, technologies had difficulty supplying the contextual knowledge needed to conduct question-and-answer sessions across various document kinds. However, today’s developers may use text embedding models, PaLM 2, and Google Cloud PaLM2 and AI Documents to create a “Ask your documents” application for staff members. They will demonstrate how in this article.

Why develop a document Q&A application using PaLM2 and AI Documents?

Extracting information from a given document to provide natural language answers to queries is known as document question-answering, or document Q&A. There are many different businesses and disciplines where this kind of process might be used.

As an illustration:

Attorneys and other legal professionals may utilize Document Q&A to look out pertinent facts and precedents for their cases by searching through legislation, case law, and legal documents.

Document Q&A may help teachers and students grasp topics found in textbooks, research papers, and other educational resources.

By rapidly locating information from technical documentation and troubleshooting guides, IT support staff may use Document Q&A to assist in resolving technical difficulties.

With the use of a retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), you may produce more precise and insightful answers to inquiries by basing them on pertinent data from a knowledge base, such a vector store. PaLM2 and AI Documents OCR (optical character recognition) provide strong capabilities for this job.

This blog post’s suggested solution and architecture provide a serverless, scalable framework for putting a RAG-based architecture into practice on a large scale. They concentrate on Q&A use cases for lengthy docs here.

Advanced architectural design

They utilized PaLM2 and AI Documents, which offers superior, enterprise-ready AI document processing models, for this article. This serverless, scalable, fully managed system can handle millions of documents without requiring infrastructure to be spun up.

More precisely, They extracted text and layout data from document files using Enterprise Document OCR, a pre-trained model. Additionally, you used generative AI to generate a text embedding, or vector representation of text, using the textembedding-gecko model from Vertex AI.

Finally, you used the Vertex AI text-bison foundation model in PaLM2 to respond to inquiries about the embedding data storage. The serverless architecture for Document Q&A with PaLM2 and AI Documents generative AI foundation models is shown in the figure below:

Any vector storage may be used to store embeddings. In order to demonstrate the implementation for a limited amount of documents, you did not use a vector store in this blog post; rather, the vectors were kept in a data structure. However, you may utilize vector search, a petabyte-scale vector store, to store the embeddings and scale the answer.

A user poses inquiries about the materials

Using the most comparable embeddings in the vector store, the PaLM text-bison model searches the vector store and delivers the response.The user receives their answer back.

Execution

After discussing the architecture, they go over the general procedures needed to create a Q&A tool, enabling you to design Question-Answering applications using Vertex AI SDKs.

This notebook may be used to follow along since it offers more implementation-specific step-by-step instructions.

Step One

They utilized Alphabet’s earnings releases as our example. The PDFs are available in this publicly accessible Google Cloud Storage bucket:

First, build an AI OCR processor for documents.

An interface that facilitates document processing operations between a machine learning model and a document file is called a PaLM2 and AI Documents processor. A document may be categorized, divided, parsed, or examined using processors. Every Google Cloud project must generate its own instances of processors.

A PDF or picture file is fed into the Document AI processor, which produces the data in the Document format. To construct an Enterprise Document OCR processor, you utilized the Python Client for Document AI library. To process documents, you invoked this processor function.

Step 2: Handle the paperwork

You may begin processing documents with the Enterprise Document OCR processor that you just developed. In order to initiate document processing, provide the file path and processor name as input.

Step Three: Make data slivers

Vertex AI Search and similar technologies allow you to choose a corpus of documents for certain tasks, but a custom method may provide your business the most flexibility in balancing cost, complexity, and accuracy. The greatest results for these bespoke implementations are obtained when the text of a document is divided into manageable ‘chunks’ before to being introduced to the prompt. Chunking is a method for dividing a document into easier-to-process smaller portions. You may do this by segmenting the text into phrases, paragraphs, or even sections.

For the PaLM2 and AI Documents text-bison02 model, the maximum token size is now 8,196 tokens. This implies that a document of up to 8,196 tokens may only be processed by a single call to the PaLM API. Should the document exceed this limit, it will have to be divided into more manageable sections. Another option is PaLM2 32K, which is under preview and has an input capacity of up to 32,000 tokens.

Step 4: Bring in models

Now, do the embeddings for the next step using the PaLM2 text-bison and gecko-embedding models from the Vertex AI SDK for Python.

Step Five: Acquiring the embeddings for every segment

You may begin the implementation using the chunking you completed in step 3 by utilizing the Embeddings API to call the embeddings for each chunk. The Embeddings API may be used to create embeddings if chunking was not done in Step 3.

Step 6: Making inquiry calls to the PaLM text generating APIs

Let’s now discuss how to get answers from the vector store using the get_context_from_question (question, vector store, sort_index_value) function you developed in the previous step and the PaLM text-bison APIs.

To get answers to your inquiry, use the function below to prompt the PaLM2 and AI Documents text-bison model with the top N results of the vector embedding search. Based on user inquiries, the model selects the top N data, which is then sent to the prompt for the generative AI model as context.

In summary

Congratulations! They hope that after reading this article, you have a better understanding of how to utilize PaLM2 and Document AI for answering questions.

By now, you tought to be able to:

A Document AI OCR processor may be used to extract text from PDF documents.

To create embeddings for the retrieved text, use the textembedding-gecko model.

For answers to inquiries about the embeddings data storage, use the PaLM text-bison model. Please feel free to investigate the solution and make changes to the Github repository’s code.

They hope this post showed you how easy it is to build a serverless, RAG-based architecture with Document AI and large language models.

You may also consider checking other Google Cloud products which may better suit your needs like:

Document AI Custom Extractor to extract specific fields from documents like contracts, invoices, W2s & bills of lading.

Document AI Summarizer to customize summaries based on your preferences for length and format with no training required. It can provide summaries for documents up to 250 pages long, and you won’t need to manage document chunks or model context windows.

Use Vertex AI Search and Conversation, an enterprise end-to-end RAG solution, to not only search and summarize against digital pdfs, html and txt documents, but also, to build a chat bot on top of those documents.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[globosetechnologysolutionss]

Myths and Misconceptions about OCR Debunked

Optical Character Recognition, commonly referred to as OCR, is a transformative technology that has revolutionized sectors ranging from data entry to publishing. Yet, like many technological innovations, OCR has its fair share of myths and misconceptions. This post aims to debunk some of the most common ones, shedding light on the actual capabilities and potential of OCR. As you delve into this article, you'll see the keyword 'OCR' reiterated, reinforcing its central role in the conversation.

Myth: OCR is a New Technology

Fact: One of the most prevalent misconceptions is that OCR is a recent invention. In reality, OCR has roots that trace back to the early 20th century. The initial developments were mechanical, evolving into the digital and AI-enhanced versions we recognize today.

Myth: OCR is 100% Accurate

Fact: While modern OCR systems, especially those enhanced by artificial intelligence, offer impressive accuracy rates, claiming a 100% success rate is an exaggeration. Factors like font styles, image quality, and background noise can affect the accuracy. However, with ongoing advancements, OCR's efficiency and precision continue to improve.

Myth: All OCR Tools Are the Same

Fact: Just as no two cars or smartphones are identical, OCR tools vary widely. They range from basic free tools that handle standard text recognition to advanced systems capable of understanding intricate layouts, multiple languages, and handwritten text.

Myth: OCR Only Works for Printed Text

Fact: Initially, OCR was designed primarily for printed materials. Today’s OCR can recognize and transcribe handwritings, albeit with varying accuracy levels. The efficiency largely depends on the legibility of the handwriting and the sophistication of the OCR tool in use.

Myth: OCR Only Recognizes English Language Text

Fact: Modern OCR systems are multicultural! They are equipped to recognize multiple languages, including those with non-Latin alphabets. The trick lies in selecting an OCR tool that supports the language of your documents.

Myth: Using OCR is a Breach of Data Privacy

Fact: As with any technology handling sensitive data, the security of an OCR system depends on its design and application. Reputable OCR tools have security measures in place to protect user data. Always ensure you're using a trustworthy tool and follow best practices for data protection.

Myth: OCR is Only Useful for Large Businesses

Fact: OCR is versatile. While large corporations benefit immensely from automating data entry and document digitization, small businesses and even individuals can leverage OCR for tasks like converting printed books to e-books or digitizing personal documents.

Myth: OCR Destroys Original Documents

Fact: OCR is non-destructive. It reads and transcribes text from images or scans. The original document remains unaltered unless the user chooses to dispose of or modify it post-OCR processing.

Myth: OCR is Expensive

Fact: The cost spectrum of OCR tools is wide. While some premium enterprise solutions come with a hefty price tag, numerous affordable, or even free, tools cater to a range of needs. The trick is to identify which tool offers the best value for your requirements.

Conclusion:

As we navigate the digital era, technologies like OCR play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the physical and virtual worlds. By debunking myths and misconceptions about OCR, we hope to demystify this invaluable tool, encouraging more individuals and businesses to harness its potential. Remember, like any technology, the key to benefiting from OCR lies in understanding its capabilities, strengths, and limitations.

[automatedprocess]

Effortless Finances: Embracing Automated Invoice Processing

Managing finances, especially for businesses, can be a complex and time-consuming task. One area where efficiency and accuracy are critical is invoice processing. Traditional manual invoice handling is not only labor-intensive but also prone to errors. Enter automated invoice processing, a game-changer that streamlines the entire process, reduces costs, and minimizes errors. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits and key facts about online automated invoice processing.

The Rise of Automated Invoice Processing Automation has revolutionized various aspects of business operations, and finance is no exception. Automated invoice processing involves the use of software and technology to capture, validate, and process invoices without manual intervention. Here's why it's gaining widespread adoption:

Benefits of Automated Invoice Processing

Efficiency and Time Savings Automated invoice processing significantly reduces the time it takes to handle invoices. With software handling repetitive tasks like data entry and validation, your finance team can focus on more strategic activities.

Error Reduction Manual data entry is prone to errors, which can lead to payment delays and disputes. Automation ensures that data is accurately extracted and validated, minimizing mistakes.

Cost Savings Automated processing reduces the need for manual labor, paper, and physical storage space for invoices. It can lead to substantial cost savings in the long run.

Faster Approval Workflows Automation enables the creation of automated approval workflows, expediting the approval process and ensuring that invoices move through the system smoothly.

Improved Vendor Relationships Faster, more accurate payments can enhance vendor relationships. Automated systems can also provide transparency, allowing vendors to track the status of their invoices.

Enhanced Compliance Automation can help ensure that your invoice processing complies with industry regulations and internal policies, reducing compliance-related risks.

Data Analytics Automated systems provide data and insights that can be used for better financial decision-making and forecasting.

Key Facts about Automated Invoice Processing

OCR Technology Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology is at the heart of automated invoice processing. OCR software extracts data from invoices, including text and numbers, with high accuracy.

Integration with Accounting Software Most automated invoice processing solutions integrate seamlessly with popular accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, and SAP, streamlining the entire financial workflow.

Customization You can customize automated workflows to match your organization's specific requirements and approval hierarchies.

Mobile Accessibility Many automated systems offer mobile apps, allowing users to approve invoices or check their status on the go.

Document Storage Automated systems often include document storage and retrieval capabilities, making it easy to access invoices and related documents when needed.

Scalability These systems can scale with your business, accommodating an increasing volume of invoices without a proportional increase in workload.

Cloud-Based Solutions Cloud-based automated invoice processing solutions provide flexibility, accessibility, and scalability without the need for extensive IT infrastructure.

Getting Started with Automated Invoice Processing Assess Your Needs: Understand your organization's invoice volume, complexity, and specific requirements.

Select the Right Software: Research and choose an automated invoice processing solution that aligns with your needs and integrates well with your existing financial systems.

Training: Provide training to your finance team to ensure they are proficient in using the new system.

Testing: Conduct thorough testing to identify and resolve any issues before full implementation.

Implementation: Gradually transition to automated processing, ensuring a smooth changeover.

Continuous Improvement: Regularly review and optimize your automated invoice processing workflows for maximum efficiency.

Embracing automated invoice processing is a strategic move that can transform your finance department. It not only saves time and money but also improves accuracy and compliance. Stay up-to-date with the latest technologies and trends in finance automation to ensure your organization remains competitive and efficient.

Effortless finances are within reach through the power of automation. Embrace automated invoice processing and watch your financial processes become more efficient, accurate, and cost-effective.

SITES WE SUPPORT

Process Automated – Weebly

[webtools90]

The Best Free Online Web Tools to Improve Your Digital Skills

Just because you're not paying doesn't mean you're not getting the most out of your education. In fact, some of the best tools out there are free.Below, we've compiled a list of the best free online web tools to improve your digital skills. So what are you waiting for? Start learningtoday!

What Are Online Web Tools?

Online web tools are digital applications or services that allow you to do something online. There are a ton of them out there, and they're all pretty great for helping you improve your digital skills.For example, you could use a tool to create a website, build a blog, make a logo, design a flyer, or edit photos.

There are also tools that allow you to learn new coding languages, create and manage social media accounts, and even market your business online.Basically, if there's something you want to do online, there's probably a tool out there that can help you do it.

And the best part is that most of these tools are completely free to use

Benefits and Drawbacks of Online Web Tools

Online web tools offer a lot of benefits—they're free, easy to use, and can help you learn new things or improve your skills. But they also have some drawbacks. For example, they can be addictive, and it's easy to get lost in online rabbit holes that can waste your time.

So it's important to use online web tools wisely, and to be aware of their benefits and drawbacks. They can be a great way to learn new things or improve your skills, but you need to be mindful of how you're using them.

What Are the Best Free Web Tools?

It can be difficult to know where to start when deciding which free web tools are best for you. There are so many great ones out there, so it’s important to do some research and find the ones that work best for your particular goals.

Here are 10 of our favorites:

1.word to pdf converter online

In your quest to convert word to PDF online, you simply could not have landed at a better site than Freewebtoolz.com. We offer simple and efficient processing for Word to PDF converter online in just a couple of minutes. And because it is an online tool, you can easily do the conversion from any device at any time. You do not need to worry about the format of the files as well, as we convert both the Doc and the Docx format without any difficulty.Worried about the security and privacy of your document? Well, you do not have to be concerned as we take this matter quite seriously. Freewebtoolz.com does not keep any of the uploaded and converted files on the server for more than a couple of minutes. These files are then permanently deleted, with the intended user having the only copy.

2. photo to pdf converter

Photo to pdf converter tool will help you in converting the pivotal image( presumably of a document) into a handy PDF format, and that too by just a couple of twinkles. You couldn't find an easier- to- use jpg to PDF motor online, which is also free to use. It uses the rearmost OCR technology( Optical Character Recognition that automatically recognizes the textbook in the uploaded image and indeed the fountain used for the convert jpg to PDF image motor. A big issue that's faced by the online print to PDF motor is the change in the contraction of the jpg train while it undergoes the processing. It isn't commodity that you have to face with our online jpg to PDF motor tool. There would be no loss in quality in the conversion, and the reused PDF document will be identical to the uploaded jpg bone . WithFreewebtoolz.com online jpg to PDF motor, you can say farewell to the hassle of searching for a dependable motor tool ever again! Now, it has come easy to convert images to PDF

3. qr code generator

QR Code maker is a software online that generates or creates your QR Code wherein you can store a variety of data/information in your code. For example, a URL that will land you to a video page, a text, an image, or a website when your QR Code is scanned.

4. ico to png converter

ICO to PNG Converter is a tool that allows you to convert ICO files into png images. It's a useful tool for web designers, graphic designers and programmers. This tool is designed to be as simple as possible and it supports both Windows and Mac OSX systems.The program has been tested on both Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and Windows 7, 8 & 10 operating systems. The interface is designed for ease of use, so there should be no problems with installation or usage, regardless of your computer's operating system or version.ICO to PNG Converter supports most ICO file formats like ICO32 etc., while adding the ability to convert all supported ICO files into png images, making it easy to work with those files without having to worry about losing quality or resolution due to conversion errors.

5. flip image online

Flip Image Online is one of the most popular and reliable online image editing services in India. We have been offering our users a wide range of services for over a decade now.Flip Image Online offers the best quality images with professional design and unmatched customer service. With over 15 years of experience, we have helped thousands of customers worldwide to get their desired results from our website. The team at Flip Image Online takes pride in providing you with original designs that are unique as well as creative. We also provide you with other options if you do not find what you want right away on our website. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us anytime!

6. image cropper online

Looking for a free online image cropper tool to assist you in your requirement? Luckily, you have come to the perfect site to fulfill your needs. Freewebtoolz.com offers a free online image cropper tool that would absolutely satisfy the requirement and allow the owner to take control of the image composition. Remove unnecessary elements from the picture and put the focus back on the best parts of the image. Now, you can easily crop out the stranger from your vacation shoot.Freewebtoolz.com’s photo crop editor free download is one of the best tools in the market. And it is free to use as well. There is no monthly, annual, or even a one-time charge to use this fantastic tool. This effortless crop photo online free will assist you in taking your image to a whole new level. You can even use this tool to create the perfect social media post. And with the easy upload process of our crop image online free tool, you simply could not find a better companion. You can even share the image directly from the result as well.

7. image converter online

Irritated with the many different image formats that are widely used? And while no one can deny their usefulness, they can also be complicated to navigate through as well. It is particularly true in circumstances when you are required to upload the image in a specific format. Freewebtoolz.com offers the finest image converter online free tool that you can take advantage of. With our image converter tool, you can easily convert images from any format to your preferred one in just a couple of seconds. And in addition, our image upload process is seamless as well. You can directly upload the image from any device or use a remote URL for the same process.

8.image size compressor online

Image size compressor online is a software that helps you reduce the file size of your images. It is an online tool that allows you to compress images without losing quality.The tool works by analyzing your image and reducing the number of pixels in it. The algorithm used by this tool is very effective and it can even remove noise from an image.

9.image resizer online

Image Resizer is a free online image resizing tool that allows you to resize images in various ways. You can change the dimensions, quality, color mode, aspect ratio and other settings to make your image look exactly like you want. Image Resizer supports uploading any type of images from local storage or the web, even if they are too large or too small for the web server.

10.online image editor

freeImage editing is one of the most important things you can do to improve your blog. It's also one of the most ignored.On average, only about 8% of blogs have an image editor.

It's time to stop being lazy and start taking advantage of this online image editor free.There are tons of free photo editors out there, but I've picked out five that I think are the best:

Finally, if you’re looking to level up your digital marketing game, try Mailchimp – it’s a super intuitive email marketing platform that allows you to create powerful campaigns with ease.

Plus they offer plenty of helpful tutorials and resources to get you going quickly in no time.These are just a few of the many great free web tools available at your fingertips—at the end of the day, experimentation is key! Try out these platforms and see what works best for you—it never hurts to have more skills in your arsenal!

How to Get the Most Out of Web Tools

Are you looking to maximize your use of free web tools? Here are a few tips to get the most out of them:- Test the tools you want to use.

Look for helpful tutorials on YouTube or Google, read reviews from past and present users, and ask colleagues which tools they find useful.- Practice using the tools.

Learning by doing is often the best way to master a new task or skill. If a tool has practice exercises, take advantage of them!- Take advantage of any additional resources that come with the tool.

Many web tools come with a library of support documents and resources, like detailed tutorials and step-by-step instructions that can make your learning process much easier.- Get feedback!

It's important to solicit feedback from peers, mentors, and advisors when you're learning something new. They can help point out any potential issues with your work so you can learn from them in the future.

Frequently Asked Questions About Online Web Tools

As you explore different online web tools, you may have a few questions. Let’s take a look at some of the most frequently asked questions and their answers.Q: Which online web tools are best for start-ups?

A: There are quite a few free options that can be extremely useful for start-ups looking to get their business off the ground. Some good choices include Slack for communication, Zapier for automations, and Hootsuite for social media management.

Q: Which apps are best for collaboration?

A: When it comes to collaborating with team members or clients, Google Suite apps such as Google Docs and Sheets are great choices. They provide a great platform to share, collaborate on, and store documents all in one place. Dropbox is also a good option that makes it easy to share large files quickly and securely with anyone.

Q: Are there any online web tools that focus on security?

A: Absolutely—there are quite a few online web tools available if you’re looking to increase your digital security. A few great ones include LastPass for password management, Nord VPN for encrypted browsing and Ghostery for blocking trackers and ads.

Conclusion

If you're not using these free online web tools to improve your digital skills, you're missing out! These tools are essential for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the curve and be competitive in today's digital world.

[kremlin]

Firmware microcode, what is it? Is proprietary microcode a security risk?

afterthought: i drank too much before writing all the shit below and totally missed the boat but hey at least it’s funny. fuck you

this is a fantastic question that i have been excited all day to write about. these two terms are so often misused nowadays & i finally get to bitch about that properly, with the added cherry on top of grandstanding about the dangers and evils of trying to technology that tries to hide from you

let’s start with firmware. this is a term that is already so general in definition and so often misused that it has become meaningless. firmware is officially defined as “software that controls or manipulates the physical hardware in computer”. this is incredibly nonspecific. most of the work i do right now is in the kernel and a definition like this literally applies to every single bit of code in this domain. this is already a problem, but it is compounded by the fact that if you were to refer to e.g. an open source device driver as “firmware”, you’d get some funny looks. to a lot of people in my industry, firmware has become kind of a dirty word because it has evolved to mean purposefully inaccessible binary blobs that hardware vendors provide as a means of bringing up their hardware to a more accessible state. there is nothing wrong with that in and of itself -- the problem stems from the fact that even nosy and overly-suspicious people like me have zero capability of discovering or even classifying what these blobs do. all we know is that at a certain time soon after boot, during kernel device enumeration, we have to take this weird pile of strange numbers that sometimes don’t even resemble machine code and write them to some arcane physical memory location within the address space of the targeted hardware

so this weird tome of moon runes is written, your usb wifi NIC starts to warm up, some LEDs on it flicker, maybe your cabinet doors start to sway a little and maybe the lights flicker a little and now your little device has ceased being a brick and is now pulling current and responding to status requests and OCRs and stuff and..

you have no idea why these weird numbers (which again, what the fuck are they? they aren’t any kind of machine code you’re aware of. there isn’t even any apparent consistency between words regardless of what word size you are looking for. no header, no ASCII segments, it looks like it came out of /dev/urandom)

i am still ok with this kind of shit, at this point, because it happens all the time (or at least used to). there are so many tiny little ROMs that are actually real ROMs as they are written once in the factory and never again

but oh no, nooo. these weird firmware blobs? they exist in your filesystem:

they exist here because they are meant to be, and sometimes need to be updated. why! what the fuck is going on? now you are putting new weirdo bytes in hardware that was previously working?

this is the point where i draw the line & am upset. if you don’t want to tell me how these hooky voodoo blobs came to be or what they describe or how they work, that is fine. put them on a ROM and then don’t touch them. i have come to terms with the fact that there will always be strange intermediate shit tucked away between the cracks. leave them there and don’t put them in my filesystem to make things more convenient for you when you need all your users to suddenly change firmware blobs like right this second dude hngg. they don’t even tell you what the fuck firmware updates even do. the audacity!

i am not one of those GNU people who see the lack of provided source behind the forty bytes of firmware running their keyboard alarm as an indication of illuminati mind control agents robbing them of their precious freedom, nor am i one of those people who think like ahh man corporations are like, eeevil man all that firmwares totally like spyin on you and shit. no. the reason firmware blobs like this are so intentionally obfuscated is because of three things: bad & lazy engineers, engineers even worse than that who were moved to management and now solely operate under a “cover my ass” m.o. to keep their kush new job and executive bathroom key, and of course assfuck vulture lawyers

the lazy engineer likes firmware blobs extant in filesystem because it means he no longer has to bother actually making sure his shit works properly. oh, when you send a BREAK byte through this usb wifi adapter’s device file it turns into a aircraft raido jammer? or when the device fails to enumerate and you rotate the host machine chassis 45 degree it shorts power & ground lines frying your USB port? that’s no problem. we fix in next firmware patch. huehuehue

the idiot manager says NO WE CANNOT EVER LET ANYONE KNOW HOW THIS SHIT WORKS! once they understand what the firmware is doing, they will come to rely on the operational premises and will become upset when we flagrantly change how everything works next revision which we will certainly do because i’m in charge and i am a F U C K I N G M O R O N

the assfuck vulture lawyer sits across from idiot manager while this is happening, saliva dripping from his triangle jackal teeth witnessing this opportunity: “do you know what would be even worse..? if we accidentally skipped over some FCC spread spectrum regulatory shit and our (your) ass went to prison. we had better keep that firmware hot & fresh, fuckin able to update at a moment’s god damn notice, this shit should be like adobe fucking updater, pulling down tens of megs a god damn day, constant unending updates to ensure we are compliant with every FCC regulation written since FDR was in office, our firmware needs to comply with regulations that don’t even have anything to do this usb wifi whatever we are making. do you know what happens if we don’t?!?!* you know what they do to white collar criminals here in the USA, you had better keep my firm on retainer to make sure you’re compliant for the next...three?... years? yeah, three. and ill protect you from this enormous and totally real liability. you’ll totally be safe and totally won’t have your executive bathroom key taken away. i can have my secretary fill out the check, toodleskek

~..

err anyway, that’s enough being funny for now, let’s talk about microcode. microcode is a subset of firmware referring specifically to the practice of using internal intermediate interpretive code to take compiled machine code and actually twist the knobs and push the buttons on the hardware to replicated the actions described by the machine code. this is something you see often in older computers but not so much anymore. in the early days of computing, your machine code would look similar (sort of) to how it does now -- the first few bits of a word specified the instruction ID and the following bits specified either which registers contained implicated numbers or the literal, immediate numbers to be worked with directly. early computers had to have some means of correlating instruction IDs with the proper circuitry subroutines. in this case, some jackoff just pulled the number five out of his ass and then declared instruction ID #5 as the ID of the “add intermediate to register” instruction, and the number five in no way suggests anything like this. so you have a programmable lookup table that is used to link up these bogus numbers with their arbitrarily matched routines and that is just how things were done in the dark stone ages of computing  (like 30 years ago)

this reeks of bad design! i spit on it! ptoo!

instructions need to be executed as fast as possible and having to refer to a fucking look up table every single cycle is like, fuck, less than freshman level thinking. it is like building a bike that you have to wind up like a wristwatch or something. fisher-price shit

with MIPS we had an eerie moment of clarity and just used the instruction IDs themselves as control codes that self-routed the following data into the right places on the datapath. so now, the “add immediate to register” instruction has an ID of eight but this ID is no longer arbitrary. look at binary eight:

001000

MIPS instructions specify the first six bits are the instruction ID. however, these bits are not just a space to stick a number -- they each individually control how the rest of the instruction’s information is handled such that their IDs naturally define their behavior. this is hard to understand so i’ll just tell you exactly what is going on here. look at the eight again:

001000

the first bit is a zero (leftmost). this means to use the register specified in very first bits following the instruction ID as the destination register. when you write assembly, the first register you specify is usually the destination. because there is another format of MIPS instructions that deviate slightly from this, this first bit is zero because the nature of an immediate add necessitates a distinction from a reg-reg add. 

the second bit is again zero -- here it does nothing. if it were a ‘1′, then some shit would happen down the line and a register you just used as your addition buffer would be interpreted as a memory address and some memory would get written and that is utterly nonsensical. if this were a ‘load word from memory’ or ‘store word from memory’ operation than things would be different -- but it is not so it stays zero.

the third bit is a ‘1′. this means that 16 bits that follow register id (which follows  instruction id) are to be used as the second operand of the upcoming ALU operation. to reiterate we are talking about an ADDI operation which adds a value stored in a register with a literal value that’s jammed into the instruction itself. this bit being set causes these 16 bits to funnel to the ALU and not be used to look up a register as it would be if it were zero (this case occurs in reg-reg ADD instruction)

the next three bits all have to do with memory operations which we don’t deal with here so they are all zero. not worth getting into

so you can see here how we have completely obviated the need for a stupid lookup table, we literally just cut it out by using our ID bits very cleverly and thus obviating the need for programmable intermediary logic on our CPU. programmable intermediary logic is called microcode

microcode still exists in a ominous capacity today, though. today’s state-of-the-art consumer processors are all of the x86 architecture. x86 is a complex instruction set as opposed to MIPS which is a reduced instruction set. this means that MIPS has a small number of very flexible instructions while x86 has a great many very specific instructions. some of these instructions do crazy complex things like calculate the sin value of a value stored in a register. there is no fucking way that you can do romantic MIPS control code shit to handle this contingency so we are back to lookup table microcode shit

however, this is not exactly the same case as the pre-MIPS microcode.

no, no. let me paint you a picture with words

these were not silly mistakes characteristic of a bygone era where early computing pioneers took off their shoes and crawled around on photomasks made of cardboard that covered the floor, cutting out each individual transistor with a scalpel purchased from the hardware store across the street. it’s fun work, sure! but it takes a whole week for all 3 of us engineers to carve out the...wow!..three thousand transistors in this 6502. three thousand sure is a whole lot of transistors to think about at once! but the three pals working at MOS aren’t intimidated. they scurry about on the floor, carefully watching over each other’s shoulders to make sure the other guys aren’t screwing up. one errant cut means we gotta do this WHOLE thing over again and waste a whole $100,000 which is totally a lot of money for a integrated circuit design & manufacturing company in the year 1975

things are not the same in 2016. oh my sweet summer child they are not the same

every computer engineering curriculum incorporates a characteristic class which is almost always named “computer architecture” and always centered around the same curriculum. in this class, they sit your ass down 

—unfinished—

[codenamesazanka]

Wait, like you found a bunch of Japanese Spinaraki fic that you had to translate? Or like are these just ideas for fics you've stumbled across that you needed to translate? Cause like if you have fics, we're gonna need the links

(Translation technology has come so far, and Google Translate has got your back. There will be some weirdness (for example, Shigaraki is often translated to 'dead tree' because that's literally the characters in his name; grammar is predictably whack) but you will get the general idea.)

Hamburger Set, Let's Love It Together

This one is pure fluff. A sweet slice-of-life-ish story about Spinner and Shigaraki going out for lunch together. They get hamburgers; they eat them; they eat dessert; it turns into kissing; ends with Shigaraki suggesting they go to a hotel.

Two Spinaraki Stories

Collection of two short stories - one where Spinner loses a hand, and other where Spinner and Shigaraki confess their feelings for each other.

yomotsu hegui (no matter what, we fall into the abyss together)

The one Spinaraki piece out of a collection of Spinner pairing stories. Shigaraki brings up the story of yomotsu hegui/the Greek myth of Persephone and asks Spinner if he would eat a pomegranate for him. Features them being nerds, banter, reference to Spinner's bullied past, Shigaraki offering Spinner a fruit, and ends with them making out.

We got along surprising well

Spinner+ Shigaraki gen. Taking the quote from Chapter 298, this fic imagines the scene of Shigaraki and Spinner bonding over games. The two of them gets distracted from being Villains and goes to a used game store. They talk about games, play an arcade game, and get back to the hideout late to a worried League.

*

Spinaraki, Spinner+Toga talk about love.

Exactly what the title says it is. Toga brings up the fact that Spinner is in love with Shigaraki, who denies it at first. They talk about what love is like, then Spinner realizes Toga is right. This fic is on a series of images so you'll probably need OCR first if you wanna it translated.

Below the cut for a R-rated fic.

Last Night was fun

After a night of playing video games, Shigaraki suggests to Spinner they lose their virginity together. Slight dubcon in that Shigaraki just... throws himself at Spinner, who is flustered but eventually agrees. They marvel at Spinner's lizard genitals; there's frottage; then Spinner gets his first kiss.

[blogtrusted591]

Ocr Pdf Mac Free

Free Pdf Ocr Mac Os

Pdf Ocr App Mac

PDF OCR X Community Edition is a free desktop OCR app for macOS based on the open source Tesseract engine (see number 7). Although it only scans single page PDFs, it does a pretty decent job. Like a lot of free OCR apps, the accuracy of scans very much depends on the resolution of the document you scan. Aspose OCR PDF To Searchable PDF Converter is a free online app to perform OCR on PDF documents you upload. Convert your scan PDF files to Searchable PDF that you can edit without installation.

PDFs provide a convenient way for sharing documents, lots of people choose to save their files in PDF. Even when you scan a document, the files may be saved in PDF by default. But a scanned PDF or image PDF is just a large image file, in which the PDF text is not searchable, nor indexable — unless you perform OCR on the PDF file.

This article will introduce multiple solutions on how to OCR PDF on Mac with best PDF OCR apps supporting batch feature, or OCR PDF on Mac for free. Also, there are some basics you need to know about PDF OCR on Mac.

Do PDF OCR

Part 1. Best PDF OCR Apps for Mac 2021 (Batch PDF OCR)

To OCR PDF documents on mac, we will need to apply the OCR technology, which helps to recognize texts from image-based files and turn them into digital, editable text that can be understood by your devices. While, a PDF OCR program is powered with such an OCR engine to recognize scanned or image documents.

In fact, OCR is rarely accurate or affordable, but we have choice. Here, basing on affordability, simplicity and OCR performance, we recommend PDF Converter OCR. It is a PDF OCR program designed to do virtually all kinds of document conversion with high quality results.

Batch OCR PDF on Mac

Make scanned PDFs and images editable, searchable, copyable;

Recognize 200+ languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, etc.

Convert native PDFs to 16 formats;

Create PDF from other documents and compress/protect PDF;

Batch PDF OCR;

Extremely easy to use;

Free Download

Steps to (Batch) OCR PDF Files on Mac

Launch Cisdem PDF OCR Program for Mac. Download Cisdem PDF Converter OCR and then install it on Mac. Run it to start OCR a PDF on mac. Free Download

Add PDF Files for OCR on Mac. Go to the interface of 'Converter', import PDF to the program by drag and drop PDF files, or click the '+' button. It supports batch OCR PDF on mac, you can add dozens of files at one time.

Tweak the 'OCR PDF' settings Turn the OCR button ON, select language and page range. It can recognize 200+ languages and supports batch or partial conversion. Also, choose output as needed before starting OCR PDF on mac.

Start (Batch) OCR PDF on mac Click 'Convert' to perform OCR on PDF files. The OCR process will finish within seconds, you can find the converted file in output folder. The PDF OCR is done!

Also, you can watch the tutorial video to do mac ocr now.

Alternative PDF OCR App for Mac: Adobe Acrobat

For users who are looking for advanced OCR features, Adobe Acrobat is worth a try.

Adobe Acrobat (Price: From $12.99/month~$14.99/month), since its creation, is always considered as the most powerful program to deal with PDFs, and its prominence apparently continues in PDF OCR. Besides, it is cross-platform allowing different users to benefit from this feature.

Speaking of its PDF OCR, Adobe Acrobat can automatically perform OCR on scanned files when exporting to an editable formats, but it also offers a set of tools to enhance the OCR performance, for example, capturing the file with mac camera to do ocr, choose pages to perform partial pdf ocr, copying recognized text with formatting, editing the PDF file after ocr directly.

Undoubtedly, Adobe’s editing feature is the key persuading users into such a purchase. As we know, OCR is rarely perfect, even if there appears OCR errors, users can directly edit or rectify within Adobe, that’s quite convenient.

Steps to OCR PDF on Mac with Adobe

Open PDF with Adobe Acrobat.

Go to Tools> Enhance Scans, select 'Enhance', you can choose to OCR all pages or current page, then all the PDF text is searchable and selectable, also you can right click on the text to choose 'Edit Text' within the program.

Finally, save the PDF file or go to Tools> Export as Word or other formats.

>>>Watch Adobe Mac OCR Tutorial Video

Part 2. How to OCR PDF on Mac Free (Freeware & Online)

To OCR a PDF on Mac for free, there are 2 workarounds, either using a piece of offline PDF OCR freeware or an online, free PDF OCR tool.

Yet, we know that offline Mac OCR PDF application is seldom free, if one PDF OCR program is given for free, it must come with limited features, like LEADTOOLS OCR Application.

Also, when we search in Google, we can find there are several websites doing OCR on a PDF or an image on mac for free. However, many of them cannot handle images of poor quality. So people have to ensure they have high quality images when using these online PDF OCR tools, otherwise accuracy will be adversely impacted. Here we pick the best online option for you to OCR a PDF, which give good results than the other online sites in our test.

#1 PDF OCR Freeware for Mac (LEADTOOLS)

It is a free Mac program to OCR PDF and image files, you can recognize the file one page by one page, or recognize the whole document at one time, and export files as PDF, RTF, LTD, TXT, DOCX, SVG, XML, HTML, EPUB or MOB format. This PDF OCR program will display both original file and recognized text on the same interface, for you to check the real-time OCR result. However, the OCR result is quite poor at rending images and keeping formatting.

Advantages:

OCR PDF and Image;

Recognize multiple-page PDF;

Export files as 10 formats;

Disadvantages:

Cannot render images and keep formatting in the OCRed output file;

There are PDF OCR errors and need manual corrections;

Doesn’t support batch OCR PDF on Mac;

Take time to process PDF OCR;

Steps to OCR A PDF on Mac with Freeware LEADTOOLS

Download and install LEADTOOLS OCR Application on your Mac;

Click Open Document to upload PDF file, choose page range;

Click Recognize to OCR PDF on Mac for Free;

Click Save button and choose output format to save the PDF OCR result.

#2 online, free PDF OCR Tool (Convertio OCR)

Free Pdf Ocr Mac Os

Convertio OCR is a free web-based OCR service to OCR PDF. It can recognize text from PDF, GIF, BMP, JPEG, TIFF and other images. You can upload your PDF file for OCR from computer, Google Drive, Dropbox or via URL. Its bilingual-OCR support allows recognizing files composed of 2 different languages.

Advantages:

OCR PDF and Image;

Batch OCR;

Support 50+ languages;

Export files as 11 formats;

Disadvantages:

Potential risk of information leakage;

Need manually adjust the OCR errors;

Take time to process PDF OCR;

Only 10 pages for free PDF OCR;

Steps to (Batch) OCR PDF on Mac for Free with Convertio

Go to Convertio OCR;

Click 'Choose File' to upload files;

Choose file language and select output format;

Click 'Recognize' to do OCR on PDF;

Download recognized file and check the OCR result;

Part 3. Things You Need to Know PDF OCR on Mac

What Does OCR Stand For?

OCR (Optical Character Recognition), it is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping system in an office, or to publish the text on a website.Without OCR, or to be specific, without Mac OCR software, the scanned PDF cannot be recognized by comuper, hence not allow you to edit or search.

Though there are some free tools coming with MacOS for users to deal with PDF files, like Preview and Automator, mac ocr service is not availble.

Can Preview OCR A PDF on Mac?

No!

Preview can help view and manage and edit PDF files on mac, but the editing feature is only limited to native PDFs. Though you can surely open scanned pdf in Preview, it is displayed as image files, no changes can be done to the file, including but not limited to copy text, search text, annotate, highlight, etc.

Can Adobe Reader OCR PDF on Mac?

No!

Some mac users may have installed Adobe Reader on their mac to view and manipulate PDFs since it is free and easy to view PDFs. However, it Adobe Reader cannot work to do OCR on mac, unless you update to or subscribe its Adobe Acrobat for mac.

Pdf Ocr App Mac

Can PDF Expert Do OCR?

No!

PDF Expert is picked as the top 1 paid app in Mac App Store due to its beautiful design and powerful features. Most of its user expect its OCR feature can arrive soon, but there is no release note about its new version with OCR feature, maybe it is still on it way under development. Anyway, at present we cannot do OCR with PDF Expert.

Final Words

So, which one will you choose to do PDF OCR on your mac and make your scanned files editable for further use? There may be more choices out there, but the one well balancing functionality, OCR performance and simplicity, in my opinion, is Cisdem PDF Converter OCR. For users who want to keep their paper work simply but efficient, it is worth a try.

[jollydreamerarbiter]

Free Pdf To Word Converters For Mac

How To Convert A Pdf To Word Document Mac Free

Convert Pdf To Word Free Software Mac

Oct 15,2019 • Filed to: Mac Tutorials

The PDF Converter free version is an easy-to-use tool that allows a PDF document to be converted to a fully editable PowerPoint Mac 2008/2011 pptx presentation- preserving the original layout of. This free online PDF to DOC converter allows you to save a PDF file as an editable document in Microsoft Word DOC format, ensuring better quality than many other converters. Click the UPLOAD FILES button and select up to 20 PDF files you wish to convert. Wait for the conversion process to finish. Top 5 PDF to Word Converter for Mac 1. PDFelement is widely used by professionals in multiple industries such as architects, designers, writers, developers, HR executives, accountants, and many more. In fact, PDFelement is useful for any scenario where documents are processed and PDF is the primary vehicle to disseminate written information.

When it comes to change PDF to Word format, users might search from the internet and try to convert PDF to Word online. If so, you might get bad result and take risk on your file itself. The online PDF to Word converter tool might produce low quality output, have limitations on file size, what even worse is that it cannot protect your file security. If you want a fast, secure and productive way to convert PDF to Word on Mac (macOS 10.15 Catalina), just read on to get the answer.

Method 1. The Easiest and Professional Way to Convert PDF to Word on Mac

PDFelement Pro - The Best Way to Save PDF to Word Document

PDFelement Pro is an all-in-one PDF editor and converter. It can help you convert PDF to Word and many other file formats without losing the original layout. The built-in OCR feature enables you to convert scanned PDF to Word and other format without hassle. And you can convert multiple PDF files to Word at high speed.

Why Choose This PDF to Word Converter:

Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PPT, EPUB, RTF, and images format with original format.

Batch convert PDF files into Word and other format in high speed.

You can convert scanned PDF with the advanced OCR feature.

You can easily modify texts, images and pages in a PDF.

Easily markup PDF and annotate PDF with sticky note and hand-drawing shapes.

If you want to create PDF from other types of file, you can also rely on this smart tool.

Its secure function lets you to protect your PDF file with password, watermark or signature.

Easy Steps for Converting PDF to Word on Mac (10.15 Catalina included)

PDFelement Pro for Mac is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 or later, including the latest macOS 10.13 High Sierra. There are more amazing features for you to explore. Below is a step-by-step guide for converting PDF to Word document on Mac computer. And you can also convert PDF to Excel and other formats. For Windows users, you can download PDFelement Pro to convert PDF to Word on Windows PC.

Step 1. Launch PDFelement Pro for Mac

After you've downloaded and installed this Mac PDF to Word converter, launch it. On the primary window, choose 'Convert PDF' from the menu to open the PDF convertion window.

Step 2. Transfer PDF to Word

Click the 'Convert' menu and select the output format as 'To Word'.Finally, click 'Convert' to turn PDF into Word. You can also customize the page range and add more files for PDF to Word conversion.

Step 3. Convert Scanned PDF to Word

If you file is image-based scanned PDF, you can turn on 'OCR' feature under the 'Edit' tap. And then click 'Convert' to change scanned PDF into Word format.

Step 4. Edit PDF before Converting (Optional)

If you want to make some changes on your PDF before converting it into Word document, you can click 'Open File' on the primary window to import your PDF. Then click 'Edit' button on the top toolbar to modify the texts and images in the PDF. To edit pages, you can choose the corresponding options 'Pages' .

If you'd like to annotate your PDF, you can click the 'Comment' button and get options for adding sticky note, text box, drawing lines/shapes and highlight. Finally click 'Save' to confirm your changes.

Method 2. Save PDF as Word Document on Mac Using iSkysoft PDF Converter for Mac

To simply convert PDF into Word on Mac, I recommend iSkysoft PDF Converter Pro for Mac, which is a simple PDF to Word Converter Mac (10.15 Catalina included) program for someone who is facing the problem of converting PDF files to formats like Word, Excel, PPT, Text, and more for better editing, saving, etc.

Why Choose This Mac PDF to Word Converter:

This Mac PDF to Word converter can convert standard and encrypted PDF files to Word (.doc and .docx).

It can convert PDF to Word and other formats without losing the original style and format.

And you can use it to do batch conversion or convert only specified PDF pages.

It comes with OCR technology which saves image-based scanned PDF to Word and other formats.

Steps to Get PDF to Word on Mac

Step 1. Run the Program and Load PDF Files

Open this Mac PDF to Word application from 'Application' folder after you have installed it. And import the PDF files you want to convert to Word format. You may drag and drop one or several PDF files to the interface of the program. Alternatively, you can go to 'File > Add PDF Files' to select the PDF files and import them to the program.

Note: You may import up to 200 PDF files to the program. If you want to add or replace some text, and make some other editing before the conversion, you can go to the guides on how to extract image from PDF, delete page from PDF, and so on. If you want to insert or modify some text before the conversion, you can follow the guide on how to edit PDF files on Mac.

Step 2. Choose the Page Range and Output Format

Click on the PDF file to highlight it, and you will see a gear icon show up. Click on the 'Gear' icon to open the output settings window. In the 'Page Range' column, you can customize the pages you want. You may specify the Page Range to convert partial PDF pages to Word pages. And then choose 'Word' format as the output format prior to convert PDF on your iMac or Macbook.

Step 3. Start to Extract PDF to Word

Click the 'Convert' button to start the conversion. When it is done, you'll get a message. Click 'OK' to open it with Microsoft Word (if available) to make sure everything is converted correctly.

Method 3: How to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Using Automator

How To Convert A Pdf To Word Document Mac Free

First, you need to know that Automator is actually part of Mac OS X. Below are the simple steps that one follows in order to convert their PDF files to editable word document on MAC using Automator.

Step 1. Open the Application folder on your Mac gadget and double click the tiny silver robot icon to launch Automator. Then a dialogue window appears that requires that you make a work flow.

Step 2. Just below the action menu, on the first column; locate and click the 'Files and Folders' button. You are then required to click and drag 'Ask For Finder Items' from the second column and drop it to the workflow segment situated at the right-hand side of the window.

Step 3. You will then refer back to the first column and click on the 'PDFs' button. From the second column, this time you will drag 'Extract PDF Text' and drop it under 'Ask For Finder Items' on the workflow panel. On this process you will be able to see some options that you can set. For a converted text file that retains its original text formatting, you will choose the 'Rich Text' option.

Step 4. Finally save your work flow. Press Command – S and then provide a suitable name then click on the save button to conclude this process.

Step 5. Now start using Automator through the workflow process you have created to convert your PDF files to word. It is as simple of just finding and selecting the PDF file that you need converted and let the Automator do the rest of the job for you.

Pros:

It is part of the Mac OS X, users can access its valuable services directly.

Cons:

It is messy – the rich text option only ensures that the converted file retains its original format of text and not the overall layout of the document.

Method 4: How to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Online

You can use some websites to convert PDF to Word. We will now discuss about how to turn PDF into Word using freepdfconvert. So let’s get started.

Step 1: The first thing is to visit the website of freepdfconvert.com. After entering into the website, you see the primary page like below.

Step 2: You see that there are many buttons like 'PDF Converter', PDF to Word' etc. As you have to convert PDF to Word, click on the 'PDF to Word' button.

Step 3: Now you see a button named 'Select File'. By tapping on the button, you can browse for the PDF file that you need to convert.

Step 4: Once you select the PDF file, hit the OK button of your browsing box. You see the PDF file named 'TriFold Coffe & Muffin….' has been uploaded to the website for further conversion. Now you will have to hit the 'Convert' tab for start converting. It will take some time depending on the file’s size to complete the conversion for PDF to Word.

Step 5: Once the conversion is complete, you will see a new button named 'Downlaod'. By tapping on the button, you can go for downloading, deleting or saving to Google Docs as per your wish. By downloading the file, you are getting a Word file of your PDF file.

PDF to Word Online Converter

You can also opt to convert PDF to word on Mac online by using other online tools, below are 3 of the most common online PDF to word converters.

1. ZamZar PDF to Word Converter

Convert Pdf To Word Free Software Mac

ZamZar is a online PDF to Word converter that can actually convert your PDF file to a number of other file formats like PPT, xlsx and many more. Just start by selecting the PDF file or URL of its location – > Choose the format – > Then key in your email address so that you can receive the converted version of the file – > finally click on convert button.

Pros:

No need to download.

Easy to use.

Cons:

It takes a long time for batch files, it can only convert one PDF file at a time.

It requires the user to have an email address.

2. Online PDF-Converter

This is among the best PDF to Word converter online service that anyone can use. It is quite popular generally because f its versatility and ease of use. When you open the online2pdf.com website, select the PDF files you need converted (up to 20 files), select the desired output format (Word), and finally click on the convert button.

Pros:

Allows up to a maximum of 20 PDF files.

It is easy to use as well as edit the PDF files.

Cons:

You can only access this resource online, basically you can never do much without the internet connection.

3. PDF to Word Converter

pdftowordconverter.net is such an excellent website to consider for your online PDF to word conversion needs. Quite an easy to use resource as compared to the ZamZar option, as it only includes two simple steps. First, you will have to choose the PDF file – >then hit the convert button, and download the converted file to your Mac device.

Pros:

Very easy to use.

It is no fee.

Cons:

It is quite slow as it can only covert a single PDF file at an instance.

Method 5: Turn PDF into Word Using Google Docs

You may have already known that Google Docs has the functionality of creating as well as editing Doc files. Now you will be amazed to know that with Google Docs, you can also convert PDF into Doc file. The good news is that the service of converting PDF into Word is totally free of cost. So you can expect a good service of PDF conversion from the internet giant Google with their Google Docs. Another good thing is that the Doc file that is created or converted by Google Docs is compatible with cross platforms, so you can use the converted file on Mac, Windows, and Linux etc. Not only that, popular mobile platform Android also supports the Doc format.

Now learn the process of Google Docs to convert PDF into Doc. You should know that you will not be able to convert as Word, but Doc is also considered as one type of Word document.

As it is totally free to convert, you only need an updated browser along with a Google account (@gmail.com).

Step 1: First of all, visit Google Docs and login. As you know that one Google account is applicable for all the Google’s products, so if you have a Gmail account, you can login with that for Google Docs.

Step 2: You will have to tap on the tiny upload icon that is located next to the button of 'CREATE'.

Step 3: Now from the browsing option, go for the PDF file that you would like to convert.

Step 4: After that, in the 'Upload Settings' panel, check the option named 'Convert text from uploaded PDF and image files' along with other two options.

Step 5: Now by choosing the 'File' option, go for the button 'Download as' where from you can download the PDF file as Doc file. This Doc file will be compatible for cross platforms.

Method 6: Turn PDF into Word Using Adobe Acrobat

Using Adobe Acrobat, you can convert PDF to Word too. Here are the processes that you will have to follow in order to achieve the conversion.

Step 1: Open a PDF file that you will convert Word.

Step 2: On the top menu bar, go for 'File' option.

Step 3: From the drop down menu, you will have to go for 'Save As Other…'.

Step 4: Then go to :Microsoft Word' and after that it will show Word Document.

Step 5: Pressing on 'Word Document', it will show you paths for saving the PDF file as Word. Set the path and press Ok. It will be saved as Word file.

iSkysoft PDF Creator - Convert Word to PDF on Mac with PDF Creator for Mac

iSkysoft PDF Creator for Mac is an easy-to-use yet quality Word to PDF converter. With it, you can convert unlimited Microsoft Office files including DOC, DOCX, XLS， XLSX， PPT, and PPTX to PDF. It comes with many wonderful features:

Key Features:

Convert Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to PDF easily and quickly.

Create high-quality PDF with high resolutions and 100% original formatting.

Import unlimited Word files and convert to PDFs at once.

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[cardandpixel]

RocketBook Flip - a rare review and it’s not a game!

Before I go any further, I feel I must point out that I don’t have any financial connection to RocketBook whatsoever – this isn’t a piece that was requested or courted by RocketBook or affiliates and I’m not receiving any reward or sponsorship either in product or direct payment for this article. I just like the damn thing and love it when an innovative piece of tech (in this case quite low key) just works. Hi I’m Paul, and I have a bit of a problem with notebooks – A4 lined, sketch, reporters, Black & Reds (ohhhh the sheer number of B&Rs), goofy ones, serious work ones, battered ones, pristine ‘for best only’ ones – and they all fill at an alarming rate. I make notes on everything. Working as a sound engineer and designer, there’s always mix notes, soundscape plots, ideas, VO notes and scripts, SFX ideas etc etc. At home it’s a very different story – it’s much worse. Game notes; blog notes; hurriedly scribbled quiz questions spurred by watching another episode of Mental Floss’ 500 facts about cheese; RPG notes and story ideas; my own script writing; world building; sketches; other creative ideas; song/music notes and ideas; and that’s before we get to to-do lists; and the dreaded ‘things I must remember’. So my journal life is many, varied and plenty. The usual issue is… ‘what frakking journal did I put that amazing idea in????’, and that’s way before we get to the utter horror that is possibly losing a whole journal or forgetting to bring one home from work. I’m 53, I forget more than I recall, and journals help bring some semblance of order to a massively chaotic and fertile brain. What I’ve needed for a long time is some way of organising all this info or centralising it in some way. Sure I’ve looked at apps – I used Things, Evernote, Notes, and One Note for years, and they are really, really good, but they relied on either having a charged device exactly when I need it (yeah – me too) or net access, which for a new-ish theatre, is surprisingly a bit of an issue at work. And the most important part – I actually enjoy the physical act of handwriting long-hand. I still write actual physical letters to people, it’s adorable and a bit creepy in this age, but I call it charming and leave it at that. Handwriting, for me, allows me time to think and process in a way that typing just doesn’t. Handwriting is slower, I rarely cross anything out, and so I always have the whole of the thought. So what I’ve ideally wanted for years, was a reliable way of organising all my notes and storing them electronically so I have access even without the actual journal, with OCR so they’re editable, and still being a tactile handwritten experience. I’m naturally a sceptic (I actually subscribe to Fortean Times – yeah – I card carry!) and so online ads and particularly FaceAche ads are a field day for critical thinking triggers. I don’t think I’ve ever received from Wish, exactly what I ordered from Wish. And so when an ad from RocketBook constantly kept popping up on my timeline a few weeks ago, I was naturally “it’ll never work” But their website looked legit enough – they had a dedicated UK shop, it was relatively steep to buy in but not so wild that if it didn’t work I wouldn’t be crying too much about the money wasted, and at the end of the day it was a 10th the price of a ReMarkable 2 which is actually what I thought would solve my problem. I’m furloughed at the mo and though I could argue the case for £300+ notebook (test me, I could), I just couldn’t justify it now. And RocketBook had a good summer intro offer. I ordered on the Wednesday, and the impressively glitzy and graphic-design-playbook poly package was dropped on my doorstep just 2 days later by my cheery postie who yelled up the drive “Package for ya, looks very exciting!!!!” I like that our postal service is still invested in the hopes and dreams of their customers. It was exciting. All the instructions for getting started with my new Teal RocketBook A4 Flip were right there before you even open it. The main body houses the pad and a cleaning cloth, and a clever little side pocket houses the supplied Pilot Frixion pen.

RocketBooks come in several models, all configured slightly differently. I have the Flip which is a top spiral-bound softback pad with 21 double sided ‘pages’ giving 42 pages in total. The Flip has lined paper one side, and dot paper on the reverse (great for D&D maps, impromptu tables, mixer channel plots etc)

DELIVERY & FIRST IMPRESSIONS The pads are nicely made, with sturdy covers (available in some really nice colours too) and a solid, thick plastic ring binding. Initially, The RocketBook does feel a bit odd. Its ‘pages’ are actually a synthetic polyester blend and feel quite shiny to the touch. The sort of surface you just instantly feel is not going to be great for ink! Each page is edge-to-edge lined or dotted with a heavy black border. At the bottom is a prominent QR code used for scanning and some very feint icons. These 7 icons are the key to the ease of use of the RocketBook series. But more later.

THE APP

The pads work with a companion app, that is absolutely free and available for Apple & Android. In fact, RB even do downloadable printable pages so you can try the whole system absolutely free before you buy – I didn’t, I just bought one, y’know. The app allows you to set up your destination locations, your preferences and does the actual scanning. Just one quick note, I have the app on both my phone and iPad and had to set-up the app the same for both, there appears to be no way of swapping preference settings between devices, though I can see why this may be intentional.

Currently, the RocketBook allows you to choose from the following locations to send files to: GoogleDrive, box, EverNote, DropBox, slack, OneNote, iCloud, OneDrive as well as simply to an email (or multiple) addresses and iMessage. Impressively, these are not fixed either, so you could choose your 7 destinations to be 7 email addresses of team members. These 7 locations are the icons at the bottom of each page. To select a destination for your file, you just make a mark in that icon box (tick, circle, something unsavoury) and that page will be sent to whichever you select. This makes the system very flexible indeed as not every page is necessarily sent to every destination. You always decide every time you fill a page. Change your mind on a second revision? No problem, add or change icons at any time and re-upload.

There’s a really handy table on the inside front cover for you to note what icon sends what where. This is also wipeable, so can be changed anytime.

I have mine set by default to:

Rocket > main email address (either as PDF, JPG, OCR embedded or as separate txt file)

Diamond > GoogleDrive (you can specify exactly what folder too)

Apple > iMessage

Bell > OneNote

That actually still leaves me 3 spare: shamrock; star; and horseshoe.

The app took me maybe 20mins to set-up, that included decision time for destinations and setting up a few target folders. It also included a few ‘test firings’. I didn’t get everything right first time and a few things didn’t send, but crucially, a tiny bit of digging revealed very simple troubleshooting (including the aforementioned issue with no sync’ing of phone and iPad), and all in I was finding the files in all the right destinations within about 30 mins. The website, FAQs and community are immensely helpful with any other issues as well. I had a tiny issue with OneNote seeming to take ages to sync, but I think that’s an issue with my OneNote settings, everything else was almost instantaneous. You can also handily set the app to auto-send as soon as it scans, or allow for manual review.

CLEAN UP ON AISLE ROCKETPAD The main reason I wanted to look at the RocketBook was the issue of reusability. My journal shenanigans are by no means the biggest ecological disaster on the planet, but if we are to believe Tesco (who probably issue as many receipts at our local Tesco Express in a day as journals I’ve ever used), every little helps. If I could find an ecologically better solution, I should at least take a look. The RocketPads work by partnering with Pilot pens called Frixion. The really clever bit is RB’s paper technology and how it works with the Frixion ink. At present, the pads only work with the Frixion pens – except the RB Colour which works with Crayola’s dry-erase crayons. When you write on the ‘paper’ with a Frixion pen, it remains wet for a few seconds and then dries pretty quickly. There’s no smudging whatsoever in transit, which is pretty cool. From then on, it may as well be permanent, until you have transmitted your page and decide you don’t want the text anymore.  To wipe the page clean, you can dampen the supplied cloth and just wipe the surface clean, it’s weird but it works! But then damp cloth in your bag? So I use kitchen roll to dampen, then wipe dry with theirs. Others even have an adorably kitsch spray bottle in their kit. RB reckon if you are not going to use the pad for a few months, to clean the pages as the ink can get trickier to shift after a long time, but for day-to-day use, I’ve tried writing and wiping well over 20x and the page hasn’t become discoloured or tarnished at all. The only pad different in the range is the Wave which cleans by microwaving! Do NOT do this with any of the others, bad things will happen. The ink doesn’t take scrubbing or any time to come up, I clean my pages in about 10-15s. The page can feel a little tacky when it’s damp, but leave a minute or so and the page will be back to normal. RB do say that odd things can happen if the book is left near a heatsource or in a hot car, vis-à-vis, the ink can completely disappear horrifyingly enough. They say that putting the pen or the pad in the freezer for a little while will actually restore the ink, but I’ve not tried it yet so can’t confirm or deny how that goes. Handy for spies in hot countries though, so there’s another target market. If you are always going to send your pages to the same places, then don’t erase the marked icons, and the page is ready for new notes straight away, otherwise, scrub them too.

I CAN’T READ YOUR WRITING – ARE YOU A DOCTOR? Initially, the RB pads send their files as scans of the pages in high contrast monochrome (colour is available) when you snap the page in the app (which auto-frames for you and takes maybe 10s to capture). The formats are either as images or PDF. If that had been it, I would have been quite happy, but the RB pads have another trick up their sleeve. Firstly, they have a function called ‘Smart Titles’ which allows you to name your files directly from the page by writing a filename between double hashtags ie ## this is my scrawl 24/8/20 ## and the file will pop up in your destinations with the filename “this is my scrawl 24/08/20” – this is insanely handy – there’s no protocol except your own and the hashtags, and it makes your files super easy to search. You can even send groups of pages as a single PDF. But the notebooks go even further. They actually offer full searchable OCR which the app can be set to send embedded in the PDF or image, or more usefully, as a companion separate .txt file. Now, my handwriting isn’t the neatest, but it’s not bad so I was prepared for some editing to be necessary, but impressively again, the OCR was about 90-95% accurate. In a page of text it missed maybe 3 or 4 words and even those not badly. This is all considering their full OCR is still only in beta! It gets confused with diagrams on the page, but that’s to be expected.

Text Generated by OCR: ## Blog post och test Aug 2020 ## This is a little demonstration of the OCR capabilities of the Rocket Book pads and app. I've told the lovely people that the hit rate is about 90-95% so please dant let me down here flip pad. Hopefully the file name will also prove another point further up in the section and not make me look like some charlatan or snake-oil salesman.Hope you enjoyed this demonstrahen, now go away and leave me to write the next great novella.Bye!

HOW MUCH? On average, I pay anywhere from £4-8 for a decent A4 notebook/journal, so at £30-37 (dependent on model), the RocketBook pads are not a whim purchase. That said, I get through a lot of journals in a year, and given that I would expect to easily get 2-3 years out of a RocketBook pad, then I’ve saved money. Will it replace all my notebooks? No. You need to be thinking of carrying this round as a kit: pad, Frixion pen (at least 2), and cloth.  RB do a series of portfolio sleeves for the pads but it does push the price up a bit still, but for a rep, engineer or salesperson, this still makes sense. They’re less bulky than a normal A4 pad too. What I would say is Tesco and Sainsbury’s currently stock Frixion pens and at much better prices than buying them from RB directly, I just paid £3 for 3 pens on offer at Tesco compared to £10 from RB. You get one pen with the pad, but you’re going to want more soon, so stock up next time you’re shopping for truffle oil crisps. If you use whiteboards a lot, RB also have you covered. Instead of the pad, £16 will get you a 4 pack of ‘beacons’ – little self-adhesive triangles that effectively do the same thing as the QR code in the pad. You don’t have the icon options obviously, but if you’re looking to distribute quick meeting or group notes, this would be a boon. CONCLUSION Considering this was a fairly speculative purchase on my part, my early experiences with the RocketBook Flip have been really impressive. The flexibility, the ability to store every page in a different location if you really wanted to make it fantastic for organising my notes, which can save me hours of finding the right ^^$&^$&$ notebook in the first place, then scouring that for the one paragraph I was looking for etc etc. The searchable text facility, in-app history for re-sending etc and last but no way least, functional handwriting OCR, makes the RocketBook not only novel, but actually useable! Would I buy another? As a second notebook – yes. I look forward to seeing what the actual longevity of the product is once I come off furlough and start cramming my day bag with all my junk and a notepad again, but yes, I’d probably just have one at home, and one for work, but make the last 5 mins of each day, scanning and sending work notes so I have them with me wherever. Impressively, the RocketBook Flip just works and it works well. ‘Er Across The Table has already sold several folk at her work on the idea and she doesn’t even have one herself yet! I love it. It’s taking a little adjusting to, but it’s all good. The most important thing though is the writing experience, and I have to say, the combination of the Frixion pen/ink and the polymer technology of the Flip, again, just works. It’s smooth, doesn’t skip or smudge for me (I know some right to left users and left handers have reported some issues) and feels great to write on. If anything I have to slow down a bit as the contact is so smooth that your writing can get a bit ahead of you! RocketBook have produced a cracker of a product. It might not seem like much, but if practical working journals are your thing (ie not create and keep things) then I can highly recommend the RocketBook series.

[mdcodepro]

6 Facts to Know About COVID-19 Telehealth

Optimize new telehealth regulations to serve your patients and accurately code new COVID-19 CPTs and diagnoses

As our healthcare system strains to bear the brunt of COVID-19, providers have been granted new flexibility to use telehealth services via common internet video platforms. Additionally, new coding options are available to accurately reflect diagnosis and the services rendered during the health emergency.

Expanding telehealth during the COVID-19 crisis is necessary to increase the breadth and reach of healthcare services, protect front-line staff to possible infectious exposure and help people comply with stay-at-home orders. Therefore, on March 17, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that providers could begin to see patients via everyday video communication technologies during the COVID-19 health emergency without fear of HIPAA violations. Although this is welcome news, it does not mean that providers can have an ‘anything goes’ mindset. There are many important factors to recognize during telehealth visits under the emergency regulations – here are our top 6 to know.

1. Not all technologies are compliant for COVID-19 telehealth

The announcement says that the OCR will use their discretion when investigating HIPAA compliance and that some platforms such as Twitter and Facebook Live are not appropriate for medical communications. Instead, it recommends systems such as Skype, Apple Facetime and Google Hangouts used in private (or semi-private) settings. Business Associate Agreements are not required during the crisis. If health information is intercepted or hacked during telehealth interactions, OCR will use its discretion and will not pursue penalties for HIPAA breaches.

2. The relaxed regulations apply to all health visits, not just COVID-19 related visits

Providers are expected to use their discretion as to which patients can be evaluated and treated during a telehealth visit. In addition to COVID-19, providers may also diagnose and treat other conditions as well as perform check-in visits for services such as prescription reviews.

3. Reasonable safeguards need to be in place to protect patient PHI

Patient privacy must still be protected when possible. In addition to using non-public technology, reasonable steps to protect confidentiality still need to be followed, which include conducting visits as privately as possible and using the minimum necessary disclosure rule. Billing staff working from home are expected to protect patient information by taking steps such as:

Working on private networks

Safeguarding work materials, so they are not inadvertently seen by household members

Shredding papers with PHI

Avoiding saving billing information to private computers 

4. There are new COVID-19 telehealth CPTs

Temporary CPTs have been added to the CMS telehealth list. Many (but not all) frequency limitations (for example, those pertaining to nursing facility visits) are temporarily suspended. Modifier 95 is still necessary to indicate telehealth services. In most cases, place of service (POS) is determined as if the visit is in-person; for example, if the visit usually would have taken place in an office, the office POS code applies.

Categories of temporary additions to telehealth CPT coding include:

Therapeutic exercises

Gait training therapy

PT evaluations

OT evaluations

Initial observation care

Initial hospital care

Emergency department visits

Initial nursing facility care

Home visits for new and established patients

5. Documentation rules still apply

Even though the appointment is through a temporary telehealth medium, thorough notes of the evaluation must always be recorded. Many organizations may prefer to use time rather than medical decision-making for E/M coding because of the inherent limitations of telehealth. If coding with time, be sure to note the beginning and end of every visit in the patient record.

6. Check payer and MAC websites before using temporary codes

As with all other medical billing scenarios, each payer may have its own coding conventions. It is critical to confirm that the correct code is used to avoid denials and delays in payment – even in this time of crisis.

In addition to CPTs, there are new diagnosis codes for COVID-19

The World Health Organization has added two emergency ICD-10 codes for COVID-19:

U07.1 – confirmed positive diagnosis through lab testing

U07.2 – diagnosis of COVID-19 where lab confirmation is inconclusive or not available

The AMA also suggests several diagnosis codes which pertain to COVID-19:

Z03.818 COVID-19 rule-out after possible exposure

Z20.828 exposure to a person with COVID-19

Z11.59 asymptomatic, no known exposure, results unknown or negative

Also, the AMA has added emergency COVID-19 in-office and outside lab testing codes (friendly reminder – don’t forget to include specimen collection codes if you are performing the collection in your office). Specimen collection and lab work performed by an organization can be recorded with telehealth visits on the same claim.

Information pertaining to COVID-19 telehealth rules and coding will evolve over the course of the pandemic. Check-in frequently with your medical specialty association, the AMA or a trusted coding professional like MDCodePro to stay abreast of the latest developments.

MDCodePro

Do you have questions about telehealth or COVID-19 coding? MDCodePro is the leading coding education choice to help healthcare providers improve compliance, accuracy and profitability at the same time. Join the hundreds of doctors that have seen an average income increase of $30,000 after enrolling with MDCodePro. Request more information and a no-obligation demonstration today.

The post 6 Facts to Know About COVID-19 Telehealth appeared first on MDCodePro.

from MDCodePro https://mdcodepro.com/6-facts-to-know-about-covid-19-telehealth/

[oursystemsplus]

2020 may just be the year that lets humans be ‘more humans and less robotic’ – courtesy Robotic Automation Process (RPA). RPA has been using software bots that emulate human activities by performing repetitive business processes for a while now – in short, it has efficiently been mimicking its human counterpart!

The fact that RPA has enabled greater speed and accuracy when it comes to the execution of these robotic tasks, and at a fraction of the cost, has also made it the fastest-growing segment of the global enterprise software market, according to Gartner, Inc. There is a perception that introducing RPA will result in loss of jobs but quite honestly, I feel that this is an opportunity to upskill human talent to engage in more challenging and complex tasks. Would this not then make work in general more meaningful for both the employee & the organization?

While tackling tactical processes is the first step, one does wonder how RPA would apply to the slightly more abstract and complex forms of task. The kind that requires judgement, weighing conflicting demands or even deciding the course of action? This is what I refer to as the next level of RPA. To put it simply, it is the amalgamation of RPA, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). When combined, these powerful tools take digital transformation to a whole new level by intelligently deploying RPA. Visualise an intelligent automated bot manager monitoring and synchronizing robot deployment and backlogs with scheduled workflow. This is how cognitive automation will be the game changer for RPA.

In one of my earlier statements, I referred to RPA as an ‘efficient’ mimic for it imitates the ‘manual’ path a human worker would take to complete the task. However to do that, it would need to understand what is communicated to it by the worker. In this case, let’s draw a parallel between a young child and the computer. Just as the child learns by imitating simple sounds, words and sentences, the computer too follows a similar path of learning. And this is where technologies such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) come into play. They help enhance the capabilities of RPA many fold. What I am getting at is, RPA is the ‘doer’ while AI is the thinker.

The integration of NLP with RPA provides the latter with the depth and understanding of human-to-human communication, allowing it to communicate just as effectively. . Meanwhile, OCR digitizes static information such as an invoice number etc. on documents to automate the process end-to-end. The result? It gives people more time… allowing them to focus on higher value work.

So far, I have spoken of all the good that RPA can do. But there is still another very important aspect that we need to ponder on – cybersecurity. Many organisations across various sectors are looking at automating their security posture. The biggest advantage you ask? It minimises the risk exposure for incoming attacks by improving response time, providing reliable detection and solution when issues are discovered and removing human error.

However, since RPA handles a wide array of company data it has also opened up new threats. . Data can be disclosed, stolen, destroyed or modified, access can be gained to unauthorized applications and systems, to exploit existing vulnerabilities. This is why for companies dealing with a significant degree of automation — or any degree of automation, for that matter — one of the biggest concerns is security. Addressing cyber risk by securing the robotics platform and leveraging the bots to enable threat prevention, early detection and mitigation, is extremely important.

Lastly, the democratization of RPA, is another important aspect that organizations need to look at. The simplification of automation will help democratize RPA and expand its use. Currently, for the most part automation through RPA is accomplished through programming and is a major cost of RPA implementation. This includes skilled resources like RPA developers who know the newest no code RPA solutions, so that organizations can circumvent challenges associated with the long programming period.

To conclude, RPA today is one of the leading tools that is propelling digital transformation. However, it is only a catalyst. It needs to be orchestrated in the context of the broader vision, alongside other tools that deliver what RPA alone cannot: visibility, intelligent optimization and a direct impact on overarching business outcomes. Its not just about pick & fix, its about building the larger story that will determine successful outcomes for the future – this is right up our alley if its something you are interested in as well, Lets Talk!

[byun-goodness-blog]

6 Ways in which Data Entry Outsourcing can be Beneficial to your Business

Have you been reading a lot about the phenomenal growth of data entry outsourcing in business magazines or social media sites? Do you want to experience the benefits of data entry outsourcing for your company? But you are still feeling a bit apprehensive and want to know more about data entry outsourcing before you outsource excel data entry. If this description fits your current state of mind, then do read on to find out why more and more companies (large and small) are choosing to outsource over in-house data entry. Here are six ways in which data entry outsourcing can be beneficial for your business:

1. A one-stop destination for any type of data entry: Most data entry service providers in India provide businesses with a host of data entry solutions. Whether it is online data entry, manual data entry, digital data entry, data processing, scanning of hard copies, data conversion or OCR services, you can avail of any type of data entry services from one place.  Outsourcing not only gives you access to such specialized services but also takes care of all the subsidiary tasks involved in online data entry or data processing. With all your data entry needs addressed by one service provider, your staff will finally be able to focus all their attention on more revenue-generating activities.

2. Manage and organize large scale data with ease:  If your company has numerous employees or a large customer base, then you might already be facing an information overload problem.  With a large amount of data to manage, it becomes difficult to categorize and organize information. By outsourcing data entry to a professional service provider, you need not face such worries and can efficiently manage any amount of information. With the right information always at your fingertips, you can always make the right decisions.

3. Use accurate data entry with zero-errors: Data entry service providers in India are equipped with the latest data entry tools such as hi-speed scanners, latest printers, and data conversion applications. Indian data entry companies also employ only trained and experienced data entry personnel to accurately enter data with zero-errors. Professional data entry companies like Flatworld Solutions also keep themselves updated about the latest techniques, procedures, and technologies used in data entry. By using a high standard of data that is accurate, your company can be sure of achieving its organizational goals.

4. Benefit from lower costs: Outsourcing data entry to India has proven to be more affordable than in-house data entry. In fact, affordability is one of the primary reasons why companies are outsourcing their data entry work. By outsourcing, you will not have to invest in expensive infrastructure, technology, software or data entry operators. With the drastic reduction in your overhead cost, you can be free to spend on core business activities.

5. Improve your efficiency:  By removing the strain of daily data entry from your employees, you can create more time for your staff to concentrate on your core business. With neatly organized data, your employees can complete their tasks with speed and accuracy. By outsourcing data entry, your staff will never again have to waste time going through files or searching for customer information.  In fact, outsourcing data entry is the most ideal way for you to achieve higher efficiency.

6. Meet your deadlines on time: Outsourcing your data entry tasks to a third party gives you the freedom to work at your set pace with the fear of not meeting your deadlines or customer needs. Data entry firms in India are known for their quick turnaround time of 3.6 or 12 hours. With your data always updated within the shortest possible time, you will always be able to meet your deadlines and commitments.