Hello,

I am trying to figure out how to actually scan a piece of text document, then somehow saving it in a way that allows me to later open it in WORD or any other word-processor, such that I can edit the text.

I scanned the document using an Epson GT-12000 scanner, chose the "Image Type" as "OCR", but somehow it still scans a bitmap image. Of course, we can't open bitmap in WORD.

This is my first time trying to do this. Maybe my steps are all wrong. I have tried checking with Epson but nothing there mentions OCR.

Can someone who's tried this before please tell me how you got this done?

Thanks a mil!

Usually, the setup CD that comes with a scanner includes the scanner drivers, some form of image editing software, and an OCR program. These, while cutdown or "lite" versions of full commercial packages do a reasonable job.
From your description, it sounds as if the OCR software has not been installed. Check what is on the CD that came with your scanner, and any documentation also. The documents may be in the form of PDF files on the CD.

I don't know exactly what is installed with an Epson scanner, but with my HP scanner, the scanning options include OCR.

Me too - dont know the epson software bundle but typically one first chooses the type of bitmap to scan in. By choosing an "OCR" or "for OCR" image is usually just so that there is a higher quality/resolution than one might scan in for say copying or for pictures. (The better the quality of the image then the better the chance that the OCR - character recognition - will be high quality and with few mistakes).

There is then a second stage when the OCR software needs to transfer the picture into a text file. Some can be accessed separately and then you would open the scanned picture and OCR it, others can open and OCR the text directly into Word, Excel, etc.