[GJC]

I'm researching various ways of transfering documents to CD/DVD. I need software and or hardware that will do this and allow me to search the contents of the scanned Document (preferably pdf) within the DVD.

E.G. The DVD will autorun, Page 1 will refer to page one on DVD and if possible the contents table of the document will be linked in the DVD so that the user can click the chapter and be taken to it.

Any ideas?

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Thanks!

[Mac Man]

You mentioned scanned documents and PDFs

Are you talking about scanned images within a PDF document, or converting, say, a Word file to PDF. There is nothing in a bitmapped image to search on, apart from any meta data you embed within the file somehow.

I believe the files would have to contain actual text in order for them to be searchable/indexable.


Chris

[GJC]

Thanks for the reply Chris.

Basically I want to scan 'a book' containing upto 1000 pages or for example then transfer the scanned images in order to create a published CD or DVD, it would effectively become an e-book/digital bible.

Cheers!

[tomson]

have worked on branding documents where we've designed a printed version then transfered everything into an html version. All the content is displayed within a browser and has a full index and search facility. This can be put online or onto CD. Have also done similar using PDFs for distribution on CD - save out each page as a PDF then combine it all into a single document that's viewable in Acrobat. You can create thumbnail and text indexes and retain full search functionality.

[shahedz]

HI check these guys out www.pinpointdigital.co.uk they specialise in scannign and archiving and i think they can do what you need,

[GJC]

Thanks for the info guys I'll read up on the info you've provided.

[Mac Man]

Originally Posted by tomson

have worked on branding documents where we've designed a printed version then transfered everything into an html version. All the content is displayed within a browser and has a full index and search facility. This can be put online or onto CD. Have also done similar using PDFs for distribution on CD - save out each page as a PDF then combine it all into a single document that's viewable in Acrobat. You can create thumbnail and text indexes and retain full search functionality.

Tomson, that'll work for text based documents, but not PDFs that contain scanned images - you can't search through images as you would a Word or text based PDF - (assuming that's what's needed) - in order to find a word or phrase within a page.

Also PDF files, unlike .exe files will not (easily) be made to autostart from a CD. I did find this though http://www.cdmenupro.com/pdf_starter.htm that might do the job.

A lot of document management systems for scanned images rely on using a database application that assigns searchable keywords to the images. You could try doing a Google on document management solutions (or similar)

Chris

[tomson]

Originally Posted by Chris Lamle

Tomson, that'll work for text based documents, but not PDFs that contain scanned images - you can't search through images as you would a Word or text based PDF - (assuming that's what's needed) - in order to find a word or phrase within a page.

Indeed. From GJCs 'book' description I presumed the content would would be predominantly text based anyway.

But if you ensure every image has a description (much like meta tags , but visible) you can build up a fairly intuitive search facility that pulls up image descriptions in the results . Obviously it requires a fair bit of forward planning.

[GJC]

Originally Posted by tomson

Indeed. From GJCs 'book' description I presumed the content would would be predominantly text based anyway.

But if you ensure every image has a description (much like meta tags , but visible) you can build up a fairly intuitive search facility that pulls up image descriptions in the results . Obviously it requires a fair bit of forward planning.

The documents will be 95% text based, the images dont require data for search purposes.

[Mac Man]

Originally Posted by GJC

Thanks for the reply Chris.

Basically I want to scan 'a book' containing upto 1000 pages or for example then transfer the scanned images in order to create a published CD or DVD, it would effectively become an e-book/digital bible.

Cheers!

I took it that you were scanning a book and creating bmap images of the pages. I couldn't see how a scanned book could be text based. Unless you're using OCR software on the pages afterwards. Or have I missed something here?

Only trying to helpfull on the details given

[GJC]

Originally Posted by Chris Lamle

I took it that you were scanning a book and creating bmap images of the pages. I couldn't see how a scanned book could be text based. Unless you're using OCR software on the pages afterwards. Or have I missed something here?

Only trying to helpfull on the details given

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Apologies should have been more specific. I believe OCR software would be needed so that keywords can be searched?

[tomson]

Originally Posted by GJC

I believe OCR software would be needed so that keywords can be searched?

Absolutely. Again, I assumed this was a given. Should have explained that.

Mental note to self: must stop assuming.

[Mac Man]

Originally Posted by tomson

Absolutely. Again, I assumed this was a given. Should have explained that.

Mental note to self: must stop assuming.

There was a great quote in a film I saw once

"Assumption is the mother of a **** ups"

Just so true. After nearly 20 years in design I (try) not to assume anything of my clients and suppliers.