Using OCR for document management
Some people know about the use of OCR to simply make documents text-searchable, but they might not know that the technology can also be applied to more complex document automation tasks. By making text recognizable to the computer, OCR enables document automation software to actually extract text from a scanned document and input it into a spreadsheet, which makes it possible to view data from hundreds of documents in an instant. OCR is a remarkably flexible tool that can be applied to a great variety of documents as needed.
The need for OCR in legal document management
In the legal industry, OCR is especially important because legal documents are so long and complex. In the past, legal offices were required to have massive, bulky archives of paper documents, and copies had to be made in order to share information with other people. This resulted in a rapid buildup of files that were difficult to manage and sort through. OCR makes it possible to eliminate these unnecessary hard copies by allowing lawyers to scan documents and make them text-searchable, so that the text from these documents is available in digital form with just a single click. Document management software saves legal professionals a great deal of time that would otherwise be spent reading through hundreds of pages of text in search of a single word or phrase. With OCR, it becomes possible to locate the desired information instantly.
Managing legal documents efficiently
The best way to ensure that documents are managed efficiently is to help employees apply their efforts as productively as possible. Instead of having dozens of legal assistants reading case files for a hours, a single person can now accomplish the same amount of work within minutes. This is possible because OCR can make the files text-searchable, and some structured documents can be broken up into data fields and automated completely.
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