Recognizing symbols that are not included in the alphabet of a language

Victoria Dvornikova

Edited November 19, 2024 11:24

Question

Can FineReader PDF recognize text that contains unusual symbols (pictograms, the © and ® symbols, etc.)?

Answer

FineReader PDF can be trained to recognize all Unicode symbols. To recognize text with uncommon Unicode symbols, please follow the instructions below:

1. Create a user language and add all the necessary symbols to its alphabet:

Open a document in the OCR Editor of FineReader PDF.
Go to the Tools > Options... > Languages.
Click the New button.
Select the language of the text that needs to be recognized as the base language and click OK.
Click the ... button next to Alphabet.
Select and add new symbols to the new language and click OK.
Enter the name for the new language and click OK.

2. Train FineReader PDF to recognize the new symbols:

Select the new language as the language of the current document.
Go to Tools > Options... > OCR.
Select the Use training to recognize new characters and ligatures option. Tick the Also use built-in patterns option.
Click OK.
Click the Recognize button to start recognition.

Note: This article corresponds to FineReader PDF for Windows. If you have the same question regarding the FineReader PDF for Mac program, please consult the article: Recognition of non-standard symbols in FineReader PDF for Mac.

Additional information

Please find out more about creating a user language and the recognition with training in the User's Guide articles:

If the program fails to recognize certain characters

If your printed document contains non-standard fonts