Win 7/Office 2010 - No Document Imaging or OCR?

[HardenFast]

Hi guys ( & girls).

Not sure if this is right/wrong forum for Office 2010 issues, but thought maybe the prob is Win 7 related.
On all of the Google searches etc I read that I can convert a scanned image to a Word document by using the MS Office in-built facility. However, when I go to > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office 2010 Tools ..... there is no "Microsoft Office Document Imaging" option in the list, as I'm instructed there should be.

How come? Is this an optional extra in Office 2010, or some sort of tech problem? All help is appreciated in advance.

 

[Nibiru2012]

From Wikipedia:

Alternatives to Microsoft Office Digital Imaging for Office 2010 Users

If running Office 2010 which lacks MODI, there are these alternatives (among others):

• Follow Microsoft's suggestions which includes an installation of only the MODI software from Microsoft Office 2007. (This installation process might also work with earlier versions of Office): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982760
• Install the Alterna-TIFF viewer: either ActiveX control (for IE) or browser plug-in (for other browsers): http://www.alternatiff.com/

• Install Black Ice's TIFF Viewer and plug-in: http://www.blackice.com/TIFFViewer.htm
• Install Cartesian Product's CPC viewer: either CPC View ax (ActiveX for IE) or CPC Lite pi (plug-in for other browsers): http://www.cartesianinc.com/Products/CPCLite/

From Microsoft Support:

How to use MODI in 2007 Office together with Office 2010

To use MODI in 2007 together with Office 2010, use one of the following methods:

• If you do not have 2007 Office system installed on a computer that has Office 2010 installed, you can install only MODI from the 2007 Office system setup. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Start the 2007 Office setup process.
  2. Click Customize.
  3. On the Installation Options tab, select Not Available for all items except for the items under Microsoft Office Document Imaging, and then click Install Now.
  4. Click Close.

 

[runbei]

From my research into making Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) work to perform optical character recognition of documents under Windows 7, I find that the solid answer is: It doesn't. It is no longer supported. Completely baffling, as it was an immensely useful and popular feature.

The question now becomes: since OCR free and commercial software varies from lousy to unsatisfactory (there are no great programs), what can we do.

My Canon Canoscan LiDE 70 scanner comes with Omnipage SE, which does a great job but is known to have bugs that can cause crashes and lost work, wasting the user's time.

Any other options? I really would like to use MODI under Win7. Far from perfect, but it works.