Nine Steps to Adding Text to Scanned Documents in Microsoft Word

Filonia LeChat reports:

"Scanning files to import into a Word document is an ideal way to supplement your annual reports, stakeholder summaries or executive letters, but in most cases, scanned files are locked down. Word can’t break in to them to add text, but this doesn’t mean you’ve got to settle with how they appear on the Word page. Use Word’s text boxes to layer your documents, adding text to scanned files. Upon printing, end users will never be the wiser that you have mixed original content with previously created documents...Open the Word document containing the scanned document to add text boxes...Scroll to the section where the first text should go. If the scanned document is very intricate or the text section small, use the zoom slider on the workspace to enlarge your work area...Click the Insert tab, then click the 'Text Box' button. Choose the first option, 'Simple Text Box,' which adds Word’s default text box to the scanned document...Click inside the text box, which has placeholder text, and type the text to place on top of the scan. If your text is smaller or larger than the Word default, click a corner of the box and drag in or out to adjust...Click the border of the text box to open the orange Text Box Tools tab. This tab is only enabled when the text box itself is enabled...Click the 'Shape Fill' menu on the new tab’s ribbon and select 'No Fill.' This makes your text box transparent, rather than filled with a white background, so it will not obscure the scanned document. If you want the text box’s background to remain white and obscure what’s behind it on the scan, you can skip this step...Click the 'Shape Outline' menu on the new tab’s ribbon and select 'No Outline.' This removes the default Word black border around a text box. Now the text just appears to float on the scan, as if it was there on the original...Repeat the process to add additional text boxes throughout the scan. You can also right-click, copy and paste the text box you just created, then highlight and type over the text to change it, keeping the settings of No Fill and No Outline...Click the 'File' tab and select 'Save As.' Rename the document to preserve the original without the added text, and then click the 'Save' button...If you haven’t yet imported the scanned document into Word, you can do so by clicking the small 'Object' menu on the Insert tab. Choose 'Object' from the two drop-down options, then click the 'Create from File' tab. Browse to the scanned document and double-click it, then click the 'OK' button to insert it. Format the text in the text box the same way you would when typing text in a Word document, using the Font section of the ribbon. You can try to match the text in your text box with any text already on your scanned document."