The Schema Law blog
Practical guides for lawyers and paralegals on turning scanned documents into text, tables and searchable files, and keeping client files confidential.
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OCR basics
What OCR is and the terms around it: searchable PDFs, text layers, resolution, confidence scores, PDF/A and how recognition accuracy is measured.
36 posts
Converting scans
How to turn a scanned PDF into Word, Excel, CSV, JSON, Markdown, plain text or a searchable PDF, and which export fits which job.
36 posts
Searchable PDFs
Make, check and use searchable PDFs: routes from paper, scans and office files, testing the text layer, file size, splitting, merging and lost text.
35 posts
Difficult scans
Faxes, phone photos, crooked pages, handwriting, stamps and columns: what OCR can read on a bad page and how to check what it got wrong.
35 posts
Handwriting
Handwriting to text for legal files: apps, tablets and scanners, cursive and old hands, and handwritten letters, logs, ledgers, forms and deeds.
35 posts
Phone scans and photos
Scan documents with a phone or camera and get the text out of the pictures: iPhone and Android scanning, screenshots, glare, HEIC and sending files.
35 posts
Litigation support
OCR for discovery productions, deposition transcripts, Bates-numbered sets, trial exhibits, court filings and the load files review platforms expect.
35 posts
Practice areas
Worked methods for the documents each practice meets: medical records, leases, closing packages, bank statements, police reports, wills and agency records.
35 posts
Contracts and agreements
Working from a scanned contract: getting editable text, comparing two signed copies, pulling out terms, dates and signatures, and preparing a data room.
35 posts
Confidentiality
What happens to a client document after you upload it: privilege, model training, retention, encryption and how to test a vendor's promises.
35 posts
Choosing legal OCR
How to compare OCR tools for a law practice: criteria, per-page cost, desktop versus browser, and what solo attorneys, paralegals and large firms each need.
36 posts
OCR in everyday software
What the OCR built into Acrobat, Word, OneNote, Google Drive, Preview, SharePoint and other software you already own does, per each vendor's documentation.
36 posts