Instant OCR in OneNote 2007

[marypcbuk]

I need to write captions for all the images in a folder and rather than copying down the titles by hand, I thought 'how can I grab the text?'. There are utilities that will export the directory listing to a text file, or I could copy from a command prompt if I remember the appropriate incantations - or I could use OneNote 2007. First I used the screen clipping tool to select the folder listing in Windows Explorer, giving me an image of the text. Then I right-clicked on the image and choose 'Make Text in Image Searchable'. Once OneNote has OCRed the text I can right-click and choose 'Copy Text from Picture'. I can use this to grab long error messages on screen or to get text out of a logo, or a streetname from a map... For real OCR I have real OCR software, but launching that takes as long as typing in the list of file names by hand, and OneNote is always open already. Very nifty...