Advice on getting written data into the computer

I have in mind a fun project to analyse in various ways some amateur
sport type results the original data for which only exists in written
form.
If I had a scanner would I be able to get the data into the PC in such
a format that it could then be analysed by either Database software
(of which I have no experience) or Spreadsheet software (of which I
have very ancient experience - Lotus 123).

datasmog...

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sometimes a cheapo OCR package is included with Scanner software.
It's a while since I last used anything like this on a PC so I'm not
about to recommend anything.
However the source material needs to be clear, preferably typed or
printed from a computer. Handwritten material can be very problamatic
for this stuff.
It's usual for the OCR app to export the scanned document to a suitable
application to read it, like Word or Excel

Jeff Gaines...

You should be OK if it's typed rather than hand written. If it's in a
book/magazine you may need to extract the pages so they can lay flat on
the scanner. I wouldn't hold out much hope if it's hand written.

There is no mathematics involved.I just want to be able to sort the
data by various (and perhaps multiple) parameters.
I would be most grateful for any/all advice on how to go about it.

Jeff Gaines...

Once you've got it into a spreadsheet you would be able to do any of
the usual calculations, if you wanted to.

I would also be grateful for advice on the hardware side of it.My

datasmog...

Pass. Go to PC World, look at what is available in your price bracket,
groups for comments on the one you like the look of then search
for the best price on net.
Everyones opinion is different and slewed in favour of their particular
requirements and pocket depth.

inclination if I need a scanner is to buy one of these all-in-one
Printer/Copier/Scanner devices as a colour printer and photocopier
facility would be most useful to me.I have no need that I know of for
a Fax.Personal recommendations for particular machines of good quality
and reliability would be most welcome.
Speed is not of the essence at all - throughput will be low.Size (lack
of) and neatness are of much more importance.Other factors I am
ignorant of and would seek advice (eg Is interface important USB or
Ethernet).
Many thanks for all help.

MCC...

As Ray has already said, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is the tool to
do the job. Most scanners come with a basic version - my HP Scanjet 4070
Scanner, which also scans slides, certainly did. I'm very happy with it.

When the basic OCR program isn't enough, e.g. when I'm scanning columns of
text in sequence as opposed to a full page, I find it more convenient to
use a program called TextBridge.

I was warned off getting a 3-in-1 piece of kit - jack of all trades and
master of none basically, although there are some attractive looking bit of
kit out there.

Jeff Gaines...

It would be useful if any users of these all in one thingies posted
their experience. I tend to go for individual kit as I think it
performs better, it's also cheaper to replace if one element of it
fails.

datasmog...

OK I don't like recommending stuff. As I said before each to his/her
own, but I've just set one of these up for a client.
HP PSC3310 Printer, Scanner, Copier, Fax.
Seems to be well built, although I wouldn't recommend dropping it.
Comes with a thick and apparently comprehensive instruction manual and 2
cd's of software. One Windows and One Mac. (How refreshing)

It took almost an hour to install the software on a brand new 2 GHz Sony
Laptop with XP Pro. And there is no custom install option, so you can't
cherry pick the bits you want.
This printer does everything, and will probably make the tea as well.
It has memory card slots to accept all the main card types, and a nice
little LCD screen to preview your photos as well as scroll through the
extensive menus.
USB2 will hook it up to your PC, or you can use ethernet or WiFi. Yes
it's wireless too.
That caused a bit of headache as the wireless settings wouldn't
initially stick, so everytime I switched it off and then on I had to
input all the settings, including the 32 bit wep key, again. No qwerty
keyboard either. more like trying to do it in the same way you would
send a text massage from a cellphone.

The Windows CD software is compatible with 98, ME,2000 and XP according
to the book. But the cd wouldn't install on a Win ME machine. I had to
download the drivers from HP to get it to install. And that also took
about an hour.

Christ knows what it installs but I bet you never use all of it.

Anyway the machine appears to do what it says on the tin, so that's the
bottom line really.

About 300 quid from PC Weird.

Most of it is USB2 nowadays. I have a Canon CanoScan 5200F which came
with some good bundled software and a slide holder (so I could scan in
some 35mm slides) and I have been pleased with it. Canon have said they
will not write 64 bit drivers though so thinking to the future and XP64
it may need replacing. It includes the facility to make copies by
scanning them in and sending them to the printer.

It included some very good OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
software, I can scan typed pages and it then processes them and saves
them in a variety of formats, including Word. Once you have a Word file
you can easily copy it to a spreadsheet, and once it's in a spreadsheet
it's very easy to get into a database if you ever wanted to.