title: Getting started with Python OCR on windows?
body: <p>I have never used python before, and I am not sure where to start. My goal is to take image data, of numbers and multicolored background, and reliably get the correct characters identified. I looked into the tools necessary for this and I found the Anaconda python distribution which included all the possible packages I might need for this, as well as tesseract-ocr and pytesser.</p>
  
  <p>Unfortunately, I'm lost in how to begin. I"m using the PyCharm Community IDE and simply trying to follow this guide:
  <a href="http://www.manejandodatos.es/2014/11/ocr-python-easy/" rel="nofollow">http://www.manejandodatos.es/2014/11/ocr-python-easy/</a>
  to get a grasp on OCR.</p>
  
  <p>This is the code I'm using:</p>
  
  <pre><code>from PIL import Image
  from pytesser import *
  
  image_file = 'menu.jpg'
  im = Image.open(image_file)
  text = image_to_string(im)
  text = image_file_to_string(image_file)
  text = image_file_to_string(image_file, graceful_errors=True)
  print "=====output=======\n"
  print text
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and I believe the Anaconda distribution that I'm using has PIL, but I'm getting this error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Users\diego_000\Anaconda\python.exe C:/Users/diego_000/PycharmProjects/untitled/test.py
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "C:/Users/diego_000/PycharmProjects/untitled/test.py", line 2, in &lt;module&gt;
      from pytesser import *
    File "C:\Users\diego_000\PycharmProjects\untitled\pytesser.py", line 6, in &lt;module&gt;
      import Image
  ImportError: No module named Image
  
  Process finished with exit code 1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Can anyone point me in the right direction?</p>