an optical recognition method and system utilizes a scanner to digitize a complex document comprising regions of text and graphics . a recognition engine , illustratively in the form of a general purpose computer , separates regions of text and graphics and identifies lines of text . this is accomplished by dividing the digitized image into columns . the columns are then separated into small rectangular units by obtaining a horizontal histogram or shadow thereof . the units are arranged into a two dimensional linking for ease of processing and access . units which are too short are eliminated as noise and units which are too tall are eliminated or otherwise identified as comprising graphics . the remaining units are organized into lines of text by connecting units horizontally whose shadows on the vertical axis overlap .