# Minimum Number of Pixels

Specify the CharacterMinNumPels, or the minimum number of pixels, that a potential character must have in order to be reported. This value might be lowered from the default 30 in cases where your strings contain very small but valid characters.

Associated with the minimum number of pixels a character must have is the CharacterFragmentMinNumPels property, or the minimum number of pixels any foreground feature must have in order to be considered part of a character. Raising the default value allows the OCRMax tool to disregard pixels which are close in grey value to character pixels but actually represent image noise, while lowering the default value can be necessary in good quality images where some characters are very small.