17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the steps of generating the synthetic word and producing the association are performed for every bounding box in the electronic document.
15. A method for generating synthetic words for parts of documents, the method comprising: using a computer to perform steps comprising: receiving an electronic document comprising a first part and a second part; identifying a first bounding box for the first part; identifying a second bounding box for the second part; generating a synthetic word of the first bounding box, the synthetic word including a location of the first bounding box, a first quantized angle measured between a line originating from the first bounding box and a path joining a center of the first bounding box to a center of the second bounding box and a second quantized angle defining a width of the second bounding box; and producing an association between the electronic document and the synthetic word, wherein the first part and the second part are at least one of text, a character and an image.