Document image analysis analyzes the document images to extract the text and graphics information from image. Printed character recognition is important in the context of document image analysis. Machine learning Approach such as pattern recognition and matching can be applied to document image based printed character recognition. In this paper we discussed the Template Matching approach to printed character recognition. Template matching is found to be an effective technique to recognize printed character as compared to neural network and other classification techniques. © 2013 Springer.