OCR detects text on web pages and allows you to select and copy text for other purposes. OCR is usually very accurate, but there is no control over how OCR works. Evernote OCR is convenient, but even a simple mobile scanning application can provide similar support. You can only buy what is needed to improve PDF requirements. Platforms Supported: iOS, Mac, Android, and Windows devices. OmniPage Ultimate. Image Source: OmniPage Ultimate. OmniPage Ultimate, one of the most popular OCR programs on PCWorld's list, is a powerful and easy-to-use program that can make good guesses at what text may be in a scanned document.
OCR or Optical Character Recognition is a technology that electronically or mechanically converts images of printed or hand-written text within photos or scanned documents into machine-encoded text.
In today’s digital age where everything needs to be in binary 0’s and 1’s for computing assistance, OCR platforms find a multitude of uses. Some of them being:
- The Government uses it for automatic number plate recognition.
- Airports use it for passport recognition and information extraction.
- Businesses use it for data entry by scanning and processing cheques, invoices, and bank statements.
Top 5 free OCR software
Now you must be thinking about how you could get your hands on this state-of-the-art technology. Well, here’s my recommendation for the top 5 free OCR software you can use in 2021 to make your life simpler.
1. ABBYY FineReader PDF
Abby FineReader is an all-in-one PDF and OCR software platform designed to maximize your productivity. It allows you to digitize, retrieve, edit, protect and share all your documents from a single platform.
Pros:
- Ability to scan pages without altering the original layout.
- Extremely clear and easy to use interface
- Exceptionally accurate even while dealing with complicated documents.
Cons:
- Does not have handwriting recognition.
- A lot of features can only be accessed by buying the premium version.
2. Nanonets OCR
Nanonets OCR is an AI-based OCR software that automates data capture for intelligent document processing of invoices, receipts, ID cards, and more. Nanonets uses advanced OCR, machine learning image processing, and deep learning to extract relevant information from unstructured data. It is fast, accurate, easy to use, and allows users to build custom OCR models from scratch.
Pros:
- Works with multiple languages.
- The algorithm can be calibrated to recognize information from any document type.
- Extremely easy to use and beginner-friendly
Cons:
- Some of the features one might need while working on a large scale are available only by using the premium version.
- The premium version is slightly more expensive than the competitors but the accuracy and speed outweigh the additional expense.
3. Online OCR
As the name suggests it is an Online OCR that requires no installation and is totally free to use. It can recognize text and characters from PDF scanned documents, photographs, and digital camera captured images. Convert text and Images from your scanned PDF document into the editable DOC format.
Pros:
- Has support for multiple languages including Mandarin, Japanese and Korean.
- It can convert PDF files to Word, Excel, RTF, and plain text format.
- It is free to use online service, which means no installation issues.
Cons:
- Without registering you can only convert 15 files per hour.
- When it comes to accuracy it fails to perform at 100%. There is the possibility of errors and omissions that’s why you need to proofread after conversion.
4. Simple OCR
Simple OCR is a royalty-free OCR platform that allows users to use it in custom apps. It is supported on all versions of Windows and it has a vast library of over 120,000 characters to identify words efficiently in your document.
Pros:
- It allows image retention. That is along with the document’s text Simple OCR has the ability to capture and retain pictures from the document.
- It offers a Despeckle option for those documents that arent particularly clear like fax or copies of copies. This feature helps reduce the image noise and increases the accuracy of Simple OCR.
Cons:
- It’s one of the best choices if you’re a single individual, but if an organization or a business were to use it the paid version is quite expensive in comparison to its competitors.
5. Kofax OmniPage
Kofax OmniPage OCR software converts any document into the word processor format of your choice. It allows you to save, edit and search documents as you would a Word document. It offers superior conversion accuracy, intelligent character recognition, and zonal recognition, so you can quickly create editable documents.
Pros:
- Its extremely fast and accurate conversion time increases productivity and encourages more strategic
- It fully supports Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect, HTML, and more
Cons:
- It provides only a free trial for a limited period of time.
- Its programming interface can be improved.
Final words
Gone are the days when you had to painstakingly input all important documents manually into your system. The future is here, with the power of OCR software you can now increase productivity whilst not having to sacrifice accuracy.
Sometimes, we need to extract the content from the scanned PDF files to text, and that's when PDF to text OCR functionality comes in very handy. OCR acronym for Optical Character Recognition. Many PDF programs come with the OCR feature, which makes scanned PDF documents searchable and editable.
If it's your very first time looking for the best free PDF OCR solution out there, we can understand how challenging it can be. But no worries!! This post will introduce the top free PDF OCR tools and how to OCR a PDF on Windows and Mac.
- Best Free PDF OCR Software for Windows and Mac
- Best 3 Free PDF OCR Online Tools
- How to OCR a PDF Without Effort?
- More Answers About Free PDF OCR Solutions
Best Free PDF OCR Software for Windows and Mac
There is abundant third-party software on Windows and Mac. Come and find the best tool for you to OCR a PDF.
EaseUS PDF Editor
EaseUS PDF Editor is an excellent PDF OCR software. This program can recognize and convert image-based PDF to an editable format and accurately detect and convert as many as 29 languages, such as English, French, German, Japanese, etc.
What's more, this Windows PDF editor enables you to edit and manage your PDF files like below:
- Insert, delete, reorder, extract, crop, or rotate PDF pages with ease
- Add comment, lines, or highlight PDF documents
- Add or remove password from PDF
- Sign your PDF effortlessly
Want to explore more information? Just click the below button to get it. And there is a tutorial that guides you to OCR a PDF using this tool, and you can follow it to use the OCR feature easily.
Step 1. Click Create and choose From file from the top left corner
If you want to OCR from an existing PDF file, click from the File option on the top left corner to start the process.
Step 2. Click OCR on the toolbar
After clicking OCR on the menu, select the language, then wait for a couple of seconds.
Step 3. Edit your PDF as you wish
You can use crop, rotate, combine, etc. features according to your needs. There are several features, and it allows you to manage this process easily and effortlessly.
Step 4. Click Save to keep the changes
When you are finished with editing, click save to keep the changes. You can also click save as and type a new file name if you want to keep the old version unchanged.
Adobe Acrobat DC
With its OCR functionality, you can easily convert your scanned PDFs or images into editable and searchable documents. It can perform OCR on PDFs that contain vector art, images, hidden text, or a blend of these elements.
Above all, the OCR tool in Adobe Acrobat DC offers many editing features, including text recognition, combining files, adding comments, and more.
Pros:
- Support cutting and pasting the text into other apps
- Work with many languages
- Accurately match fonts
- A free trial is available
Cons:
- Lots of features can overwhelm beginners
URL: https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/acrobat/how-to/ocr-software-convert-pdf-to-text.html
PDF OCR X
You can also count on PDF OCR X to help you convert scanned PDF documents into searchable PDFs or text documents with ease. It comes with advanced OCR functionality to extract the text from PDFs, even if it is in an image.
Above all, this PDF OCR-free solution is exclusively designed to handle PDFs created using a scan-to-PDF tool.
Pros:
- Drag and drop functionality to upload documents
- Able to convert PDFs to both text or searchable PDFs
- Support JPEG, PNG, BMP, and more image formats
- Support more than 60 languages
Cons:
- Lack editing features
URL: https://solutions.weblite.ca/pdfocrx/index.php
Readiris
When looking for a PDF to Word OCR solution, Readris serves the purpose best. Supporting both Windows and Mac, the tool can convert PDFs, texts, and images in a scanned document to modify in the format of your preference, including Word.
Free Ocr Reader For Mac
Its new added features such as a new recognition engine, new user interface, and faster document management make it even more remarkable as a PDF OCR solution or even more.
Pros:
- Various editing features are available
- User-friendly interface
- Open files faster
Cons:
- Lack a forever-free version
URL: https://www.irislink.com/zh-Hans-chn/c1810/IRIS---The-World-leader-in-OCR--PDF-and-Portable-scanner.aspx?
PDFMate PDF Converter
PDFMate PDF Converter entails advanced OCR technology that can help you convert PDFs to editable documents without any hassle. You can extract images and text from image-based PDFs and convert them into selectable and editable text or work files.
Besides the OCR functionality, the software has so much to offer, such as merging and creating PDF, encrypted converted files, customizing layout, and more.
Pros:
- Convert scanned documents to editable ones with OCR
- Support converting PDF to TXT, DOC, and other formats
- Add permission password to documents
- Simple and easy to use
Cons:
- Some crash problems during conversion processes
URL: https://www.pdfmate.com/pdf-converter-free.html
Best 3 Free PDF OCR Online Tools
For those who aren't willing to download software on the computer, the online OCR tools in this section may be the best choices.
OnlineOCR.net
Suppose you don't want to install any program on your system for PDF to word OCR, no worries. With OnlineOCR.net, you can get the job done without installing any tool on your computer. It can recognize characters and text from scanned PDF and convert them into the editable doc format.
It is a completely free PDF OCR online service that even comes with a guest mode, which implies there is no need to register to use it.
Pros:
- Support converting scanned PDFs to editable DOC format
- Work even without registration
- Convert PDF to Word, text, or excel format
- Support many languages
Cons:
- Support file size maximum up to 15 MB
URL: https://www.onlineocr.net/
ABBYY FineReader Online
ABBYY FineReader Online is another online OCR tool designed to help scan and convert PDF documents into Word and many other editable formats. It even supports import and export documents to cloud storage services such as OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox.
The tool will keep converted files in the cloud for around 14 days, giving you enough time to download and share your files during the period.
Pros:
- Support many input and output file formats
- Export a converted document to popular cloud storage services
- Easy to use
- Able to convert scanned PDF to text OCR
Cons:
- Require registration
URL: https://finereaderonline.com/en-us/Tasks/Create
PDF2Go
PDF2Go is also an amazing PDF OCR online tool you can use to convert scanned files to text so that you can edit with ease. You can drag and drop your file or upload it from cloud storage. With PDF2Go, you don't have to copy the text manually, as this PDF OCR free tool will handle this job for you.
Free Ocr For Mac
Above all, it works with all web browsers out there.
Pros:
- Convert scanned documents to word with OCR
- Support both DOC & DOCX and text format
- Work on a smartphone as well
- No registration is required
Cons:
- Lack support for uploading a file from the OneDrive service
URL: https://www.pdf2go.com/pdf-to-word
How to OCR a PDF?
As mentioned above, we'll help you learn how to OCR a PDF on Windows and Mac, and it's time. We will use Adobe Acrobat DC to walk you through how to OCR a scanned PDF to have an editable copy of your document.
Step 1. In Adobe Acrobat for PC or Mac, open your scanned PDF file.
Step 2. Tap 'Edit PDF' in the right place. The Adobe Acrobat will automatically perform OCR to your file and make it editable.
Step 3. Tap the text element you would like to edit and begin typing.
Step 4. Finally, select 'File' > 'Save As' and enter a new name for your editable file.
Conclusion
That's all on PDF OCR free tools. We have covered tools that really help to OCR a PDF to word or text on Windows and Mac with ease.
It's time for you to make a selection. Our advice is to pick EaseUS PDF Editor to get the job done.
Free PDF OCR Solutions FAQs
If you still have problems with the PDF OCR feature, those FAQs may help you.
1. How to OCR my PDF to word?
For PDF to word OCR, all you need to do is upload your scanned PDF document and choose the output file format as Word/DOC/DOCX while using any PDF OCR tool.
2. How to OCR my PDF to editable text?
Like PDF to word OCR, you need to select an output file format as .txt while using any PDF OCR tool to PDF to text OCR.
3. How to OCR my PDF to Excel?
Ocr For Mac
The best way to OCR your PDF to excel is to use an online OCR service like ABBYY FineReader Online. It will provide you with an option to choose '.xlsx' as your output format.