Top 3 PDF OCR Software for Mac to Read, Edit, and Convert Scanned PDF Easily Optical Character Recognition (or OCR) refers to the ability to edit and convert scanned text or PDF files into editable and searchable text documents. These Top 7 free OCR software for Windows & Mac are some of the best OCR software. Overall gImageReader is a nice OCR tool which is available for free to download. Microsoft OneNote. Microsot OneNote is a great note-making application. Not only note-making but it is also excellent in extracting text from images. OmniPage for Mac will not work with Lion I've been an OmniPage Pro X user for years, but it is PC software and will not work with the new Lion. To OCR PDF files on Mac can be an easy task with the help of iSkysoft PDF Editor 6 Professional for Mac (or iSkysoft PDF Editor 6 Professional for Windows).This fabulous software can help you convert scanned PDF into searchable and editable document.
PDF OCR X Community Edition for Mac converts PDFs and images into text or searchable PDF documents. It works with both PDFs generated from a document and scanned PDFs. The application's basic interface couldn't be easier to use, and it worked like a charm in our tests; but this version of the app limits you to one-page conversions.
The main interface of PDF OCR X consists of a small, unassuming window where PDF files can be dragged and dropped. Files can also be manually selected from a Finder window via a drop-down menu. Once moved into the program, an additional menu comes up where users can select from a number of input and output settings. These include preferred language, the number of columns, and different text wrapping types. Clicking a well-labeled convert button initiates the process, which completes quickly. The output file is automatically loaded for review and can then be saved or discarded easily. The tested PDF converted to text well, without any transcription errors. The community version of the program only supports one page PDFs, though, which is a frustrating limitation.
PDF OCR X Community Edition for Mac functions well and offers an easy-to-use solution for users looking for an application that can create searchable one-page documents from PDFs or for those who need to quickly extract text from an image.
Ocr Mac Os
OCR for Mac: text recognition and document conversion software. Easily transform paper documents, PDFs and images into editable and searchable files. Developer Tools. FineReader Engine Document and PDF conversion, OCR, ICR. ABBYY FineReader Pro for Mac. Convert scans and PDFs with unmatched accuracy. Buy Now Download trial.
MacPorts is an open-source software package management tool that makes it relatively easy for Mac users to compile, install and upgrade open-source software and their dependencies. It's a great first step in installing Tesseract on a Mac.
What do you need to know about free software?
I have written before about the benefits of a paperless office, the zen feeling of being able to walk into the room and not somersault headfirst over a stack of paper and break your neck. But when you have reams of paper, how do you get all of that printed text converted into something that a digital program will be able to recognize and index? Yes, that’s right, you use an OCR service or app.
Text extraction with OCR7 Best Free OCR Software Apps to Convert Images Into Text7 Best Free OCR Software Apps to Convert Images Into TextWant OCR software for free? This article collects the seven best programs that turn images into text.Read More is a subject which we have covered endlessly, since MUO’s birth back in 2006. But the OCR apps in this area keep expanding, so here are 5 others you should look at, if you are looking to extract that text from a scanned documentThe 3 Best Free OCR Tools to Convert Your Files Back Into Editable DocumentsThe 3 Best Free OCR Tools to Convert Your Files Back Into Editable DocumentsOptical Character Recognition (OCR) software turns printed documents into machine-readable text. Here we show you the best free OCR tools and how they work.Read More.
1. FreeOCR
We start with software, entitled rather imaginatively, “FreeOCR”. It’s a Windows-only app, which works on all PC’s running XP and upwards (although if you are using XP, you will need to install an extra part).
Ocr App For Macbook
FreeOCR works for TWAIN scanners, PDF files, and TIFF images, and outputs the text into a Microsoft Word file. To use this app, you will also need to download the Google Open Source Tesseract OCR engine.
2. FreeOCR to Word
This is the one I liked the most as it accurately transcribed what I had given it. The company behind the app promises 99.8% accuracy, and the app also retains the original formatting. As the title implies, the text and formatting are transferred into an editable Word document, but text (.txt) files are also possible.
It recognizes all of the main image formats, as well as Photoshop files. It’s just a shame though that all of these great apps are Windows-only. Where’s the love for Mac and Linux owners?
3. gImageReader
This one takes us back again to Google’s Tesseract OCR engine, which acts as the engine room to this rather well designed graphical frontend. The reader was handy because it automatically detects the page layout. Or if it makes a slight boob of it, you can manually readjust the areas.
The text is placed to the right of the image / scanned document, so you can see if everything is being taken down as it should. It does basic editing of that text, as well as spell checkingThe Top 5 OCR Spell Checking ToolsThe Top 5 OCR Spell Checking ToolsRead More (if you downloaded the relevant dictionary).
4. Capture2Text
This OCR tool serves a double role. First of all, it is a screenshot tool which then takes the screenshot and converts it into the Windows clipboard. You can then copy and paste the text into anywhere you want.
Secondly, it has voice recognition technology which transcribes your words for you. The site says this is experimental so don’t expect perfect results at the moment. Those with dreamy sultry accents like mine may experience difficulties.
5. VueScan
And you thought we would end without some Mac love, didn’t you? Well fear not, OSX’ers! If you need to do any OCR then here is VueScan to the rescue. It links to your scanner, and one of the advantages (the site actually lists it as a con) is that it is a very lightweight basic program. No bloat, but not too many features either. But it’s easy to install, easy to use, and it does its job, which is the main thing.
Ocr Software For Mac
So which OCR programs float your boat? Are you a Google Drive OCR user perhaps? Or a user of another we haven’t covered here ? Let us know in the comments below.
Free Ocr Program For Mac
Image Credit: Paperless sign (Shutterstock)
Explore more about: File Conversion, OCR.
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I just downloaded the Capture2Text utility (v4.5.1) from Sourceforge. It was simple to use, but the description in this article says that it does Voice recognition. That is not true. It does Text to speech (if enabled).
Looking for OCR that retains (saves, keeps) the images - that is in-text pictures, images or illustrations in place after the OCR is over. Does nobody care about that?? Searched over dozens of OCR reviews, not even a single one mentions a bit on how the software deals with internal graphic. On the entire internet there seems to be not even a single sreenshot of OCR software processing graphical element - only the text. Is graphics in books so unimportant to anybody? Frustrating.. wrrr
Yunmai Technology is also a professional developer of (Optical Character Recognition) OCR software. It has been one of the best mobile OCR technology and application developers in the industry. Yunmai Document Recognition developed by Yunmai Technology is really nice. And it is free.
'a9t9 free ocr' is an *open-source* program that does exactly what FreeOCR does, but without the spyware and actually better ocr results: http://blog.a9t9.com/p/free-ocr-software.html
Have tried three times to subscribe.... but so far nothing in my inbox to confirm??
FreeOCR could not be downloaded, because AVAST antivir deletes it.
FreeOCR to Word is infected with 6(!) drive by installations and one behaviour scanner...
Thanks a lot!
Abbyy Screenshot Reader has done a great job for me for 100s of OCR (often google books) for years. Sometimes inexpensive, sometimes it has been available free.
Mark, As a bichon frisé owner myself ( if you still remember Kicsi) I thank you for mentioning VueScan, the program I've been using for a while for scanning documents, as a text extraction tool from scanned images. Not that I will use it often, but it's good to know it exists in case I'll need it.
The FreeOCR to Word link sets off my virus scanner which is completely blocking the page. It doesn't like the favicon.ico for the page.
FreeOCR was pretty good when I tried it a few years ago. It had a very easy to use interface, which was especially helpful when trying to convert those image PDFs that aren't text.
The best OCR that was free, however (free in a manner of speaking) was that connected with OneNote. It will not only take screenshots, but also let you save them as a PNG, and also convert any text in an image into, well, text. I found of all the screenshot utilitites and free OCR, that OneNote was the best at taking the original screenshot, and then converting text inside that actual editable text. If you have MS Office, of course, it is 'free.'
Its the only program that automatically starts with Windows on my laptop, apart from antivirus and Malwarebytes.