Whether you run a business or not, you've already experienced the hassle of PDF files non-editable files! You know, when you have to fill out a contract or sign a document before sending it back...
Fortunately, there is a way to turn a non-editable file into an editable document: OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. These tools can identify the characters inside an image and convert them into editable text. You save time, human resources, and increase productivity.
So, if you're faced with a non-editable document, here are 13 OCR programs that will come to your rescue!
1. OmniPage by Kofax
OmniPage helps you turn paper, PDFs and images into digital files. You can convert them into PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML or ePub formats.
The tool also offers a mobile app that lets you capture images with your smartphone to convert them into text documents.
Its key strength: automation! With OmniPage, you can set up workflows to run your recurring optical recognition tasks. It also allows you to schedule batch processing of large numbers of files from emails or folders.
OmniPage supports more than 120 languages and integrates with Amazon Kindle. You can therefore send converted documents directly to the e‑reader.
2. ABBYY FineReader
Solution that integrates AI-based OCR technology, ABBYY FineReader facilitates the conversion and editing of PDF files. In a few seconds, you can scan and retrieve documents, as well as protect and share them within the same workflow.
Its strength lies in its long experience: after 28 years on the market, the tool has developed significantly and currently supports 198 languages!
To facilitate collaborative work, ABBYY allows you to annotate any part of the PDF file using a text box. You can also comment on annotations or reply to comments. It is even possible to collect multiple digital signatures on the document.
Another very practical feature: the removal of text added by OCR, metadata, or links. This prevents you from accidentally sharing confidential data in a PDF file.
3. Simple OCR
Are you looking for OCR software for personal use? SimpleOCR is what you need! With its dictionary capable of recognizing more than 120,000 words, it can easily transform your locked files into text documents to make editing easier.
If needed, you can even add new words using the text editor.
Its “despeckle” function increases the accuracy of blurry text to make recognition easier. It also supports several formatting elements like italics, underline, and bold, so you can preserve the original formatting of documents.
Do you only want to isolate part of the text? That’s possible! SimpleOCR offers the ability to target a specific area of an image and extract the written content.
Thanks to the spell checker integrated, you can correct errors in the document you convert. The converted files are then saved in DOC or TXT formats.
Its asset: a royalty-free OCR SDK is available to enable developers to integrate the tool into custom applications.
4. Readiris
With Readiris, you convert your files to PDF, DOC, JPEG, RTF, PNG, JPEG or PPT. But the tool stands out from its competitors by offering the ability to convert documents into audio files : .mp3 and .wav.
It allows you to extract, edit, annotate, protect and sign your files. Prefer speaking to writing? Readiris integrates voice recognition, allowing you to dictate corrections and comments in your documents.
Among the other standout features of this OCR software are: batch document conversion, barcode reading and encoding, and splitting and merging your PDFs.
Finally, you can edit the text contained in images in over 130 languages.
5. Online OCR
With Online OCR, no need to download any software. From the site, you can convert PDF and image files into editable text. The tool can also process BNP and ZIP files. Convenient and easy to use!
Texts are converted to Word, Excel or RTF formats. The site recognizes characters from more than 46 languages and can process over 15 images per hour.
What sets Online OCR apart? Converted files can be easily integrated into your website.
6. New OCR
New OCR supports file formats such as JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, PDF, DjVu and many others.
Unlike other free software, there is no limit on the number of files to process. It can recognize 106 languages, fonts, mathematical equations and old lexicons such as Old French, Breton, Occitan or Greek. Great if you have unusual texts to edit…
Even in landscape orientation or with poorly scanned or photographed images, New OCR can analyze the layout and recognize text spread across multiple columns.
After converting your file, you can choose to copy it to the clipboard, download it, edit it directly in Google Docs or translate with Google or Bing Translate. You can also share documents on Facebook or Twitter with one click.
7. Tesseract
Published under the Apache license, the OCR software Tesseract supports different output formats: plain text, HTML, PDF, TSV. Available in over 100 languages, it also detects and handles documents without spaces or with curved lines.
Thanks to linguistic analysis, Tesseract determines the most likely words from characters. It can also recognize and correct small caps and fuzzy spacing. This lets you identify and reduce inaccuracies in scanned files.
Tesseract's special feature? You can train the software to detect other scripts and languages!
8. Amazon Textract
The OCR software Textract, made by Amazon, has a special feature that sets it apart from other tools. Called SCATTER (Selective Context Attentional Scene Text Recognizer), it uses machine learning to recognize text contained in complex backgrounds of digitized images.
Amazon Textract can detect different currency symbols, characters, the rows and columns of large tables, and read data from various forms in high resolution.
Cloud-based, the software can even recognize handwriting.
9. LightPDF
Useful for convert files JPG, PNG and PDF to text, LightPDF requires no registration or software download. You simply drag your file directly into the website interface, then select the language to recognize before clicking 'Convert'. You instantly get the converted file.
In terms of security, note that all files handled by the service are automatically deleted.
10. Rossum
Pepsico, Siemens, Bosch, Veolia… Very large companies trust Rossum !
This OCR software is specialized in scanning and processing invoices between you and your partners. Based on AI, the tool scans documents for key information and then exports them to your ERP, CRM, or any other application used internally.
It is a perfect tool for companies that process a large number of paper invoices and have significant scanning needs.
11. Nanonets
Another AI-based OCR software! Nanonets It automates data capture for intelligent processing of documents such as invoices, receipts, and identity documents. Additionally, the tool relies on machine learning to extract the relevant information.
With Nanonets, you can easily digitize documents, extract data fields, and integrate them into your everyday applications via APIs. This OCR software also lets you create automated workflows, notably with Zapier. Its goal: to help you increase productivity in your administrative management.
12. Docsumo
Like Nanonets, Docsumo it uses a combination of AI and machine learning to extract and process the data contained in a file. The data is then converted into various formats. You can also set rules to validate the data to be transcribed.
The tool automatically classifies your documents into categories that you configure. It also integrates with your company's internal tools, such as Salesforce, Google Drive, Zapier, Dropbox, or Webhooks.
Docsumo's advantage? A real-time fraud detection feature to identify documents that pose a threat to your operations.
13. Docparser
Cloud-based OCR tool, Docparser can extract data by region, from a document or a table. Perfect for recognizing phone numbers, email addresses, prices, and other specific information contained in an invoice or accounting file.
You can leverage its barcode and QR code reading technology to store or transmit documents via other applications.
With this list, you will surely find the OCR software suited to your needs!
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