Free Online OCR Tool: Easily Recognize Scanned PDFs
10 February 2024 Senior Product Manager
Summary
Learn how to convert scanned PDFs into editable formats using OCR software. Discover what OCR technology is and find the best free online recognition software in this article.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a technology that converts pictures or handwritten content into text. It became popular in the early 1990s and is primarily used for digitizing historical newspapers. Many OCR recognition software now offers near-perfect text recognition accuracy. Renee PDF Aide, for example, handles complex documents effectively.
When using OCR text recognition software for document analysis, the fonts and characters will be compared with those in the database. Despite its convenience, OCR technology may not achieve 100% accuracy, requiring manual review and modification after recognition.
OCR recognition is widely used in document processing. It can read text from scanned documents or images, recognize line breaks, split columns and graphics, and enable text search by keywords. Additionally, it allows for document editing and offers a time-saving advantage. Character recognition is a simple process that can be completed in seconds, making text search easier than image search.
If you are working as a lawyer, doctor or teacher, there will be a lot of handwritten materials or notes in your daily work, using OCR can provide a good help.
The primary use of OCR technology is to convert paper documents into editable text documents. This enables direct editing using software like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Although not widely used, OCR has become prevalent in various services and fields in our daily lives.
For example, the following common application scenarios:
- Data entry for commercial documents such as cheques, passports, invoices, bank statements and receipts.
- Automatic license plate recognition.
- At the airport, it is used for passport identification and information extraction.
- Extract business card information into your contacts list.
- Indexed documents for search engines.
- The text content of newspapers or written documents needs to be extracted.
After understanding OCR technology, you can comprehend why it recognizes PDF scans. While regular PDF files can be converted into editable formats like Word directly, scanned PDFs require OCR technology. To learn more, please read the following introduction.
PDF documents can vary in nature as they can be created from various sources and devices. There are two main types: electronically created using PDF creation software and those created by scanners or photographic imaging equipment.
A scanned PDF is different from a normal PDF file created from a Word document. The scanned PDF treats the content as an image, making it unable to be copied. To convert it into an editable and searchable Word document, you need the right PDF conversion software. To distinguish between scanned PDFs and ordinary PDF files, here are three simple ways:
1. Select text
If it is a scanned PDF file, you cannot select any text from it, only an area of the image; if it is an ordinary PDF file, you can select and copy text at will.
2. Zoom in on PDF pages
Please enlarge the PDF file gradually. Scanned PDFs may appear blurry or pixelated, but normal PDFs maintain clarity even when zoomed in.
3. Check the document properties
To determine the font used in a scanned PDF document, open it in Adobe Reader and check the document properties. As scanned PDFs only contain image content, font information will not be displayed. On the other hand, regular PDF documents will show the fonts used in the “Document Properties”.
Finally, if you want to identify the scanned PDF, you can quickly identify it through the online OCR software introduced below.
The OCR online conversion tool efficiently recognizes text in PDF scans and images, enabling you to export them as text. Online conversion tools have the advantage of not requiring software downloads, but they do have limitations and shortcomings that should not be overlooked.
Cons of OCR Online Converter Tool:
- Text recognition accuracy is low.
- Uploaded file size is limited.
- Conversion speed is slow.
- Uploaded files may be leaked.
The ocr.space online conversion tool is free to use and supports the conversion of JPG, PNG, GIF images or PDF documents. It also supports more than twenty OCR languages. The uploaded file cannot exceed 5MB.
OCR conversion link: https://ocr.space/
NewOCR.com can provide free OCR text recognition services. In addition to PDF file recognition, it also supports JPEG, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP, PBM, PGM, PPM, PCX and other file formats. The output file format can be TXT, Word or PDF. After uploading the PDF file, you can preview the recognition effect, or rotate the page, etc.
OCR conversion link: https://www.newocr.com/
Convertio can effectively help you convert scanned PDF files into more than ten document formats such as Word, TXT, and Excel. During operation, you can upload PDF from computer, Google Drive, URL, etc., then select the corresponding recognition language and output format, and finally convert and download. However, the online tool supports conversion of 10 pages, beyond which you need to register.
OCR conversion link: https://convertio.co/ocr/
PDF2Go is a convenient service, you can upload PDF files or pictures, and click “Start” to quickly convert them to TXT text. The conversion process may take a long time, you need to be patient. If you have other editing needs, you can also do further editing after the conversion is completed. This tool also provides some basic editing functions.
OCR conversion link: https://www.pdf2go.com/pdf-to-text
OCRConvert.com is a free OCR online tool that quickly helps you convert scanned PDF files or pictures to text documents. The tool supports file conversion in PDF, GIF, BMP, JPEG, PNG formats. Like other OCR online conversion tools, uploaded files are limited, you cannot upload files over 5MB, and you are allowed to upload up to 5 files at a time. The operation interface is very concise, and the operation is also very simple.
OCR conversion link: https://www.ocrconvert.com/
If the above online OCR conversion tools cannot meet your higher PDF editing needs, you can try Renee PDF Aide introduced below.
Renee PDF Aide integrates advanced OCR technology to convert scanned PDFs into various editable file formats, enhancing work efficiency. It supports conversion to
Word/Excel/PowerPoint/EPUB/Image/HTML/TXT and other common formats, achieving speeds of up to 80 pages per minute. Additionally, Renee PDF Aide can convert text from individual image files into text format. In OCR mode, selecting the correct recognition language greatly improves character recognition accuracy. Renee PDF Aide supports English/French/German/Italian/Spanish/Portuguese/Chinese/Korean/Japanese and other languages, with the ability to install new languages. The software has a user-friendly interface, making it easy for computer novices to use. Compared to online conversion tools, Renee PDF Aide offers higher security, no limitations on PDF file size, and efficient conversion. Prior to performing operations, the software must be installed on your computer.
Supported OS:
Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP (32-bit and 64-bit)Hot Topic - ADsRenee PDF Aide - Powerful PDF Editing Tool 
Easy to use Friendly to computer beginners
Multifunctional Encrypt/decrypt/split/merge/add watermark
Safe Protect PDF with AES256 algorithms
Quick Edit/convert dozens of PDF files in batch
Compatible Convert PDF to Excel/PowerPoint/Text, etc.
Easy Use with simple steps
Functional Encrypt/decrypt/split/merge/watermark
Safe Protect PDF with AES256 algorithms
Free TrialFree TrialNow 800 people have obtained the free version!The specific operation steps are as follows:
① After installing the software, click “Convert PDF“.
② Click “Add File” to import the scanned PDF file.
③ Click the document format to be converted, such as “Word“. Then check “Enable OCR” > “A: Recognize text in pictures or PDF scans” in the lower left corner of the software.
tipsAfter choosing to enable OCR, Renee PDF Aide will provide three OCR text recognition modes, you need to choose one of them:
- A: Recognize text in pictures or PDF scans : This option defaults that the text on the PDF page is on the picture/scanned image, and the program will directly use the OCR function (selecting the corresponding language will have a better effect) to recognize the text on the file and then output it.
- B: Identify built-in fonts (to avoid garbled characters) : This option defaults to using embedded fonts for the text on the PDF page. The program will convert these fonts into pictures, and then use the OCR function (selecting the corresponding language will be better) to recognize the text conversion output of the file.
- A+B (slower) : The program automatically recognizes whether the font in the file is a picture or a PDF embedded font, and then converts and outputs it. But the recognition is time-consuming, and the conversion time will be longer.
④ Finally, select the location to save the file and click “Convert” to complete the operation.
If the file to be converted is a picture, you can directly select the “OCR” function.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Follow the same steps, select “PDF Converter”, and then directly click the “OCR” function.
② Click “Add File” to add the picture to be converted, and then select the save location of the output file under Output Settings.
③ Click “OCR Language” to select the language corresponding to the picture; and select the direction of the picture.
④ Finally, click “Convert”. The file format converted by the software is TXT format by default.
Renee PDF Aide has two main functions. It can convert PDF files to commonly used formats and perform basic editing operations on PDF files. The software’s “PDF toolset” offers various editing and repair functions. It can repair damaged files, optimize loading time for large files, split multi-page files, combine specified pages into one PDF file, and adjust files. Additionally, it allows you to encrypt/decrypt PDF files and add personal watermarks to exclusive files.
Note: The editing features described below are included in the PDF toolset.
1. Repair abnormal PDF files
Mishandling is likely to cause various issues with PDF files, such as failing to open or getting corrupted. The “Repair” function of Renee PDF Aide is mainly aimed at the above two problems, helping you to fix them quickly.
● Mode 1: Provide high-efficiency damage repair, suitable for customers who require fast repair.
● Mode 2: Repair files more accurately and deeply, and the repair time will be longer.
2. Optimize PDF files
Sometimes when you encounter a large PDF file, it will take a relatively long time to open the file. In order to save time, you can use the “Optimize” function to compress the PDF of a large file so that it can be opened quickly.
● Online page loading speed (linearize): This optimization option is suitable for smoother loading of PDFs on web pages.
● Compress images: Compress images in PDF files.
● Compress data stream: Compress PDF file data stream. (PDF file capacity becomes smaller)
3. Split PDF files
Splitting a PDF file is to split a multi-page PDF into multiple small PDF files according to requirements; or to remove redundant pages and only split out specified pages.
Split mode:
● Split into multiple smaller files.
● Keep specified pages (remove unnecessary).
4. Merge PDF files
Merge PDF files is a tool used to combine multiple PDF files into one. You can specify which pages to merge or merge all pages at once. The
"Use Builder" option provides more detailed selections for page consolidation. 5. Rotate PDF files
If you find that the angle is incorrect after opening the PDF file, you can also adjust it through this software. Adjust the display angle of the PDF file, the angle options are 90, 180, 270.
6. Encrypt/decrypt PDF files
In the encrypted PDF file option, you can add password protection to the file to ensure that it will not be directly opened and viewed by a third party. In addition, you can set the relevant editing and printing permissions of the encrypted PDF file, such as whether to allow printing, modification, text and image extraction, annotation, form filling and signature.
In addition, if you forget the password of the PDF file, you can quickly decrypt it by clicking the “Decrypt PDF” option.
7. Add watermark to PDF
In order to protect the PDF file from being stolen and used by others, and to protect the ownership of the file, you can add a personal watermark to the PDF. With Renee PDF Aide, you can add foreground/background watermarks to PDF files, and you can choose images and PDF files for watermarks.
When adding, you can choose to add a watermark (cover the surface) and add a background watermark. (that is, foreground watermark and background watermark), and finally click “Convert”.
8. Image to PDF
The “Image to PDF” function in the software refers to converting multiple or single images into one or more PDF files.
● Merge into one file: generate all the added pictures into one PDF file, and one picture generates one page.
● One image and one PDF file: One image generates one PDF file.
Summarize
OCR text recognition technology has greatly facilitated our daily lives and work by enabling us to swiftly input scanned texts or images into computers. When selecting an OCR recognition tool, you have the option of an online tool or a dedicated software installation. Online OCR tools are not restricted by operating systems and can be used on any system. However, for enhanced security and improved conversion efficiency and speed, it is advisable to install professional OCR recognition software like Renee PDF Aide.
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