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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.

Gimp is one of the best image editing software for Mac which is free and open source application. It is cross-platform software available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. No matter, what your profession is, graphic designer, illustrator or a photographer, this software will get the work done for you. OCR, short for Optical Character Recognition, is a system used for converting scanned or printed image files into readable text format. If you need to extract texts, images and even graphics from PDF files, the best way is select an OCR tool to digitize text on these image-based PDFs. Top 10 Best OCR Software for Mac for Easily Converting Images to Text. January 4, 2013, admin, 6 Comments. There are times that you may need to copy or edit texts from a scanned document or a PDF file.

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).

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

Image To Text Software

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.

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.

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Image Credit: Paperless sign (Shutterstock)

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1. 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).

2. 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

3. 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.

4. '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

5. Have tried three times to subscribe.... but so far nothing in my inbox to confirm??

6. 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!

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Awesome, Thanks for sharing.

Paper hasn't gone away. You've probably noticed that even in the digital era you still have stacks of hard-copy printouts, books, magazines, newspaper clippings, invoices, bills, and other paper that you have to search through by hand, one page at a time. Or you need to get an old essay that you typed or printed years ago into digital format, and you're dreading retyping it. This is where OCR (Optical Character Reading) software becomes more of a necessity than a luxury. OCR creates searchable, editable text from printed documents—and also from photos of printed documents, or PDFs made from scanning old books and papers. The more paper documents you have, the more you need OCR.

When to OCR

You use OCR for two basic functions: archiving documents or repurposing documents. For archiving, you'll typically feed your documents (receipts, business cards, handouts, or anything else) into your scanner and let your OCR software create searchable PDF files that show a scanned image of the original document but also contain—hidden underneath the scanned image—text that you can copy from the PDF and paste into other applications, or that you can search for when you need to find the original.

For repurposing, OCR typically converts a printed table into an Excel spreadsheet, or an old book either into a PDF with searchable text hidden under the page images or into a word-processing document that you can edit and reuse. High-powered OCR software can also convert printed text into HTML files that anyone can view in a browser.

Choosing OCR Software

Convert Image To Text Software

When you choose an OCR app, you'll want to decide whether you want it to run automatically, interactively, or a combination of both. When an OCR app runs automatically, all you do is click a button, walk away, and come back to find your output files already created. When it runs interactively, you typically use image-enhancement tools to straighten or sharpen an image, layout tools to block out parts of a page that you don't want in the output, and then a proofreading tool to correct any misreadings by the software. With most apps, you can choose between automation and interaction by giving you a set of interactive tools and letting you decide which ones to use. But read or reviews to see how much freedom of choice you get with each individual app.

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Behind the Scenes

Behind the interface of every OCR app is built on a character-recognition engine that does the grunt work of converting images into text. The fanciest interface can't make up for the limits of a recognition engine that isn't consistently accurate—and it's no accident that our Editors' Choice products have the strongest available recognition engines.

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Featured OCR Software Reviews:

• ABBYY FineReader 11 Review

  
  MSRP: $280.00
  

  Pros: Powerful, flexible OCR software, smoothly automated for high-volume and hands-off operations, with precision correction tools for difficult tasks. The superb Verification tool makes it easy to correct doubtful readings by comparing OCR text to the original.

  Cons: Some advanced options menus could use better explanations.

  Bottom Line: The highest-power OCR software on the market, indispensable for anyone who needs fast, accurate text-recognition.

  Read Review

• ABBYY FineReader Express Edition for Mac Review

  
  MSRP: $99.99
  

  Pros: The most accurate OCR engine available, in the simplest possible OCR interface. One-click conversion of scanned images or image files into text, worksheet, HTML, or searchable PDF output.

  Cons: No editor inside the app for correcting OCR errors or adjusting images. No support for scanners connected through a wireless network.

  Bottom Line: Despite the lack of a built-in editor or image-correction tools, still the best OCR available on the Mac.

  Read Review

• Abbyy FineReader Touch (for iPhone) Review

  
  MSRP: $2.99
  

  Pros: Lets you image documents and save them to searchable, editable form. Converts saved documents as well. Good overall OCR quality.

  Cons: Only for recent iPhones, iPads, and iPods touch. Good OCR quality requires good lighting and document positioning.

  Bottom Line: Abbyy FineReader Touch (for iPhone) lets you image documents with an iPhone and save them through the cloud to searchable, editable text.

  Read Review

• OmniPage Ultimate Review

  
  MSRP: $499.99
  

  Pros: Powerful OCR software with fine-tuned automation for high-volume corporate OCR tasks. Interface includes direct input from Dropbox, SharePoint, and other cloud services. Excellent text-to-speech module.

  Cons: Confusing and inconsistent interface.

  Bottom Line: Exceptionally high-powered OCR, with a seemingly unlimited range of features, but with a flawed interface.

  Read Review

• Prizmo (for Mac) Review

  
  MSRP: $49.95
  

  Pros: Flexible, up-to-date app. OCR for photos or scanned images. Captures photos taken from an iPhone or iPod connected to a Mac. Many options for image adjustments. Can extract text from images in any OS X app.

  Cons: Comparatively weak OCR engine. Slightly overcomplex and underdocumented workflow.

  Bottom Line: Prizmo is a terrific app for performing OCR on iPhone photos, but it has a far less effective OCR engine than ABBYY FineReader Express.

  Read Review