OCR software is an abbreviated name for Optical Character Recognition software. It is a software that has the ability to scan images into readable documents or texts. There are numerous free OCR software on the internet but there are some key features you must watch out for when selecting the most suitable one; the performance, the feature set, ease or difficulty of setting up or usage, and availability of online support.
Performance is the most important factor that you must look out for in an Optical Character Recognition software that is available without any cost. Regardless of the number of features it has, such software must accurately convert images into texts. You also need to consider the feature sets in OCR software and see if such features perfectly fit into your needs. The software you choose must be easier to set up, use and take much less time in converting images to texts; its user interface must be intuitively designed to make it easier for the user.
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Your OCR software must come with a user manual that contains frequently asked questions and their answers, set up procedures, tutorials and an online support for technical queries or problems.
1. Google Docs
Google docs is one of the best OCR app around. It allows you convert larger images and PDF files into texts within few seconds. Google docs does not place limit to the number of files you can convert every day and it also retains the original formatting of the document. Google docs automatically perform conversion of images before saving it to your computer.
This is a cloud based OCR service that allows you to upload all images or files you want to convert to documents at the same time. This software has a great character recognition accuracy, it also preserves the structure and formatting of the original image or file after conversion. Simply upload all the images into a single zip file and convert.
This is a OCR software does not provide conversion of scans and images in different formats. It supports 4 different languages – English, German, Russian, and French. You can upload not more than 50 files or images a day and your files should not be bigger than 10MB
4. The Free OCR
Unlike many other OCR software that you can use for free but offer limited free image to text conversion, this one is is entirely free and places no limit on your conversion. Over 25 languages are supported or recognized here but such do not include the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese languages. 10 images can be uploaded and converted per hour.
5. Simple OCR
This is a 100% free scan document converter that has 99% accuracy. This software can be set up readily from a scanner, and also comes with great features such as an in-built spell-checker. This software does not carry any restriction on your printed text recognition.
6. OCR Online
This is one of the most advanced OCR software you can find online for free. This software can transfer scanned images and PDF contents into a searchable text. This software comes with an incredible 153 language interface making it available worldwide. The software also restores multi-page document formats.
7. OCR Terminal
This free software converts images and PDFs in different formats into texts. This software retains the layout of documents converted and you have to register to use this free software. OCR terminal allows 20 pages of free conversion on monthly basis.
8. Top OCR
This OCR software supports all file formats for conversion to text. It also comes with great features that include image settings for adjusting brightness, colour and camera filter settings. This software supports only 11 languages though.
This is regarded as all-in-one file conversion software that is capable of converting images in different formats as well as eBooks, audios and videos into readable texts. This software is capable of retaining all the layouts and formats of the original documents on your final documents.
10. OCR Extract
OCR extract is a completely free OCR software with a difference. This software can allow you to upload different formats of images and files and these include; PDY, BMP, TIFF, JPEG, PPM, PGM, and so on; and convert them to text while the original layout and features will still be retained. This is completely free software that comes with no limitation to a number of files you can upload and convert on daily basis. This free software comes with an easy to install feature. This software supports numerous languages and your first step in vile conversion is to select the language you are converting to, select the image files and chooses the file conversion format you want it to appear by clicking on “GO-Extract text”. Multiple uploads are allowed.