Comments on: The 3 Best Free OCR Tools To Convert Your Files Back Into Editable Documents http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/ Cool Websites, Software and Internet Tips Tue, 21 May 2013 14:58:37 +0000 hourly 1 By: Pramila http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1205993 Pramila Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:02:56 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1205993 Does any of these Open Source software’s have scheduling feature. Because OCR’ing big files and numerous of them take long time. So I am thinking of scheduling them. The feature that ABBY Prof.Edition has?

Thanks,

]]> By: Oron http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1195794 Oron Thu, 02 Aug 2012 19:17:36 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1195794 The best two packages bar none for accuracy, layout preservation etc (not necessarily for speed or ease of use) are Abbyy FineReader Pro and Nuance OmniPage Professional. Personally, I prefer the Abbyy product which is much more elegant and flexible (allowing you, for example, to define specific character sets which can enhance the accuracy of the document). However, the Nuance product is also very good.
Another big player is IRIS, whose products are are geared towards “productivity” rather than for accuracy. They are much faster, and most of the IRIS packages are largely “hands off” (no interactive layout recognition or spell checking, for example). This is suitable for those who are scanning into searchable PDFs, where absolute accuracy is not paramount, but speed is!

]]> By: Chris Hoffman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1195031 Chris Hoffman Wed, 01 Aug 2012 10:24:28 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1195031 Thanks for sharing. It’s open source, which is pretty awesome.

]]> By: Dave http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1192759 Dave Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:41:26 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1192759 GT Text is also very good.
It supports Chinese (just downloading the language in preferences)
Japanese and a myriad of languages
http://gttext.googlecode.com

]]> By: Chris Hoffman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1188733 Chris Hoffman Tue, 17 Jul 2012 02:29:19 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1188733 I’m not sure what the best paid product to buy is either — you might try asking on MakeUseOf Answers to get more feedback: http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/

I’m sure you can upgrade to the full version though — since it’s just a matter of paying for the full version and downloading it.

]]> By: Thalita http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1187051 Thalita Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:22:32 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1187051 Hi! I also use Sprint but, probably, for big projects with a lot of formatting and complex layout I need a full product that will save the original structure and convert pdf. Not sure what product to buy, do you know if I can upgrade from Sprint (and if it is cheaper) to complete version of finereader ?

]]> By: Chris Hoffman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1183255 Chris Hoffman Thu, 21 Jun 2012 23:19:28 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1183255 I haven’t used any commercial OCR programs myself, so I don’t feel comfortable recommending any specific ones.

You should ask this question in MakeUseOf Answers: http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/

The question will get more attention and people with experience can give you a better answer!

]]> By: Chris Hoffman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1183253 Chris Hoffman Thu, 21 Jun 2012 23:16:56 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1183253 Handwritten text is a much harder problem, as handwritten characters aren’t as distinct as typed ones. It’s difficult to find a program that will work well for this.

You might try SoftWriting, which has a free trial: http://www.charactell.com/SoftWriting.html

You might also try SimpleOCR, which seems to have this feature — but it doesn’t seem to work very well: http://www.simpleocr.com/Download.asp

]]> By: Chris Hoffman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1183251 Chris Hoffman Thu, 21 Jun 2012 23:13:22 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1183251 Apparently it isn’t designed for handwritten text, so it may not be the ideal solution. Here’s the official answer to your question:

http://nuance.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/828/~/does-omnipage-recognize-handwritten-text%3F

]]> By: Frank http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1183230 Frank Thu, 21 Jun 2012 21:05:18 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1183230 I like to professionally use OCR (50 pages/day), but i don’t like to spend thousands of dollars; what is a good program to buy? Is Omnipage the best option?

Thanks, Frank

]]> By: Jackie Freeman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1183175 Jackie Freeman Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:47:02 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1183175 I need a program to scan & read handwritten and digital text, convert it to pdf, searchable and networkable.

]]> By: Jackie Freeman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1183172 Jackie Freeman Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:43:55 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1183172 Does OminPage read handwritten text?

]]> By: Jackie Freeman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1183168 Jackie Freeman Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:43:19 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1183168 Does OmniPage read handwritten text?

]]> By: Chris Hoffman http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1181413 Chris Hoffman Fri, 15 Jun 2012 06:59:02 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1181413 Thanks, great tip!

It’s clear that Google Docs is supposed to be a very basic OCR tool, not an industrial-strength one.

]]> By: mathematrucker http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-ocr-tools-convert-files-editable-documents/#comment-1180514 mathematrucker Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:20:37 +0000 http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=102211#comment-1180514 I agree Chris. Also note, since the ten-page restriction applies only to PDF format there could be a simple workaround. There might be another multipage file format such as TIFF that a person could convert their PDF to before uploading.

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