There are several OCR Conversion Tools to choose from; what is best depends on the final output you are expecting
Purpose 1 – Convert PDF / Image File to other editable formats
Purpose 2 – Extract Text from PDF / Image File
Convert PDF / Image File to other editable formats (Preserve Original Formatting)
Recommended Option – Use OnlineOCR.net
- You can register for Free on their website which gives you access to OCR up to 25 Pages
- Create a registered username and password on their website
- Once logged in; you are redirected to the Dashboard
- The Simple Interface on the site is self explanatory;
- There are large number of language options to choose from
- Multiple Output formats can be selected
- Selective Page numbers can also be defined
- For multiples files; there is an excellent option to upload them as ZIP Files
- The feature that sets OnlineOCR apart from the rest is that the converted document restores up to 90% of the original document formatting
If your OCR Conversion requirement is beyond the Free Limit of 25 Pages; they have several economical pricing packages to choose from. If the requirement is business critical; I would suggest you look no further and proceed with the petty purchase to achieve fantastic results
In addition; they also have a highly responsive support team; just in case you run into any trouble with the features
Extract Text from PDF / Image File (Formatting is not preserved)
Recommended Option 1 – Using Google Docs (Free)
- Proceed to docs.google.com or drive.google.com. You will need to sign into your google account before being able to use this feature
- Click the right-most icon as displayed and ensure the option ‘Convert Text from uploaded PDF and Image files’ is selected
- Upload the Image or PDF file by clicking the Red Icon
- Select the desired Document Language and Click Start Upload
- Once done; open the document from Google Docs
- Your original document / image will be followed by OCR Text than be freely edited / saved to another document format
- Use the File Menu from Google Docs to Download as other editable formats
Recommended Option 2 – Using Adobe Professional (Paid Software)
- You can use Adobe Professional directly with a Scanner to OCR Images to create Searchable PDFs
- You can also manually select files or collection of files in folders to OCR them
- You can further save the resulting PDF to editable formats like Word. But the chances of the original formatting to be preserved is minimal
