Top 5 Best Free OCR tools to Extract Useful Information from an Image
It might happen that you have worked in an office equipped with a traditional scanner before, you probably thought about the implication of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) more than once.
Are you looking for information about the OCR and its uses? We have explained the OC, common uses, as well as some of the best tools that uses OCR.
What is OCR?
In the sense of the word, OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is a far-reaching innovation to perceive text within images, such as verified recordings and photos.
OCR innovation is used to modify virtually any type of image with compound, transcribed or machine-related content information.
OCR technology came to prominence in the mid-1990s, when efforts were made to digitize old written papers, and since then, innovation has undergone several upgrades.
Nowadays, the innovation in the technology increase in the perfection of the OCR precision.
Most common uses of OCR technology
Probably the most notable use case for OCR is the conversion of printed paper files into machine-decipherable content, which is editable.
When an audited paper report undergoes OCR handling, the contents of the file can be modified with word processors such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
Before the OCR innovation was available, the most important alternative to digitizing printed paper files was to physically recompose the content. This was not only extremely tedious, but also accompanied mistakes and composing errors.
OCR is routinely used as a "disguised" innovation, fueling many remarkable settings and administrations in our daily lives. Less-known but significant uses for OCR innovation include computerization of pieces of information, ordering records for web indexes, programmed license plate recognition, and helping the blind and visually impaired.
OCR innovations have proved extremely helpful in digitizing remarkable essays and messages, which have now been transformed into fully accessible configurations, simplifying and accelerating access to these earlier fonts.
Below, we have mentioned some of the best online Optical Character Recognition applications.
1. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/acrobat/how-to/ocr-software-convert-pdf-to-text.html
Adobe Acrobat DC has all the necessary qualities and has an amazing selection of features and alternatives, regardless of whether the cost is slightly more extreme than some of its competitors.
For all OCR features, you have to opt for the pro form of Adobe Acrobat website.
The DC, by the way, means "Document Cloud," and everything fits in pretty perfectly with Adobe's cloud layout if you need to access your records from any PC.
Obviously, there's also a smooth and consistent connection to everything else that Adobe does, so you should seriously think about it if you're now using a ton of other Adobe applications like Photoshop.
In case you are satisfied with the Pro-Form of Adobe Acrobat DC, you will get all the OCR screws in addition to the ability to record comments and reviews, a special table filtering device, the alternative of quickly analyzing two archives together, and much more.
Reports can be edited directly on the screen just seconds after viewing.
2. Prepostseo’s Image to Text Converter
https://www.prepostseo.com/image-to-text
If you want a free and quick tool to convert the images into the editable text then here is the best online converter tool.
The Image to Text converter by Prepostseo provides the option of uploading the image to convert into the text immediately.
However, there are some more methods including the pasting of link of the image that you want to convert.
Through pasting the link, it would automatically convert it into the text and gives back you the result.
This tool is completely free of cost and you don’t need to register your account on the website.
3. Omni Page Ultimate
https://www.kofax.com/Products/omnipage/ultimate
This is another powerful tool which features the optical character recognition (OCR). The Omni Page Ultimate is useful in different websites and purposes.
Whether you want to use it for converting the images into the text or you want it to integrate with your software, the Omni Page Ultimate can help you.
It’s not free but you can get a free trial but the premium tool is available at affordable prices.
4. Abbyy Reader
Abbyy has been helping organizations manage archives for a long, long time, and the recent adaptation of its FineReader website shows that it is probably as extensive as one would need for an independent company, even if carefree customers may lean toward something lighter.
You get all the devices you need to take paper reports off the scanner and make them fully meaningful, convenient to sort out and digitize.
If you need to switch clunky to groups of reports, FineReader can do it. It can handle a large group of return designs and 192 different dialects gracefully and there are versatile applications even if you need to check your phone a lot.
The product is not the most up-to-date we have ever seen, but it is flawless, utilizable, and manages the job absolutely well.
Abbyy FineReader has earned a solid reputation as perhaps the ideal choice in the OCR space, and you can use a free preview to check that all the advertising is targeted.
The product starts at $199.99 for the standard form, which gives you one-time, uninterrupted permission to make OCR changes and change PDFs.
The step toward corporate adaptation includes the ability to view archives and make computerized changes in clusters for $299.99.
5. Rossum
Rossum offers an OCR feature with a difference, as it aims to verify requests for key data to be fed into the program you are using.
This could make them particularly valuable for companies with an enormous number of calls for tenders, in particular for temporary workers and suppliers who are regularly in paper form.
The product works by using AI to check the report for key data, as opposed to using a layout design, which helps to arrange different requests in general to introduce data in different ways.
Although this could make them immensely valuable, their limited scope implies that they are limited in their application in different regions where archives or images need to be checked or in any case converted to editable content.
In fact, Rossum still has a reasonable reason and works toward a specific need, and will not show any uncertainty about how important it is for organizations to simply and effectively filter out numbers instead of basically working with text.
Since it works on a new route for the archives you use and the information you have to sweep and pay for, there is no estimate of the level rate and you will have to contact the organization to make an explanation.
However, a free advance version is available to check if it meets your needs.
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Abi Fawcus is a freelance UX Consultant, Website Designer, Logo Designer and Graphic Designer based in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Contact me for more information.