Ocr Pdf Mac Free

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When converting scanned invoices, reports or images into editable formats, OCR is required. If you are looking for the best free OCR solutions for mac like many others, we collect a list for you: a list of 12 powerful mac free ocr software or online, free OCR services to perform satisfactory OCR on digitized files for 2021.

Adobe Reader for Mac is also widely used for Mac users to view and manage PDF documents since it is a free tool. Unfortunately, this program doesn't support OCR technology. This means you won't be able to edit a scanned or image-based PDF file unless you pay for the upgraded version of Adobe Acrobat to edit or manipulate the scanned PDF document. Aspose OCR PDF To Searchable PDF Converter is a free online app to perform OCR on PDF documents you upload. Convert your scan PDF files to Searchable PDF that you can edit without installation.

Mac

Full List of Mac Free OCR

PlatformInputOutput
1. PDF OCR X CommunityOfflinePDF and ImagePDF, Text
OfflinePDF and ImageText, Image
3. OneNote OCROfflinePDF and ImageText
4. OCR App by LEAD ToolsOfflinePDF and ImageText
5. Easy Screen OCR for MacOfflineScreenshotText
6. DigitEyeOCROfflineBMP and GIFText
7. Google DocsOnlinePDF and ImagePDF, Word, ODT, RTF, Text, HTML, ePub
OnlinePDF and ImageWord, Excel, Text
OnlinePDF and ImageWord, Excel, PPT, Text, ePub, HTML, etc.
OnlinePDF and ImageWord, Excel, Text, ePub, PPT, DjVu, etc.
OnlinePDF, Image and DjVuPDF, Word, Text
OnlinePDF and ImagePDF, Word, Text, RTF

Free Try on The Best Mac OCR Program

  • Perform OCR on scanned documents and images
  • OCR files and export as 10 editable formats
  • Advanced OCR settings to improve OCR accuracy
  • Batch OCR
  • Recognize 27~200 languages
  • High quality OCR results
Free Download

6 Best Free OCR Software for Mac in 2021

There are 2 types of free OCR solutions for Mac users, either online or offline. In this part, we list 6 top free OCR software for MacOS basing on text recognition accuracy and overall features.

1. PDF OCR X Community

PDF OCR X Community is a simple drag-and-drop utility that converts single-page PDFs and images into text documents or searchable PDF files, it supports for more than 60 languages. For multi-page PDFs and batch conversion features, you need to pay its enterprise version.

Download Address: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pdf-ocr-x-community-edition/id571442933?mt=12

Advantages:

  1. Extremely easy to use;
  2. Support both PDF and image;
  3. Recognize 60 languages;

Disadvantages:

  1. Free edition only OCR single-page PDF;
  2. Formatting is messed up when working on complicate files;
  3. Relatively slow OCR process;

2. Evernote

Evernote is a popular note-syncing service, enables users to collect, nuture and share ideas across desktop and mobile platforms. One of its easily overlooked features is automatic OCR service. Users will be allowed to add images into Evernote server for automatic OCR, you may have to wait, but 10 minutes will be quite enough to finish the OCR.

Ocr

Download Address: https://evernote.com/download

Advantages:

  1. Available for all platforms (MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android);
  2. Support both PDF and image;
  3. Recognize 28 languages;

Disadvantages:

  1. Limited OCR feature when dealing with PDF (file size, pages, resolution, etc.);
  2. Relatively slow OCR processing;

Evernote OCR review, how-to guide and troubleshooting

Evernote is one of the best and most popular cross-platform note-taking apps. In this article, you will find how to use Evernote OCR and what to do if Evernote OCR is not working.

READ MORE >

3. OneNote OCR

Microsoft OneNote is a program to take and manage notes anytime and anywhere. It greatly facilitates the collaborations between team members. Not only limited to manually input texts to create notes, Microsoft OneNote also embeds the OCR feature, OneNote OCR allowing users to recognize texts from images, so the image texts can be copied and paste as editable or searchable note.

Download Address: https://www.onenote.com/download

Advantages:

  1. Available for all platforms;
  2. Support both PDF and image;

Disadvantages:

  1. Can only copy text from PDF or image, no formatting is retained;
  2. OCR fails or crashes sometimes;

How to Do OneNote OCR on Image or PDF(Mac, Windows, iPad)

An impressive feature of OneNote is its built-in capability to do OneNote OCR. Here we are going to introduce OneNote OCR, demonstrate how to OCR image or PDF with OneNote.

READ MORE >

4. OCR App by LEADTOOLS

OCR App by LEADTOOLS is a MacOS application designed to recognize and extract texts from images. Also it offers a set of tools to improve the OCR accuracy, such as tweak OCR Engine Settings, flip, reverse, adjust binarization or brightness of the image. It can also perform OCR on scanned PDFs, but only export files as text. If you want o convert uploaded files to other format with LEADTOOLS, you will need to copy and paste to the text processor accordingly.

Download Address: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/leadtools-ocr/id604393629?mt=12

Advantages:

  1. Easy to use;
  2. Advanced settings to improve OCR accuracy;
  3. Support both image and PDF;
  4. Fast OCR;

Disadvantages:

  1. Recognize only 5 languages;
  2. No formatting is retained, only text;

5. Easy Screen OCR for Mac

It is a light and simple Mac free OCR software to recognize texts from images. All you need to do is, capturing the screenshots of your file first, then performing OCR on the file to make the image text copyable. Also, it allows users to save the screenshot as PNG or PDF format. However, this free OCR software for mac only allows users to OCR 20 images for free.

Download Address: https://easyscreenocr.com/

Advantages:

  1. Easy to use;
  2. Small in size;
  3. Support to take screenshots from any files;

Disadvantages:

  1. Only 20 images can be processed with OCR;
  2. No formatting is retained;
  3. Unstable OCR accuracy;

6. DigitEyeOCR

Though DigitEyeOCR has discontinued to update for many years, for users who are using MacOS 10.10 and earlier, it is still worth a try. It is a free OCR software for mac to recognize texts from BMP and GIF images. If you want to do OCR on other image formats, you will need to convert the file to DigitEye OCR supported formats.

Download Address: https://digiteyeocr.en.softonic.com/mac

Disadvantages:

  1. Only support BMP and GIF;
  2. Unstable OCR accuracy;
  3. Relatively slow OCR process;
  4. No update for years;

6 Best online, free Services for Mac

Also, there are quite a lot of online, free OCR services for mac users, but not all of them can actually perform OCR or bring satisfactory OCR results. And here we pick 6 best free OCR tools online according to our OCR testing.

7. Google Docs

Google Docs is a service offered by Google to manage web-based documents, like creating, editing Word, Spreadsheets, presentations, even store them online for easy access on different devices. Users can perform Google OCR on images, scanned PDFs, it is fast with basically satisfactory results.

Advantages:

  1. Support images and PDF;
  2. Excellent support on output format (searchable PDF, Word, ODT, RTF, TXT, HTML, ePub);
  3. Edit files after OCR processing within Google Docs;

Disadvantages:

  1. Require several steps to finish the OCR;
  2. Unstable OCR accuracy;
  3. Take time to process OCR;

8. Online OCR

Online OCR is an online OCR service that can recognize the texts and characters from scanned files and images. It requires no software installation, what you need to do is upload the file (not exceeding size of 5MB) as guided, choose the language and output format(Word, Excel or Text), then 'Convert' to start the OCR process. Once finish, a download link will be offered to download the converted file.

Advantages:

  1. Support both image and PDF;
  2. Easy to use;
  3. Export files as Word, Excel and Text;
  4. Recognize 46 languages;

Disadvantages:

  1. Unstable OCR accuracy;
  2. Need to manually adjust formatting in the output file;
  3. Max file size limit 15 MB;

9. Online2PDF

Online2PDF is another online platform to manage PDF files, such as editing, compressing ,unlocking ,converting, merging, protecting and so on. Comparing with other online, free OCR tools, Online2pdf offers extended features to customize the output and support more output formats.

Advantages:

  1. Batch OCR;
  2. Support both image and PDF;
  3. Excellent support for output format;
  4. Allow customizing output files;

Disadvantages:

Mac Ocr Software Reviews

Ocr pdf to word mac
  1. File quantity and size limit;
  2. Recognize only 6 languages;
  3. Unstable OCR accuracy;

10. ConvertioOCR

Convertio is an online, free tool to OCR image and scanned documents, then save them as various editable formats. You can upload files from local or via url, even icloud storage accounts. It allows users to perform OCR on a multiple-language file.

Advantages:

  1. Upload files from local, URl or icloud storage services;
  2. Recognize multiple-language file;
  3. Excellent support for output formats (11 formats);
  4. Convert all or specific pages;
  5. Save converted files to Dropbox or Google Drive;

Disadvantages:

Ocr Pdf Mac Free Downloads

  1. Unstable OCR accuracy;
  2. Relatively slow OCR processs;
  3. Need to manually adjust the formatting;
  4. Only 10 pages can be done with OCR for free;

11. New OCR

New OCR can convert JPG, PNG, GIF, MBP, TIFF, PDF and DJVU files into Doc, TXT or PDF format. To improve the OCR accuracy, New OCR allows users to rotate images and analyze page layout before the OCR processing. If you want to export the files as other formats, you need to click the “Download” button at the bottom of its page to export.

Advantages:

Ocr Pdf Mac Free Online

  1. Support image, PDF and DjVu files;
  2. Export files as Word, Text and searchable PDF format;
  3. Allow to rotate or analyze page layout for more accurate OCR results;

Disadvantages:

  1. Unstable OCR accuracy;
  2. Fail to do OCR sometimes;

12. Free Online OCR

Free Online OCR is a free service enabling users to convert images, scanned PDFs into editable and searchable text, such as DOC, RTF,TXT or PDF. It will rotate the pages automatically for accurate OCR, you can get editable files with nice formatting.

Advantages:

  1. Support both image and PDF;
  2. Export files as Word, PDF, Text and RTF;

Disadvantages:

  1. Unstable OCR accuracy;
  2. Need to manually adjust formatting in the output file;

What if Mac Free OCR Tools Fall Short?

However, these online/free mac OCR tools are not suitable for all mac users, you may feel not satisfied in one way or another:

  1. There is a size limit of the files;
  2. It doesn’t support various input or output format;
  3. Risk of privacy leakages;
  4. The tool doesn’t support your expected language;
  5. The OCR result is not satisfied;
  6. It is feature limited;

...

As we all know, “free” means you cannot get everything you desire from the service, if you require higher than those free services can offer, you will need to pay. This is also true to OCR services.

Best Solution If Mac Free OCR Software/Service Not Working

Choices on paid professional OCR software for Mac users are large in quantity. But if you are looking for the one combining simplicity, versatility and affordability, Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is absolutely the best choice.

Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is a dedicated Mac OCR software to convert and create PDF, also perform OCR on scanned documents or images to make them editable & searchable. One thing makes Cisdem outperform its competitors is its high quality OCR performance：accurate OCR results and maintained original formatting.

Use Cisdem to OCR All Files Now

  • Convert PDF to 16 formats;
  • OCR scanned documents and images into Word, Excel, PPT, Keynote, Pages, etc;
  • Convert images;
  • Create PDF from virtually all documents;
  • Batch conversion;
  • High quality OCR and conversion results;
Free Download

Steps to Perform OCR on Files with Cisdem

  1. Add scanned PDF or image to Converter interface.
    Drag and drop, or click '+' to add files.
  2. Turn the OCR button ON, choose page range, file language and output format.
  3. Optional. Tweak the advanced OCR settings for more accurate results.
    Click the 'Settings' icon, a new interface will appear. You will find all the contents are marked as Texts, Images or Tables in different colorful boxes. If you want to output a part as table, remove the current mark box, click on 'Mark Tables' in the OCR applied zone, then drag a mark box to select the part you want to mark as Tables.
  4. Click “Convert” to start OCR.

So, did you think this list is helpful? Help us spread the word.

Here are the 23+ best free OCR software for windows and mac. With OCR, electronic equipment identifies shapes by detecting dark and light patterns on printed characters and then translates those into computer text via character recognition.

A text-based image is recognized and converted into an editable document by detecting the text. OCR serves two purposes: storing paper documents and reusing them.

At the same time, OCR can search for documents in order to streamline workflows and make them easier to handle, so most companies will use OCR software.

What is the best OCR software to use? We will introduce you to 23+ free OCR programs that will help you handle your files more efficiently.

23+ Best Free OCR Software for Windows & Mac

1. Symphony

Using Symphony, scanned files can be searched using the OCR technology in the back end. You can submit PDFs, TIFF files (Tagged Image File Format), e-faxes, emails, and other document types to this service. Sound forge 10 noise reduction plugin download.

Features:

  • Symphony OCR helps you to detect text from PDF files containing scanned images.
  • You can copy and paste data from the documents.
  • It allows you to search text in the document.
  • This tool can be integrated with SharePoint, ShareFile, etc.

2. FineScanner

In addition to scanning documents, FineScanner can also digitize books and convert them into a searchable format. Following the scan, you will be able to edit the output file.

Features:

Convert Pdf To Ocr Mac

Mac
  • It can read your mobile screen, including icons, links, buttons, etc.
  • FineScanner allows virtual assistant commands to get PDF, scan documents, open books.
  • Output can be shared with other people.
  • You can use it on an iPad or iPhone.

3. Text Fairy

Text Fairy is an Android app for OCR. It can view the text from photos or images taken by the camera. It can recognize print in more than 50 different languages.

Features:

  • It can extract text from scanned images.
  • This app automatically modifies the image accurately for a better result.
  • You can edit the resulted file.
  • It can convert images into PDF files.
  • Text Fairy does not show any advertisement while using it.

4. Softworks OCR

With Softworks, you can extract information from images using OCR software. As a result, it helps you minimize manual entry while providing an automated solution for your business.

Features:

  • It assists you to improve the quality of scanned documents.
  • Softworks OCR accepts numerous input sources.
  • It uses a system vision algorithm to analyze the processed page.
  • This tool can detect existing layers of text within an image or document.

5. Soda PDF

Soda PDF turns paper documents and images into editable PDF files. Multiple documents can be recognized simultaneously.

Features:

  • Soda PDF supports you to change font type, style, and size.
  • It stores files on the server for 24 hours.
  • You can use this app online and offline.
  • PDF files having images can be easily converted into plain text.
  • It encrypts the URL between the server and the browser.

6. Chronoscan

Chronoscan is an application for document processing and data extraction. Flexibility and user-friendliness are its hallmarks. Using this tool, you can scan documents in less time.

Features:

  • It allows you to scan a large volume of documents.
  • You can easily filter out text from PDF files.
  • Chronoscan allows you to upload documents to the cloud.
  • You can export all the documents to ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software.
  • It assists you to reduce data entry work.
  • This software helps you to quickly organize your documents.

7. Readiris

Ocr pdf mac os x free

A simple software package called Readiris converts text from paper or image documents automatically. This feature makes editing files easier rather than retyping them.

Features:

  • It supports numerous output formats.
  • Readiris can listen to your books in a format specified by you.
  • Compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems.
  • Chronos can assist you to edit the embedded text in an image.
  • You can export documents to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.

8. Amazon Textract

Amazon Texttract is a tool for extracting text from scanned documents. Automation of document workflow, fast processing of many documents is possible with it.

Features include:

  • It recognizes content written in form or table.
  • This tool uses API to get data from documents.
  • It automatically extracts data from forms.
  • Textract can read virtually any document.
  • Automatically identifies key information.
  • You can adjust document quality in percentage.
  • It is integrated with Amazon’s Augmented AI service for document processing.

9. Evernote Scannable

Evernote Scannable is a mobile app that lets you transcribe paper into digital files. A file can be shared with other people using this application.

Features:

  • You can scan slips, business cards, contracts, etc.
  • It automatically rotates, crops, and adjusts images.
  • Evernote allows you to export documents as JPG and PDF files.
  • You can easily extract contact details from business cards.
  • This app can be utilized on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
  • Preview images before approving them.
  • It allows you to send the converted file via email or text message.

10. Infrrd

Infrrd is a solution for OCR. You can convert documents into easily readable files with this program. Contracts, financial documents, and medical documents can be filtered using the app.

Features:

  • Infrrd app can see titles and text quickly.
  • It allows you to filter text from Infrrd using machine learning.
  • You can integrate with your current CRM (Customer Relationship Management).
  • This tool utilizes AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology to extract data from the invoice.
  • You can classify documents according to category.
  • It gives an OCR solution for all document formats.

11. Text Scanner [OCR]

Text Scanner [OCR] is an Android application that scans text. Text can be converted from images using this program. Automatically recognize characters from a photo with this tool.

Features:

  • It supports 50+ languages.
  • You can scan the handwritten paper and change it into a digital format.
  • Text Scanner [OCR] helps you to share a file with others via email.
  • You can keep the file to Google Drive.
  • It supports communication software like Google Hangouts and Google+ social media websites.

12. Scanbot SDK

The Scanbot SDK allows you to scan and create documents right from your phone. With this SDK (System Development Kit), Android and iOS projects can be easily integrated.

Features:

  • It automatically recognizes text from scanned images.
  • You can extract text from documents and convert it into searchable and editable files.
  • This app supports all major operating systems.
  • You can use it offline.
  • Scanbot SDK can understand Latin, Arabic, Asian, etc. characters.
  • You can scan PDF documents having a multi-page.

13. OCR Text Scanner

Text can be recognized in scanned documents using OCR Text Scanner. This app makes handwritten and typed documents editable by turning them into an editable format.

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Features:

  • It can recognize text in more than 30 languages.
  • You can copy text from the clipboard.
  • OCR Text Scanner encourages you to share a document via email.
  • It automatically identifies text written in the scanned document.
  • This tool helps you to save a quotation written in a magazine or book.
  • You can utilize the OCR Text Scanner online and offline.
  • OCR Text Scanner supports you to send the extracted file to other people via email.
  • It can identify typed text format.

14. Google Cloud

Text can be detected in images using the Google Cloud Vision API. You can convert PDF files, PNG files, JPEG files, etc. to machine-readable text using this tool.

Features:

  • You can use this application on a computer, an Android phone, an iPhone, an iPad, and more.
  • It can detect handwriting in images.
  • This tool can extricate and save text from uploaded images.
  • It triggers the cloud function in order to save text to online storage.
  • Google Cloud automatically image files located in the cloud.

15. OneNote

OneNote is an optical character recognition product that allows you to copy text from a printout or picture. The software allows you to make changes to the file.

Features:

  • You can turn data written in the image into text with just one click.
  • It allows you to extract text from printouts.
  • OneNote supports you to extract text from a business card.
  • You can paste copied text utilizing the keyword shortcut.

16. OnlineOCR

OnlineOCR recognizes characters and text in PDF documents and images. Over 15 images can be converted to editable text formats per hour using the software.

Features:

  • It holds more than 46 languages, including English, Chinese, French, etc.
  • OnlineOCR can control BMP (Bit Map), PNG (Portable Network Graphics), zip files, etc.
  • You can change text into Word, Excel, RTF, and plain text format.
  • This service enables you to integrate converted files into your website.

17. Adobe Acrobat

With Adobe Acrobat, you can convert scanned PDF files and images into searchable and editable documents. The fonts look similar to printouts.

Features:

  • You can instantly edit any printed document.
  • It enables you to simply cut and paste the text into other applications.
  • Acrobat allows you to export the file to Microsoft Office.
  • You can convert scanned documents to PDF files and move the data from one location to different.
  • This tool assists you to keep the look and feel of documents like the original one.

18. OmniPage Ultimate

A digital document can be easily edited and searched with OmniPage Ultimate. Almost any file format can be scanned with minimal effort.

Features:

  • Provide ready-to-use document formats.
  • You can combine this application with mobile and printers.
  • It carries a wide range of applications, including Microsoft Office, HTML, and more.
  • You can open this app from the network.
  • This app can recognize in more than 120 languages.

19. ABBYY Cloud Reader

The ABBYY Cloud Reader recognizes handwritten and printed pages. The program can recognize over 200 languages. You can use this tool to create searchable Word, Excel, PDF, etc. files from PDF/image files.

Features:

  • It supports Mobile devices and desktop PC.
  • This tool can recognize receipts and business cards.
  • ABBYY Cloud Reader gives REST (Representational State Transfer).
  • It converts recognized data into XML (Extensible Markup Language).
  • This tool gives a library for Java, .NET, iOS, and Python.

20. Cisdem pdf converter

With Cisdem, you can easily convert PDF files. Text, images, tables, and other elements can also be retained along with their original formatting using the tool. It is capable of converting PDFs to MS Office, Apple iWork, and images.

Features:

  • It assists you to scan PDF into searchable documents.
  • You can transform multiple PDFs into various document formats.
  • Generate PDF from Word, PowerPoint, HTML, EPUB, etc.
  • Supported platform: iOS.

21. Nanonets

A web service called NanoNets allows you to digitize documents and PDFs using OCR. It can be used to convert over a hundred scanned documents into formats such as XML, PDF, and others.

Features:

  • You can define a category of text for accurate detection.
  • It allows you to upload up to 50 images of each text category.
  • NanoNets automatically type out characters from carried images.
  • You can get your converted files within a few hours.
  • It can change the human-readable text into structured data using OCR.
  • This app allows you to extract information from images.

22. LightPDF

It enables you to edit scanned PDF files online by converting them to editable text formats. Adding files is as easy as clicking a button.

Features:

  • It allows you to select more than one language for recognizing text.
  • This tool encrypts your personal information.
  • You can turn images and PDF into PPT, TXT, RTF, etc. formats.
  • LightPDF provides support on the phone.
  • You can scan files having more than 30 MB in size.

23. Ocr.space

A service called OCR.space is used to convert text-containing images into editable formats. Furthermore, you can get PDF text through this site.

Features:

  • It provides you to choose a specific language for your document.
  • This service can also change a screenshot of text documents.
  • You can use Ocr.space without any registration.
  • Ocr.space enables you to see an editable file into a multi-column text format.
  • It does not store your private data on the server.

24. Easy Screen OCR

You can convert images into editable text files with Easy Screen OCR. A screenshot can be converted into text using this software.

Features:

  • It helps with a drag and drop facility to upload files.
  • Easy Screen OCR removes uploaded files within 30 minutes.
  • You can select text from images without registration.
  • This service uses Google’s learning service to keep your cloud data safe.
  • You can add up to five pictures for the conversion.
  • It can recognize 100+ languages.
  • Easy Screen OCR allows you to set a shortcut for easy access.