OCR in Windows 11 (Free Online Tools)

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) converts scanned text images into the standard text for editing in document analysis. The program recognizes characters by their shape, size, and distribution. It compares these to known character shapes and distributions to identify the character. OCR software can convert documents from one file format to another that may not have the same underlying OCR technology. OCR converts text from any document to machine-readable text format, which gives output in editable files.

Everyday use of OCR is converting a paper document into PDF or searchable text files, for example, for archiving purposes or viewing on a mobile device like an e-reader. The potential applications are vast - scanning paper documents so they can be read digitally; digitizing records from archives; converting printed books and magazines into e-books; even solving crimes where old evidence has been left unreadable by time. This article will discuss how we can do OCR in Windows 11.

Photo Scan: Free OCR Software

Photo Scan is a free OCR software available for Windows 11. It is available on the Microsoft store for free. It comes up with an already built-in optical character recognition technology that helps extract text from an image file without any third-party source integration.

It enables you to use a photo from the computer by selecting files, dragging and dropping files, and selecting images from the clipboard. You will be able to extract text just by one single click of the mouse. We can download it from the Microsoft store easily.

Let's see how we can do OCR using the Photo Scan application.

• Open the Photo Scan application in Windows 11.
• After opening the software, you will see the three options to get the image.
  • Browse Photo
  • Use Camera
  • From Clipboard
• Use any method from the above and upload the picture to the Photo Scan application.
• As soon as the picture is uploaded, you will be able to see the extracted text on the right side of the application.

We can also use an online Adobe Acrobat Reader for OCR of the PDF document.

Online OCR Tools

We have seen how we can do it on a windows machine locally using optical character recognition software. Let's see how we can do it online. We will explore some of the best free OCR software available.

DocSumo OCR Tool

Docomo Online OCR Scanner is a helpful tool for users who need to convert scanned documents into different formats such as PDF, text, and Microsoft Word. It’s also beneficial for individuals who want to read old printed or handwritten documents. Let's see how we can use the DocSumo OCR tool for extracting text from the image files or pdf files.

Open the DocSumo OCR tool website in any supported browser.

Click on the Upload File and select a file of any supported file formats. It can be in an epub format or any PDF file. DocSumo supports almost all formats that contain data in visual form.

As soon as you upload the file, it will start processing and extracting text from a scanned editable document.

After completing the process, you will be able to download the extracted text file. You will get editable text files.

So, this is how we can extract the text using the DocSumo OCR tool.

OCRConvert

OCRConvert is an online OCR tool that converts physical documents into digital ones. It provides a professional and affordable service to suit all needs. OCRConvert is a one-stop-shop for anyone who wants to digitize their old materials and have them accessible, searchable, and shareable with users worldwide, word by word.

The software uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to extract text from scanned images of paper documents while giving users complete control over the text’s formatting aspects. The process of OCR conversion helps eliminate human error and enhance accuracy to bring more value and transparency to a company’s information management strategy.

Let's see how to extract text from a scanned document using OCRConvert.

Go to the OCRConvert website.

Click on the choose file and select the desired file. Select the output type and click on the Convert button.

After that, it will start extracting text from the uploaded file.

You will be able to download the extracted text by clicking on the download button.

To-text.net

To-text.net is a tool that helps you turn PDFs or images into editable text in real-time. This tool makes the process of editing and converting content fast and easy.

To-text.net uses AI to recognize text with automatic OCR (optical character recognition) technology that detects text on a scanned document and converts it into formatted text on your screen. This tool is beneficial for those who want to quickly convert a pdf file into an editable document without needing to download it or send it elsewhere for conversion. It's also an excellent option for anyone who wants to work with large amounts of data, as you don't need a high-end scanner or any software to use this app. Follow the following steps to do OCR:

Open the To-text.net website.

Upload the desired file from the device. It can be an image file or a PDF file.

After that, select the output language and click on the Convert button. It will start extracting data from an image of the scanned pdf file.

After converting, you will see the output text in the text editor and can download the text file.

IronOCR: C# Library

IronOCR is a popular OCR library for .NET developers. It provides high accuracy, fast processing, and performance in real-time for imaging, digitizing, and recognition. IronOCR has provided an easy way to handle your image data since 2006. The library is a software component that simplifies digitizing documents by automating document scanning. It also supports other processes such as OCR of scanned images, indexing of documents, and optical character recognition (OCR).

The IronOCR library is a C# API that can be used across various industries, including marketing automation, digital advertising, healthcare IT, public affairs, and security. Let's see a code example of using the IronOCR library:

Code Example

var Ocr = new IronTesseract();
using (var Input = new OcrInput())
{
    Input.AddImage(" Image.jpg");
    //... you can add any number of images
    var Result = Ocr.Read(Input);
    Console.WriteLine(Result.Text);
}

var Ocr = new IronTesseract();
using (var Input = new OcrInput())
{
    Input.AddImage(" Image.jpg");
    //... you can add any number of images
    var Result = Ocr.Read(Input);
    Console.WriteLine(Result.Text);
}

Dim Ocr = New IronTesseract()
Using Input = New OcrInput()
	Input.AddImage(" Image.jpg")
	'... you can add any number of images
	Dim Result = Ocr.Read(Input)
	Console.WriteLine(Result.Text)
End Using

Input Image

Output

Licensing

IronOCR is entirely free for development purposes. You can take advantage of its free trial. IronOCR offers three types of licensing. You can purchase according to your business size. You can opt-in for one developer, ten developers or unlimited developers. Iron software also offers you a suite of 5 Iron Software products for the price of just two. Go and grab this deal! More information is on this link.