Free OCR Software 23+ Best Free OCR Software for Windows & Mac 1. 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.
Compare the best OCR software for Mac of 2021 for your business. Find the highest rated OCR software for Mac pricing, reviews, free demos, trials, and more. Part of why OCR software can edit scanned documents is due to Character Recognition Software. This is what allows OCR software to both recognize and edit text on a page; this software can translate the text from a scanned document into something recognizable by a computer as text.
Here is a list of 33 free trial OCR software that converts scanned documents, images, printouts and handwritten files to editable and searchable documents. You can easily extract a text from a scanned document and export it for editing, indexing, and updating. Once a document is converted it can be effortlessly searched and found instantly.
Most of the software listed here is document management and editor programs that comes with lots of functionalities and tools. OCR engine is one of the tools included in the programs.
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Go ahead and try your favorite OCR converter, and let us know in the comment area below.
PremierOCR
Premier OCR
PremierOCR is powerful free trial OCR software which makes documents editable and searchable. It is part of PremierCompression software, document management solution for PDF documents. PremierCompression combines OCR, Image processing, advanced compression, PDF/A, web-optimization, batch multi-threading and encryption. The OCR supports processing and converting scanned images and PDFs. You can try the software for 30-days for free.
Features of PremierOCR
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista, XP, and Server 2003 – 2012
Website: Premier OCR
PDF2XL OCR
PDF2XL OCR Converter software
PDF2XL OCR is free trial OCR software which enables you to convert native or scanned PDF to Microsoft Excel. Extracting and Converting data to Excel is challenging but with PDF2XL you can do it without a problem.
Features of PDF2XL OCR converter
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista, XP, and Server 2003 – 2012
Website: PDF2XL free trial OCR Software
Cisdem OCRWizard for Mac
Cisdem OCRWizard is the best free trial OCR software designed for Mac. The software enables you to convert any PDF, scanned document or image file into editable and searchable file format. The software supports 40+ languages. The trial version allows you only to import the first 5 pages and convert the first 2 pages.
Features of Cisdem OCRWizard
Compatibility: Mac OS 10.8 and later
Website: Cisdem OCRWizard for Mac
JiNa OCR Converter
Jina Free Trial OCR
Jina OCR is free trial OCR software which helps you convert scanned images of typewritten, handwritten or printed text into editable and searchable text formats.
Main features of JiNa OCR
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista, and XP
Website: JiNa OCR Converter
Prime OCR
Prime OCR is free trial OCR software that recognizes and convert texts in image to a searchable document. The software employs PrimeOCR Job Server and can process large files without compromising the accuracy using 4 to 5 OCR engines.
Main feature of Prime OCR Engine
Compatibility: Windows
Website: Prime OCR software
TopOCR
TopOCR is an image editor and word processor software design for scanning books and magazines with scanners and document cameras. It comes with three different OCR engines. The demo version doesn’t allow you to save the OCR text output and text to speech functions.
Features of TopOCR free trial Ocr software
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: TopOCR software
Smart OCR
Smart OCR is one of the best OCR software which converts scanned documents such as text, image, and PDFs into editable file types. The software is available in two editions Smart OCR Standard and Smart OCR Pro.
Features of Smart OCR – free trial OCR software
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: Smart Free trial OCR software
Transym OCR (TOCR)
TOCR is free trial OCR software which easily converts all scanning and document types to searchable text. The software comes with high accuracy OCR engine and processes large files.
Main features of TOCR
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: TOCR free trial OCR
Symphony OCR
Symphony OCR makes any documents such as scanned documents, PDFs and email content searchable. It can easily integrate with document management system. The supported scanned documents include PDF, Tiff, e-faxes, email attachments and more. It enables you to select, copy, and paste text from the document. It supports integration with Worldox, Windows Folder structure, NetDocuments, PractiveMaster, SharePoint, ShareFile and more.
You can try the software for 30-days for free.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: Symphony OCR
ORPALIS PDF OCR
Orpalis PDF OCR
Orpalis PDF OCR is professional free trial OCR software which can convert any unsearchable document to searchable PDF. The software has two editions: Free and professional. The free edition is the trimmed version of the Professional PDF OCR which only supports PDF as input.
Main features of Orpalis PDF OCR
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: Orpalis PDF OCR
FileConvert free trial OCR software
FileConvert is PDF conversion and OCR software that turns scanned and image documents into searchable files. The software integrated lots of tools including file conversion, document separation, and automatic file routing. You can try the software for 15-days for free.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: FileConvert OCR
PaperPort professional
PaperPort OCR
PaperPort Professional is multi-purpose digital document management and organizer software. The software includes lots of productivity features such as scanning, converting, assembling, organizing and sharing photos and documents.
It also creates, views, edits, converts, and combines PDF files and forms. Furthermore, the software comes with powerful search tool which helps you find any type of documents easily whether on your local PC or network.
PaperPort Professional software includes Nuance’s leading OCR technology which helps you convert scanned images and PDF to editable text. You can download this free trial OCR software and use it for 15-days for free.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista, and XP
Website: PaperPort Professional
Wondershare PDF element
Wondershare PDF element is a popular PDF management software which enables you to create, convert, edit, and sign PDFs. If you have installed Wondershare PDF element on your PC, the software comes with OCR tool which helps you to convert scanned documents and photos to editable and searchable text. It supports multiple languages including English, Germany, French, Chinese, Spanish, Korean and more.
The software outputs converted files to Word, Text, Excel, images, HTML and EPUB formats.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista and XP
Website: Wondershare PDF Element
Soda PDF
Soda PDF OCR
Soda PDF provides complete PDF solution which comes with lots of advanced PDF management tools. It allows you view, create, convert, and edit PDF documents. In addition to these, Soda PDF has built-in OCR tools which can recognize text from scanned files, images, and PDF and convert to an editable and searchable file format such as Excel, Texts, Word and PowerPoint. The software has a dedicated OCR Menu which includes language recognition, Recognition setting and quality, PDF version type and JPEG compression quality.
It supports batch conversion and modifying text and images on PDF. Furthermore, the software allows you to select text in the image automatically or manually. You can make it recognize texts within page range or the entire text. It is also possible to customize the output and input settings such as paper size, resolution, width, height, color and so on.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista and XP
Website: Soda PDF – free trial OCR software
Wondershare PDF converter pro
Wondershare PDF Converter Pro is one of the best and full-featured PDF converter software in the market. It enables you to create PDFs from multiple file formats including to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, image, EPUB and HTML. It also converts your document such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EPUB, Images and any other files to PDF. It comes with PDF password protection tool and support Batch conversion.
Wonderhsare PDF Converter Pro integrates cutting-edge OCR tool which converts scanned PDFs to an editable file format. It recognizes 20+ OCR languages and outputs converted files to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista and XP
Website: Wondershare PDF Converter Pro
Abbyy Finereader
Abbyy Finereader is one of the best and all-in-one PDF conversion and management software. The software integrated with advanced OCR technology that can recognize and extract text from images and scanned PDF documents. You can download the software try for 30 days for free. The trial version allows you converting and comparing up to 100 pages and 3 pages at a time.
It recognizes 190+ languages including formal and artificial languages. The supported input formats including PDF, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, BMP, PCX, GIF, DjVu, XPS.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista, XP, Server 2016 – 2008, and Mac OS X
Website: Abbyy Finereader
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR for Mac
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR for Mac is an all-in-one and feature rich PDF management software. The software comes lots of tools such as PDF converter, PDF creator, password remover, compressor, and OCR. It converts PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Keynote, RTFD, ePub, Image, Text, Html. The OCR function allows you to convert any scanned images and PDFs to editable and searchable file format without disrupting the original layout and formatting. It also extracts images from files in different image formats.
It supports recognizing 200+ languages.
Compatibility: Mac OS 10.9 and later
Website: Cisdem PDF Converter OCR for Mac
Readiris
Readiris free trial OCR software
Readiris is multi-purpose and multi-feature document management software. It allows you create indexed PDF files, converts files to PDF, creates e-books, converts documents to audio, edits documents, process documents in batch, synchronizes with SharePoint, adds a digital signature and more. Moreover, Readiris is built-in with OCR software that enables you to convert PDFs and images to editable text. You can try the software for 10-days for free.
Features of Readiris free trial OCR software
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, Vista, XP, and Mac OS X
Website: Readiris OCR
ABLE2EXTRACT PROFESSIONAL
Able2Extract Professional OCR
Able2extract Professional is a software that can convert, create and edit PDF documents from various formats. One of the unique features of this software is that it supports converting PDF to AutoCAD file without compromising the layer information. The software integrated advanced OCR tool which has the ability to convert text from scanned PDFs. It supports converting scanned OCR pdf to editable word, excel, images, HTML, and PowerPoint and more.
You can download this free trial OCR Software and try it for 7-days for free.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, Mac OS and Linux
Website: Able2extract Professional
Prizmo
Prizmo is powerful scanning and OCR software designed for Mac OS. The software comes with features such as text-to-speech and editing capability. The OCR engine recognize text from scanned documents. It supports 40+ languages. The trial version is available if it is sold through the store.
Features of Prizmo free trial OCR software
Compatibility: Mac OS X
Website: Prizmo OCR for Mac
iSkysoft PDF Editor 6 Professional
iSkysoft PDF Editor is multi-functional pdf editor software which enables you to convert, create, organize PDF documents. You can also important features such as PDF markup and Sign, create and fill pdf form, secure and share documents and more.
The software comes with OCR engine which helps you to edit, delete, add and insert texts in PDF. It is also possible to edit and extract images from PDF. It supports processing multiple scanned PDF files in Batch.
Compatibility: Windows and Mac OS X
Website: iSkysoft PDF Editor
Adlib PDF Express
Adlib provides industry standard and advanced PDF rendering and assembly services. It comes in two editions: Adlib PDF Express and Adlib Enterprise. The Enterprise edition is designed particularly for large offices such as Insurance and Banking sectors, Energy, Life Sciences and more. Adlib PDF includes intelligent OCR tool that enables you to convert any documents to searchable PDFs.
Main features of Adlib PDF free trial OCR software
Compatibility: Windows and Mac OS X
Website: Adlib PDF Express
Power PDF
Power PDF is full-featured Adobe Acrobat alternative PDF management software designed by Nuance. It enables you to create, edit, annotate and share PDF documents. Moreover, it is a business standard PDF solution software comes with advanced tools and functions. The program includes OCR engine which can easily create and convert documents to searchable PDFs. It supports converting documents with complex layouts such as columns, tables, and graphics.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: Power PDF
Cvision PDF Compressor
PDFCompressor is industry standard PDF management software that can convert, compress and optimize documents. The software comes with efficient OCR engine that can make your document searchable.
Main features of PDF Compressor free trial OCR software
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: Cvision PDF compressor
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is the pioneer PDF document management software designed by Adobe. It creates and convert PDF files from any kind of file type, edits documents, compresses PDF files and more. The software integrates powerful OCR engine that can recognize text and image in scanned images and PDFs and convert to searchable and editable file type. You can use it to convert single or multiple files. It also allows you to edit the text in a document using OCR suspect. It generates a custom font that matches with your printout and supports more than 42 languages.
What Is The Best Free Ocr Software
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: Adobe Acrobat
OpenBook
OpenBook is Scanning and Reading Software which helps you convert printout and graphics based text to electronic format. It also reads the converted text which is designed particularly for people who are blind or have low vision.
Features of OpenBook
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: OpenBook scanning and reading software
FileCenter
FileCenter is a popular document management and scanning software which comes with lots of advanced features and tools. Some of the tools included in the program are scanning, organizing, convert any file to PDF, PDF editor, Universal file support, folder templates, file naming rules, desktop and network search, e-mail files and more. It easily integrates with cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and more.
FileCenter included powerful OCR engine which makes scanned documents searchable and indexable. It also extracts text from the document into Word.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: FileCenter Document Management
LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC is powerful document management system built-in with advanced features and tools. This system comes with advanced OCR software which enables you to extract text from electronic scanned documents and images. It supports raster PDF, images and multi-page TIFFs.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: LogicalDOC OCR
CapturePoint
CapturePoint is advanced document scanning software which enables you to classify, index, recognize handwriting, scan barcode documents and more. The software integrated Optical Character Recognition software which helps you make your documents searchable and editable. It auto recognizes page orientation and layout.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Website: CapturePoint
ChronoScan
ChronoScan is document scanning and OCR software that can scan and organize documents. The software has two editions: PRO and Enterprise. The free edition is free for non-commercial use. The software assists data entry and auto fields
Features of ChoronoScan
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, Server 2003/2008 and XP
Website: ChronoScan free trial OCR software
DocParser
DocParser is PDF parser software which can help you import documents and extract the data. It converts PDF to Excel, CSV, XML and JSON. The document types include Invoices, agreements, sales orders, shipping orders, notes, HR forms, Price list and more. You can try the software for 30-days for free.
The software comes with built-in OCR software that supports 46+ languages. It extracts data from scanned documents including typed, in print, written by hand. The software also makes your document editable and searchable. It sends the extracted data to any API, and export parsed data in various file formats.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, Server 2003/2008 and XP
Website: DocParser OCR PDF Scanner
ExactScan
ExactScan is a multipurpose software that scan, file, sort archive and find your digital documents. The software support 400+ scanner types. The pro edition includes OCR engine that creates searchable documents from scanned and existing PDFs. It supports autorotation, content de-skew, and batch processing. ExactScan OCR scanner software supports 25 languages.
Best Free Ocr Software For Mac
Compatibility: Mac OS and Windows
Website: ExactScan OCR Scanning
BIQE (Batch Image Quality Enhancer)
BIQE is free trial OCR software which can recognize text from scans and PDFs and change into editable digital format. It has image filters and make adjustments and support importing multiple pictures at once. Also, BIQE supports exporting multiple files types at once. The supported file types include Abbyy XML, BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPEG 2000, PDF, PNG, TIFF and ALTO XML. You can try the software for 15-days for free.
An Easy-to-use OCR Program — ApowerPDF
DownloadFirst and foremost, we recommend ApowerPDF. This is a PDF tool offering the OCR function allowing you to scan PDF files and convert them to an editable format. Moreover, it supports numerous languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese and so on. Aside from that, users can change the page range wherein they can choose all pages or pick pages that want to convert. In just a few clicks, your PDF file will be editable.
Price: $29. 95
Other OCR Software to Extract Text from Scanned PDF
ABBYY FineReader
ABBYY is an OCR software for Windows 10 that can recognize characters from the PDF file. It offers both online and desktop versions. In that case, you can work with your PDFs using your desktop or laptop. Moreover, it can recognize texts from more than 190 languages from scans and photos. Besides that, the documents can be stored in the cloud for up to 14 days.
Price: $199
Readiris
Readiris is an OCR solution that can be utilized on Windows. This software enables you to change the text from the scanned images without causing any trouble. Furthermore, it is capable of recognizing text from multiple PDF files with its batch processing feature. Apart from that, it supports saving files as several output formats.
Price: $33.56
Free Online OCR
An alternative OCR program that can extract text from the PDF and images to convert it into an editable file is Free Online OCR. As its name implies, this a free online OCR tool that can be used on most of the browsers. Two things you should note however, it enables you to convert 15 files per hour without requiring you any registration with its guest mode. Second, it only allows you to upload files of up to 15MB.
Price: Free
Capture2Text
The next tool we have is Capture2Text. This is one of the best OCR software programs great for extracting text from image files conveniently. With this OCR program, users just need to press the Windows key + Q to OCR capture. Furthermore, it is very easy to use since users just need to screenshot the part they wish to convert and then copy the text after. You can use the hotkey “Windows Key + Q” to capture the screen easily.
Price: Free
Free OCR Software
This software can be used on Windows. This software includes a convenient Windows installer. Aside from that, it uses the latest Tesseract OCR engine which recognizes more than 100 languages. It is completely compatible with Windows 7, 8, Vista and XP.
Price: Free
SimpleOCR
Ocr Pdf Mac Free
Another free tool is SimpleOCR. With it, you can scan without experiencing any delay. This tool is 99% accurate and 100% free. With this tool, you can accurately convert the document into an editable format. Apart from that, if you have several files that need to be converted, you can use its batch OCR function.
Price: Free
Boxoft Free OCR
Last OCR program recommened is Boxxoft Free OCR. This is a handy tool that can be used to extract text from image files. In that case, you can conveniently scan documents and turn them into an editable format. Furthermore, it supports multiple languages including English, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, and so on.
Price: Free
Table of Comparison
Conclusion
As shown above, these are the best OCR software that you must try. Here, we listed both paid and free tools that you can utilize depending on your needs. If you want to save money, you can use the free tools. While on the other hand, use a paid version if you want an advanced OCR function and other PDF tools. In that case, ApowerPDF best fits since it has everything you need in PDF software.