Ocr

[TR7V8MIKE]

Hi,

What is the best OCR software for converting image to text on a Mac?

 

[IWT]

Misunderstood question

 

[MacInWin]

What, exactly, are you trying to do? What image type? PDFs can usually be converted by selecting the text, copy it, and then paste it to a word processor of choice.

 

[pm-r]

Hi,

What is the best OCR software for converting image to text on a Mac?

I haven't needed to do any for quite some time, but when I did or I always found ABBYY FineReader to be about the most accurate and fastest and affordablest.

I'm not up to date as to whether it's still one of the top OCR applications.


- Patrick
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[IWT]

Yes; I don't quite follow what the OP is after.

I started a long reply - post#2 - then realised that my response made no sense unless I was viewing the question in a particular way. I removed my answer, but can't remove the post, hence my remark "Misunderstood question".

We need help TR7V8MIKE, in the form of what exactly you want to achieve. Please post back.

Ian

 

[krs]

To me it seems pretty straight forward what the OP is after.

He/she has scanned documents with text on them (ie text as images) and wants to find the best Mac software to convert that image with text to "real text", ie text that can be edited with a word processor.
The title of the thread is OCR.......Optical Character Recognition.... isn't that all OCR software does?

I use OCR built into Adobe Acrobat, but I think Patrick's suggestion ABBYY Fine Reader is a great one.
I have used that in the past myself and it was fine.
With any of these programs one still has to carefully proofread them, I find thre are certain letter combinations they get wrong - for instance an "rn" often shows up as an "m" and for the "fi" combination I usually get a blank space.
It helps if the scan is very clear - maybe a tiff scan is better than a jpeg scan.

 

[MacInWin]

Ah, but the question is, what format? Is the image the OP talking about a PDF, JPG, TIFF, or something else. The OP never mentioned scanner and I thought it was pretty clear the image came from the internet, or had been sent to the OP by email. It may be a camera picture of the text. Until (and unless) the OP tells us, we have no way of knowing exactly what is wanted. But it's been almost a month since the OP posted so I bet the problem is solved.

 

[krs]

Ah, but the question is, what format? Is the image the OP talking about a PDF, JPG, TIFF, or something else. The OP never mentioned scanner and I thought it was pretty clear the image came from the internet, or had been sent to the OP by email. It may be a camera picture of the text. Until (and unless) the OP tells us, we have no way of knowing exactly what is wanted. But it's been almost a month since the OP posted so I bet the problem is solved.

I don't think any of that makes any difference.
OCR software should take any image type or pdf, scanned or from the net or even a camera picture and create editable text.
The only selection is typically the language.

For ABBYY the description is:

ABBYY FineReader Pro for Mac offers a single, comprehensive solution for a wide variety of tasks: it is an ideal for everyone who scans and converts digital copies of paper documents or PDFs, and for those who need to correct or reuse information from documents, create searchable archives or e-books.

 

[Rod]

I had in mind a free OCR by LeadTools and did a quick search for it resulting in this page which pretty much lists them all including a recommendation for ABBYY if you want to get serious. Check it out here; Top 10 Free OCR Software For Mac

 

[pm-r]

I just thought I should mention that the Abbyy FineReader for Mac app version I used some time ago that worked well and fast was Abbyy FineReader Express Edition for Mac.
ABBYY FineReader Express Edition for Mac

It also worked faster and better and was cheaper then another more popular and recommended and more expensive application that I can't recall the name of at the moment, but I would be surprised if it is still being developed and available.

Anyway, lots of choices for OCR apps for Mac OS and reviews and pricing here:
Mac apps found for ocr | MacUpdate

PS: Many AIO printer/scanners come with their own OCR software that's included with the price of the unit, and something to consider even if it isn't the best or fastest.

Anyway it doesn't seem like the OP is really interested as they seem to have disappeared from posting some time ago now.




- Patrick
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[Rod]

Well Patrick, they still develope the product, see OCR software for Mac - ABBYY FineReader Pro for Mac but it's only the Pro version for macOS and at AUD $165.00 from them and AUD $179.99 on the App Store. The latest version 12.1.12 is only 7 months old and 64bit too.
I have to say it looks great but not really necessary for my needs.

 

[krs]

I just looked at my copy of ABBYY - turns out to be the old PPC version.
Just shows you how long I have not used it.

 

[pm-r]

I just looked at my copy of ABBYY - turns out to be the old PPC version.
Just shows you how long I have not used it.

I'm not sure how one tells if the app is PPC only, but I just tried my old ABBYY FineReader Express 8.3.app that's on my Snow Leopard partition and it runs well while booted in my Mavericks volume.

I haven't even tried the OCR software that came with my Canon PIXMA AIO printer. Maybe I should add that to my always growing 'round 'tuit list.

BTW: The Canon PIXMA OCR option was basically free, or at least it came included with the price of the all in one printer.



- Patrick
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[Slydude]

I'm not sure how one tells if the app is PPC only, but I just tried my old ABBYY FineReader Express 8.3.app that's on my Snow Leopard partition and it runs well while booted in my Mavericks volume.

- Patrick
======

It's actually quite easy to identify Power PC apps. The amount of time it takes depends upon how many total apps you have to be scanned but I've always been able to do it in just a few minutes. You can find details here.

In short the process involves doing the following:
1. Go to About This Mac and choose to run a system profile.
2. In the window that appears scroll down to Applications and select that.
3. A window appears with several columns of information about the apps on your Mac. One of the columns is labeled Kind. If the entry for an app says Classic or Power PC those are the older apps that will not run.

Edit: I think I wrote an article about this for About This Particular Mac some time ago complete with screenshots. Can't seem to put a finger on it right away so I included the link above.

 

[ferrarr]

BTW: The Canon PIXMA OCR option was basically free, or at least it came included with the price of the all in one printer.



- Patrick
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This is how I have always had OCR on my PC's both Win & Mac OS. However, I don't know if it would work to convert an image, into a text document?

 

[pm-r]

However, I don't know if it would work to convert an image, into a text document?

Actually, that's exactly what I thought all OCR software attempted to do, convert an image (selected image of text and/or handwriting) and into an EDITIBLE text document.


- Patrick
======

 

[ferrarr]

You may be right Patrick. I've only ever used when scanning documents.

 

[krs]

I'm not sure how one tells if the app is PPC only......
======

I found out by trying to launch the application.
I got this message:

You can’t open the application “Launch FineReader 5 Sprint” because PowerPC applications are no longer supported.