When you want to read a book on your computer without having to manually retype the text, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software can help. This free program transforms printed documents and images into text data that can be edited on a computer. There are many OCR programs available for Linux. Some offer a command-line interface for batch processing and integration into scripts. Others provide a GUI for individual document processing.
FreeOCR
FreeOCR is a robust and reliable text recognition software. Its simple platform offers essential features without overwhelming users with unnecessary complexities. It also supports numerous file formats, allowing flexibility in document handling. Additionally, it can be accessed through a browser, eliminating the need for downloads. Developed by Joerg Schulenburg, this open source software is easy to use and has good recognition quality. It can recognize text from a scanner, image or PDF file. It can even recognize different fonts and languages. It is available on Windows and has a graphical front-end that makes it easy to use.
It has impressive machine learning capabilities that allow businesses to automate document-heavy workflows. It can capture data from mortgage forms, tax returns, ID cards, invoices, payslips, and more. It also integrates with ERPs, databases, and cloud storage services. Its user-friendly interface and low latency API make it a great choice for businesses of any size. Its free version is ideal for testing purposes.
ABBYY FineReader
Go paperless and enhance collaboration by digitizing files and scanning paperwork with ABBYY FineReader. It features Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to recognize 192 natural, programming and historical languages. It’s an excellent choice for businesses that need to quickly and accurately convert documents into searchable archives. It’s also easy to integrate into existing document management systems and workflows. It can even recognize text in poor-quality scans, including water marks and distortions. It can be used with a variety of dictionaries to increase recognition accuracy.
This server-based best open source ocr software transforms scanned documents and image files into PDF, Word, or other formats that are appropriate for search, long-term storage, collaboration, or additional processing. It can be used with a variety scanners and MFPs, as well as with network folders, FTP servers, Microsoft SharePoint libraries, and email. Documents can be submitted for OCR via an API or by scripted rules. This product also offers a cloud-ready license model to enable simultaneous usage of multiple users.
Tesseract
Developed originally by Hewlett-Packard Laboratories and later adopted by Google, Tesseract is an OCR engine with a reputation for high accuracy and language support. It is available on Windows, macOS, and most popular Linux distributions and supports over 100 languages. Tesseract is free to use and benefits from ongoing development and community support. However, it has several drawbacks, including limited functionality with scanned images and complex layouts. It also requires preprocessing of the input image, such as binarization and skew correction.
Various wrapper libraries and APIs simplify Tesseract’s usage, making it easier for developers to incorporate it into their solutions. Pytesseract, for example, provides a high-level interface in popular programming languages like Python and reduces the learning curve to make Tesseract more accessible to semi-technical users. The OCR engine can be integrated with deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, allowing it to utilize advanced neural networks for better text recognition. This increases accuracy and makes it more capable of handling handwritten texts or illegible characters.
EasyOCR
EasyOCR is a python module that provides a simple and flexible way to implement OCR into your application. It uses a variety of different methods to recognize text and image features. It is designed to work with a variety of different formats and is especially effective for recognizing text in natural scenes and dense document text. It can also be used to extract information from scanned documents and photographs. This makes it a useful tool for document digitization, which improves accessibility and allows for more efficient storage and search. In addition, it can be used to scan and recognize license plate numbers, which is a critical function in ANPR systems.
It is implemented in Python and uses the PyTorch Deep Learning library. Its CUDA-capable GPU can enable it to perform OCR at unprecedented speeds. It currently supports 58 languages, including English and Hindi, and its developers plan to add many more in the future. It can also be integrated with object detection frameworks such as YOLO to improve performance.
Conclusion
Optical Character Recognition software turns unstructured documents and images containing text into structured machine-readable data. It’s a vital tool for organizations that need to quickly extract information from documents, pictures and scanned files. Developed by Hewlett-Packard and now maintained by Google, Tesseract is a highly-regarded open source OCR engine with impressive accuracy. It provides extensive language support and offers a convenient command-line interface.
