Today I received a 130-page document from a potential client, around the same time my Adobe Acrobat software decided that an update was necessary. I clicked the update button…and then the email arrived.
The document was text was contained in an PDF image, pretty much what is created when someone copies a document on and the document is later scanned as a PDF. Since I needed to get an accurate word count in order to provide a quote for the translation job, I had to wait on my Adobe Acrobat to finish updating so that I could use the OCR Text Recognition tool (under Document on the menu bar). In the meantime, I decided look around the internet for other OCR text recognition software and websites offering the services. Here’s what I found:
NOTE: This is just a list of options found on the internet. I am not being paid to promote/advertise any products. The searches were conducted using bing.com and google.com. Anyone downloading software should take some time to learn how to protect against viruses or other executable files that could damage your computer!
1. Freeware: http://www.simpleocr.com/
2. Omnipage software http://www.nuance.com/imaging/products/omnipage.asp
3. Upload your document and scan it online at http://www.free-ocr.com/
4. Adobe Acrobat http://www.adobe.com (purchase alone or as part of suite)
What other options are you using? Let’s share ideas!
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