Optical Character Recognition

Posted in:
Note taking Reading

There are lots of great things about working with text on a computer: you can copy and paste it, make colour highlights, search for words and have the text read out loud. But to do all these things, your computer has to recognize the text as text – not just an image. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software transform images of text – such as photocopies – into text files.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software transform images of text – such as photocopies – into text files.

This PDF has not gone through OCR. It does not allow text to be selected

This is how the PDF looks after OCR. A PDF like this, where the text is selectable, is sometimes called an ‘accessible PDF’

Here is a rundown of programs and services that you can use to perform OCR:

Web-Based OCR

robobraille.org is a free website for transforming documents to make them more accessible. As well as making braille versions of documents, it also does OCR. Just upload your document to the website, and Robobraille will send it to your email address as either an accessible PDF or Word document. You don’t even have to make an account!

How to OCR a PDF using Robobraille

ClaroRead Cloud OCRis a website that lets you convert up to five documents a month for free. Once it has finished converting the file, the new file will download automatically. It works a bit quicker than Robobraille but, unlike Robobraille, you can only upload one file at a time.

What ClaroRead Cloud OCR looks like

Desktop software

Video Guides

There are lots of excellent video resources for OCR software, here are our favourites:

You may also be interested in

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Series

EDI requires more than good intentions. It takes ongoing learning, self-awareness, and a willingness to challenge assumptions. Explore our collection of blogs focused on EDI in the workplace and take the next step in your journey.

Visit

Intersectionality – Blog Series and Labels and Legacies

Find all of our content on intersectionality in one place! We wrote six blogs looking at the way intersectionality intersects (ba-dum tssh) with our working lives, plus we also did a whole webinar series for it! Follow along with the blogs and listen in on fascinating discussions with fabulous guests.

Visit

Leadership Series

Being a leader is so much more than job title, it's a specific set of skills everyone can develop and refine. To be a leader means to take responsibility for a team, which you can only do well if you do it inclusively. Explore our blog series to find out how you can be a better leader.

Visit

Disability Confidence Scheme

Discover how the UK’s Disability Confident scheme can help your organisation recruit and support disabled employees. Get expert guidance and free Level 3 validation from D&A. Download your free guide today!

Visit

No results found.