We know that companies often have to deal with a huge amount of paperwork, from customer invoices to contracts, employee salary statements, and many more. Manually extracting information from such documents and processing it into the database will not only require valuable time and effort but will also have a chance to human errors.
This is where OCR-powered tools come into play. These help companies to automatically convert scanned documents and images into editable and searchable text with minimal effort.
There are numerous advantages and disadvantages of OCR-based tools. It is recommended that organizations learn about them before implementing such solutions in their workflow.
✨Key HIghlights:
- 🛠️Reviewed 5 top OCR tools suitable for company use.
- ✅Highlighted key advantages of OCR technology.
- ⚠️Covered common disadvantages and limitations.
- 💡Shared practical tips for using OCR tools effectively.
What are OCR tools?
OCR tools are basically specialized online tools that make use of OCR technology (Optical Character Recognition) to perform data extraction. This technology first scans the letters and words in the given document or image and then extracts them in a machine-readable format. This format means the extracted data will be editable and searchable.
The internet is filled with a huge variety of OCR-powered tools, most of which are available for free and feature a user-intuitive design for ease of use.
What is the OCR tool used for?
An OCR software (Optical Character Recognition software) based picture to text converter tool is used to capture text from images, scanned papers, or handwritten data and transform it into editable and searchable digital text.
✅ Major Applications of an OCR Software:
- Digitization of printed documents like invoices, agreements, or books
- Text capture from screenshots and images
- Converting scanned PDFs into editable formats
- Data entry automation
- Enabling image-based files to be searched
Simply stated, an OCR tools helps both small and large businesses simplify their operations by transforming un-editable text into usable, editable information
Advantages of OCR Tools
Here are some of the most notable advantages of using OCR tools for companies.
1. Automated Text Extraction:
As we already know, extracting information from sales invoices, business letters, and other documents is a routine task for every company. Getting it done manually will take a lot of time and effort from the employee, resulting in damaged productivity and efficiency.
However, by using specialized OCR tools, companies can automate the data extraction process and ensure a smooth workflow. The automation will allow employees to focus on more essential tasks and contribute to the success of the organization.
2. Improved Accuracy:
Humans are highly prone to making mistakes. So, it doesn’t matter how professional and experienced you are; when extracting information from documents or invoices manually, there is a strong probability of committing errors.
For instance, you may unintentionally skip some details or make a typing error. This will not only damage your reputation but will also lead to a negative company reputation in the market.
Fortunately, OCR tools have solved the accuracy issues. Thanks to the optical character recognition technology, these tools effectively scan and extract text from images and documents with 100% accuracy.
3. Information Accessibility:
When every employee in the company has access to the required information, it will result in smooth yet quality work.
However, it is important to note that information accessibility can never be achieved using physical documents. This is because only one or max two people can interact with a hard-form file at once.
Here, OCR-powered tools again prove beneficial for the organizations. These allow companies to convert essential documents into editable text and then save them digitally i.e., Google Docs, etc. So that multiple people can access, edit, and review the information anytime from anywhere.
4. Data Security:
The security of essential documents is highly crucial for every company. When important documents are available in hard form, there is a probability that someone may intentionally damage or steal them.
To address this challenge, companies can consider utilizing OCR tools. Let us explain. By using such solutions, they can transform all the essential data in a digital format and then store it on cloud storage. This way, there will be no chance of a data breach.
5. Cost Savings:
Companies often hire specialized individuals responsible for extracting data from receipts, statements, and documents. Besides this, they even purchase equipment i.e., scanners, printers, etc. to deal with bulk documents. This ultimately increases the overall cost.
By utilizing OCR tools, the increase can be easily controlled. As you don’t need to hire a professional for data extraction. Besides this, you don’t even need equipment; just take a picture of the document, upload it to the tool, and get results in an editable format.
Disadvantages of OCR Tools
Apart from the benefits, there are multiple downsides to utilizing OCR-powered tools.
1. Struggle with Poor Quality Inputs:
While OCR-powered tools are quite accurate at extracting information from scanned documents and images, however, if you submit a poor-quality picture, i.e., low-lightened, blurred, etc., this will create difficulties for these tools to effectively recognize the text it contains, and ultimately increase the chances of coming up with inaccurate output results.
2. Privacy Concerns:
Data security is one of the top priorities of organizations. However, relying on external OCR tools raises privacy concerns. There is a probability that the tool you are using is secretly saving all the information in its database.
Therefore, it is always suggested to opt for a tool that is legitimate and claims not to store the data that the users are processing.
3. No Contextual Understanding:
Till now, OCR tools don’t have the ability to automatically understand the context of a given image and then come up with the output accordingly. Instead, they only work with the information that the input image or document contains; whether it is complete, incomplete, accurate, or inaccurate, you will be served with the extracted text.
4. Limited Formatting Retention
The OCR program loses the original document’s structure, such as columns, tables, and images, too. This will be extra time for the user to recreate the format manually after text has been recovered.
5. Language and Font Recognition Issues
The OCR software can be defeated by handwriting, script, or exotic scripts. This can lead to missing or erroneous extractions, especially in poor handwriting or non-standard fonts.
Practical Tips for Best Utilizing OCR Tools
For best utilization of the OCR tools, particularly if used for business purposes, there are practical tips that are available for companies to leverage:
- Use Quality Images:
Share clear, bright, and high-resolution images as input to receive the best output. It minimizes errors to a great degree and allows the OCR tools to identify and extract the text correctly. - Choose Tools Based on Your Need
Not all OCR software is created equal. Some programs are more adept at tasks relating to documents with tables or multilingual use, whereas others do well with basic image-to-text jobs. Companies need to be serious about what they need before settling on software. - Make sure they possess Data Privacy Policies:
When using online OCR tools, especially freemium or free tools, ensure that they clearly indicate that they do not keep or misuse uploaded data. This is extremely important for companies dealing with confidential or sensitive information. - Test with Different File Types
Some OCR software is more appropriate for working on specific format types like PDF or PNG. Companies are required to experiment with various file formats to discover which one performs best with the selected software. - Integrate with Other Productivity Tools
To automate business processes, integrate OCR software with document editor software, cloud storage software, or project management software. Organizations can reduce time and boost productivity by lessening manual data entry. - Review and Proofread Extracted Text:
Even the most superior OCR software will make mistakes. It is advisable that companies proofread the output before utilizing it in official reports or documents.
Suggested OCR Tools That Companies Can Consider Using
Here are some of the most reliable OCR-powered tools that organizations can consider using to optimize their workflow.
1. OCR.best
Source: https://www.ocr.best/
The name already provides a clear idea. This is a freemium (available in both free & paid versions) tool that companies can use for quick and accurate text extraction.
It not only works with plain text but can also extract special symbols, characters, or even mathematical equations. This is enough to determine its versatility and reliability.
We are also attaching a working screenshot below; check it out.
In the free version, it can process up to 3 images at once to speed up the workflow. Whereas, if its premium is purchased, the limit will be increased up to 50 photos in one go.
Key Highlights:
- Easy to use
- Multiple image submission
- Capable of extracting text of different types
- No signup/registration is required
2. Imagetotext.cc
Source: https://www.imagetotext.cc/
This is yet another excellent OCR-based tool. It also has a user-friendly interface and is available in both free and paid versions. Additionally, it also provides the option to upload up to 3 images in one go.
Apart from this, Imagetotext.cc even allows cropping of the uploaded picture as per specific needs, before actually initializing the extraction process. When it comes to output, the tool not only offers results in an editable format but also allows you to download the .txt. File for later use.
Besides this, it is capable of performing text extraction in more than 20 international languages, making it a suitable option for companies operating globally.
Curious about how this process works? Explore The Magic of Photo to Text Conversion to see how this tool turns images into editable text in seconds.
Key Highlights:
- Multiple image submission
- Option to crop the image file
- Support for numerous languages
- Integration of other conversion tools, i.e., Image translator, JPG to PDF, etc.
3. Picturetotext.org
Source: https://www.picturetotext.org/
Last but not least, we have Pictottext.org – a free-to-use OCR tool that companies can utilize to perform data extraction from documents, invoices, etc. It also comes with a 3-image submission limit, just like other tools discussed above.
When it comes to uploading images, the tool offers numerous ways, i.e., drag/drop, pasting the URL, or loading from the local storage. Besides this, there are multiple image formats supported, including: PDF, JPG, PNG, JPEG, and many more.
Furthermore, Pictotext.org supports text extraction in 6 different languages. The good thing is that there is also a mobile application.
Key Highlights:
- Free to use
- Accepts images in different formats
- Support for multiple languages
- Mobile application available
4. ABBYY FineReader
Website: https://www.abbyy.com/
ABBYY FineReader is a very efficient and commercial OCR software that is reliable. It has an excellent reputation for being reliable and accurate, particularly in processing multi-column documents, scanned papers, and complex documents. ABBYY FineReader recognizes over 190 languages and is therefore ideal for multinational organizations.
As opposed to most OCR software, ABBYY FineReader offers more sophisticated features such as PDF editing, document comparison, and cloud integration for collaboration. It also supports scanned and electronic documents, which can actually make business processes automatic.
Key Highlights:
- Extremely high accuracy rate even for challenging documents
- Support for more than 190 languages
- Sophisticated document comparison and editing
- Cloud integration with cloud storage (Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.)
5. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
Source: https://www.adobe.com
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is another robust OCR application that is designed for companies. It excels at document scanning and converting them into editable documents. In addition to OCR, Acrobat Pro DC also features more advanced PDF editing options, including PDF creation, merging, and sharing, which makes it an excellent application for companies that handle enormous paperwork.
The OCR feature of the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is highly accurate, even when scanning poorly quality content. Moreover, integration with Adobe Cloud provides smooth sharing and collaboration.
Key Highlights:
- Accurate OCR conversion of scanned documents into editable content
- Sophisticated PDF editing and sharing
- Integration with Adobe Cloud for smooth sharing and collaboration
Final Words
Extracting useful information from documents and invoices is a routine task for companies operating globally. To automate this, many have started utilizing advanced OCR-powered tools. These are easily available online and highly accurate at performing text extraction.
In this blog post, we have explained both the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing such tools in detail. Besides this, we also listed some of the suitable tools along with their key highlights. Hopefully, you will find this blog valuable
