FreeOCR

FreeOCR is a handy tool that makes it easy to pull text from images and PDF files. Thanks to tech advancements, you can now transfer pretty much anything on your computer! Whether it's a document or a picture, FreeOCR has got your back.

Why Use FreeOCR?

This application is super simple to install and the best part? It's free! The user interface isn't flashy, but it gets the job done. Most of the screen shows a preview area for your pages, while all the basic functions can be found in an easy-to-navigate toolbar at the top. Just make sure you have .NET Framework installed on your PC so everything runs smoothly.

How to Get Started with FreeOCR

You can start by opening an image or a PDF file using either your scanner or by browsing through your computer files. The content will pop up in one window, and when you hit that "OCR" button, bam! The output shows up in another window right away.

Editing and Saving Your Text

The extracted text is editable (which could be both good and bad), but don't forget to click that little red "x" button each time you want to clear the screen for new input. If not, you'll end up with unwanted line breaks. Plus, if you accidentally click "Remove line break," there's no Undo button—yikes! You can save your output as either a text file or a Word document.

Quality of Conversion

Now, let's talk about the conversion quality—it's not exactly top-notch. We tried pulling text from a PDF first; while most of it was correct, special characters from other languages didn't translate well at all—they just came out blank!

Testing with Different Texts

Next up was testing with Windows' Paint where we typed some mixed-case letters and symbols. Unfortunately, FreeOCR didn't get it quite right—different results came up for lowercase and uppercase letters, plus symbols were off too!

Performance Insights

The system's CPU and memory usage is surprisingly high for such a small application. However, the good news is that conversion happens quickly without any errors popping up.

Final Thoughts on FreeOCR

If you're looking to extract text from images or PDFs, definitely give FreeOCR a try! Just remember to double-check those results—you might find it quicker to type everything out yourself.

Download FreeOCR today!