OCR Software: Free Vs. Paid

[michael diemer]

I want to scan all my old poems into my computer, so I've been trying out some free OCR software. I've tried the Nuance app that came with my Canon printer; MS One Note's built-in app; and some free stuff. They all leave a lot to be desired. The poems are from the 1970's, typed on an old manual typewriter, and are fuzzy and faded. So, at this point, I'm considering paid software.

What I'm wondering is, how much better are the paid apps? The cheapest ones are around $60.00, but you can spend thousands for the really good stuff. So, anyone have any experience with this stuff?

Thanks,

Michael

 

[SBMfromLA]

I'm not an expert but most free software has limited or trial use. My opinion is.. most just aren't really worth it and requires extensive editing after the scan.

You do have two other options. You can just scan the poems as Image Files, which would be the quickest and easiest solution... or you can, depending on how much stuff you have, simply retype them.

 

[michael diemer]

I have found one that works pretty well, "Free OCR To Word." It did a great job with the poem I used, which was very faint. It got all the characters, 90% of it correctly. It saves it as a txt file, so I copy it into Word and edit there and then save as a regular Word document.

 

[michael diemer]

On further review, it turns out that One Note works best in my situation.

 

[michael diemer]

A word to the wise: After installing Free OCR to Word, my computer was acting a bit weird. Every time I opened Free OCR, I got a pop-up urging me to update to a new version, even though I just installed it a few days earlier. The word "version" was spelled "versoin," and the pop-up was a bit grainy. I scanned it with MSE, which said it was fine. That didn't satisfy me, as I was very suspicious of this program, so I installed Avira Free. A full scan resulted in 5 hits for malware, all related to Free OCR. Be warned!