We recently completed a task for a journalist to convert old newspaper articles into Word documents. Although she had found the articles online, they were essentially photographs of newspaper pages and not in any identifiable text.
Photos as PDF
Although she was able to print the documents as PDF files, our client was having trouble editing or using any of it. It was more like a photo than a specific text. We were able to assist her by getting in touch.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
OCR text recognition is a powerful tool that can be used to transform difficult text images into editable documents. OCR software can recognize and locate characters in digital images. Advanced OCR pdf to word software allows you to export both the text formatting and the page layout.
Online OCR Services Free
OCR text requires patience. There are many free online options. We have recently used Wondershare PDFelement (we do not take commission payments for publicising services just to reassure you if you click the link!) This works great.
Adobe PDF to Word Service – Any Good?
Since 2005, our company has used the Adobe PDF-to-Word service. It is easy to convert a PDF into a Word document. Most PDF documents are word documents that were converted to PDF.
The powerful Adobe OCR tool is able to convert the OCR pdf in these situations.
This tool is not very useful if the text is difficult to read, blurred or smudged. The Adobe tool can usually convert between 30-40% of text into usable formats. Otherwise, you will have to type the rest.
Are there free alternatives? You can also find free online versions that do the exact same thing. The quality is often equal or better than the Adobe paid service. Try https://pdf.wondershare.com for standard pdf to word conversions. However, pdf2doc won’t recognize photographed text well so we recommend online2pdf.com instead.
Conversion Service from PDF to Word
The PDF file was actually free of charge for the journalist. She could then see what she would get if it was done by herself. The entire process took only 30 seconds and we were able to convert about 30%-40% of the text into a Word document. The rest was either gibberish, or completely missed.
OCR = 30-40% Accuracy
OCR will not recognize photographs of text blocks that aren’t clear. This is the problem for any AI (artificial Intelligence) that uses speech recognition or text recognition. These services can transcribe text and speech in a simple, straightforward, and easy-to-remember way. However, they are not able to do more complicated tasks.
Because OCR is so bad, we ended up copy-typing all the documents for our client. The client was able to have the entire thing copied rather than having to go through the documents and correct it.
Copy Typing is an alternative to 100% accuracy
Copy typing is cost-effective, efficient, and produces instant copies of your work.
For a quote on our copy-writing service, please contact us. If you’d like OCR text recognition capabilities to be demonstrated on any PDF documents you have, send us a PDF or text image. We will then send you an OCR version. The service is free of charge.