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Decent OCR app for iOS?


Abram K-J

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I figure someone here will have some ideas, even if OCR is not yet as perfect as it might someday be:

 

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any good cloud-syncing OCR software that integrates with the camera on an iPhone, so that I could take a picture of a couple pages of a book, then have the program/app convert it to searchable text that I can access at a computer later. Any ideas?

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I figure someone here will have some ideas, even if OCR is not yet as perfect as it might someday be:

 

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any good cloud-syncing OCR software that integrates with the camera on an iPhone, so that I could take a picture of a couple pages of a book, then have the program/app convert it to searchable text that I can access at a computer later. Any ideas?

 

I downloaded a couple apps, but honestly never tried them. I've got Acrobat Pro (and FineReader) which I've used for journal articles and books for a couple years and it's worked well. I figured it wouldn't be that big of a time saver to pay for something on iOS. So, I just take shots on my phone and then merge and OCR them in Acrobat Pro.

 

That said, if you (or others) know of an app that would be worthwhile, I'm interested as well.

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I have had limited experience with this app: Pixter Document and Image Scanner OCR by Quanticapps. In testing a page or two, it does fairly well with OCR. As for cloud integration, I don't think it directly links to iCloud, but you can send your document to a number of different apps. I have used Scanner Pro for a scanner app, but that has no OCR capabilities and is twice the cost.

 

Pixter also works with iPhone and iPad. I feel my 2.99 was well spent on this app.

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I've used Smile Software's PDFpen and Scan+ apps for working with pdf files and they can do OCR, but I haven't tried it on other photo file types.

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Thanks, Jonathan--that was one I had recommended to me. How accurate is it at reading text? How does it do with non-English or bold/italics?

 

Brent--thanks, I'll check it out.

 

Rick--good point. That would only be an extra step, and worth it if the accuracy rate is high.

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I've used Scanner Pro for iOS and then applied an OCR layer in Acrobat Pro on my Mac. But I'd be interested in trying some of the solutions mentioned here. I have been impressed with Scanner Pro as a quick "scanner in my pocket" kind of app.

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Thanks, Jonathan--that was one I had recommended to me. How accurate is it at reading text? How does it do with non-English or bold/italics?

 

I just tried both apps with some screenshots from Accordance. The Scan+ app is the one that can do OCR and it did a pretty good job with English characters, including italics. It failed miserably with Greek and Hebrew. You can change the OCR language, but Greek and Hebrew aren't options. If you want to OCR a common modern language like Spanish or German, it looks like it can handle that.

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Thanks, Jonathan! I think I have an answer to my question, at least a first app to check out.

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CamScanner HD Pro (usually $4.99) is free today--don't know much about it, but it purports to do what I'm looking for....iPad only, though.

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Expensive to get the pro version - $64.99!

 

Hope it will make my coffee AND cronuts!

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Oh, you mean the Premium in-app purchase? Didn't even notice that. ($49.99 in U.S. Store, FWIW)

 

Dare I ask what cronuts are? A mix of scone and donuts? (I guess that would be sconuts....)

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Ken, that looks amazing. I hope you offer those at Accordance training seminars you lead! :)

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"Come for the search arguments, stay for the cronuts."

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One really ought not argue over searches.

Arguing over cronuts I could understand. :)

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Accordance Users <WITHIN 3 FEET> Last Cronut

 

^^ A cronuts argument

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Love it, but until last week I had never heard of cronuts outside of the good old US of A.

 

I wish we could say "Come for the search arguments, stay for the cronuts."

 

​Love the way you think there Abram!

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Well, then, U.S. Accordance seminar trainers, take note! Now, off to find a cronut....

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Let me know bro, let me know.

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