Filed under: Text, Utilities, Web services
Online OCR extracts text from scans for free
Have you ever received a PDF file in an email that contained information you need in text form, but the PDF doesn't let you select the text? Sometimes this is due to access restrictions on the document, but more often it's because the person creating the PDF did so by simply scanning the document. This creates an image of the document, but does not embed the text information.
To extract the text, you need to use optical character recognition (OCR) software. Most scanners come with OCR software, but if you don't have ready access to it, you might consider using the Online OCR service.
Online OCR lets you upload a PDF file and it returns plain text that can then be copied directly into the word processing tool of your choice.
Obviously there are security concerns with uploading and storing copies of your documents on a 3rd party's site, but if that's not a concern to you, Online OCR might be just the trick to solve your OCR needs.
[via Lifehacker]
digg_url = 'http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/11/25/the-atari-classics-are-back-and-free-to-play-asteroids-lunar-l/';
Believe it or not, Atari have just released a bunch of old games on their own website. These aren't clones, these aren't even 'loving interpretations' -- these are the real thing, remade by Atari themselves. This comes as part of a re-launch for the Atari website which includes an online store.
I warn you, if you read on, this might turn into more than just a mere ten-minute time-waster.
...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nikescar said 6:34PM on 11-02-2009
For PDFs that have access restrictions use something like: http://www.guapdf.com/
I've used online OCR sites before and none worked very well. I'll try this one sometime.
Reply
Bond said 9:20PM on 11-02-2009
Nitro offers a similar service: http://www.pdftoword.com/
It works pretty well.
Reply
Wasaty said 4:21AM on 11-03-2009
OnlineOCR is NOT free. They were, in the beginning. Now you can ocr 5 pages for free, if you want more, you have to pay. Read the terms of service.
Reply