Program scan to word free

OCR is now widely applied to turn scans and images into computer-readable text, so you can make further use of these texts by copy & paste, search or edit. However, an OCR tool is never cheap, is there any free OCR software that can work offline on Mac, Windows, Android or iPhone?

The answer is YES. Today, we are going to introduce 10 best free offline OCR software for 2023, all of them are 100% free. 

What is Offline OCR?

OCR, which is Optical Character Recognition, it is the technology to recognize text from a image-based file (scanned PDFs, images) or paper documents. It will make these files to digital copies of readable and searchable texts.

There are both online and offline OCR tools. Online OCR refers to web-based OCR services that perform OCR on uploaded files online, then save the output documents to local hard drive of a device, users have to access to Internet and upload the files to 3rd party server which stores those files for 24 hours or more.

While offline OCR refers to desktop or mobile software to perform OCR even without accessing to Internet. As long as we have these apps installed on our device, we can perform OCR at anytime anywhere without staying online. And the files stay on our device.

How We Pick The Best Free Offline OCR Software?

There are so many offline free OCR tools, it is not easy to pick the best ones. But most of us have uniform requirements on a OCR job, just as following:

• 100% Offline—Online free OCR tools take time to upload and process OCR on files, offline free OCR software offers faster and easier conversion, which greatly save your time.
• 100% Free—Lots of OCR software developers claim their products are free, but only a free trial is provided with limited features, like limits on pages, file size, output format, etc. Here we talk about 100% real free offline ocr software only, they are full-featured.
• Good OCR Results—There is no perfect OCR result, even from Adobe OCR. But 90% accuracy is acceptable, and it is OK to manually adjust the formatting if a free OCR tool can export as Text only. 
• Safe to Use—The software must be clean and safe to use, there won’t be malware included in the installation to do harm to our devices.

10 Best Free Offline OCR Software for 2023

#1 Capture2Text

OS Platform: Windows

Our Rating: 4.0/5.0

Free Download Capture2Text Software:https://sourceforge.net/projects/capture2text/

Capture2Text is a powerful OCR program to recognize texts from screen captures. Though only allows users to turn captures to plain text, it offers extended features, like text replacement, translation, text to speech conversion. In addition, it allows users to configure different settings to customize the OCR according to needs. However, it seems Capture needs further work to fix the bugs regarding translation and OCR.

#2 PDF OCR X Community Edition

OS Platform: Windows and macOS

Our Rating: 4.0/5.0

Free Download PDF OCR X Community Software: https://solutions.weblite.ca/pdfocrx/download

PDF OCR X Community is an extremely simple program to perform OCR on both PDF and various images. You just need to drag and drop the file, then choose output format and file language to start the OCR progress. It supports exporting files as Text or searchable PDF, but can convert single-page PDF only. To convert multiple-page PDF, you need to update to its Enterprise version or split the PDF to several single-page PDF for free OCR. Same as FreeOCR, it hasn’t been updated for years. You may have crash issues on latest operating systems.

#3 SimpleOCR

OS Platform: Windows

Our Rating: 4.0/5.0

Free Download SimpleOCR Software: https://www.simpleocr.com/download/

SimpleOCR from SimpleSoftware, is a freeware to do OCR on PDF, image, even paper files from a connected scanner. SimpleSoftware offers various brands of OCR tools, its SimpleOCR gives users a free experience to know how efficient and convenient an OCR tool can be. If your file is reversed, you can rotate to have a more accurate OCR. Also, it supports spell check, you can replace those suspected errors with words from the dictionary. Yet, it may take you some time to manually adjust the errors.

#4 FreeOCR

OS Platform: Windows

Our Rating: 3.8/5.0

Free Download FreeOCR Software: http://www.paperfile.net/download2.html

FreeOCR from PaperFile is based on Tesseract OCR to turn scans, PDF and image to 3 formats: Text, Word and RTF. It offers batch OCR and allows users to export files as JPG. Though it is designed to convert files to editable Word, the formatting cannot keep in the Word file. In addition, the last update for this program was released in 2015, there may be some technical errors on different, especially latest Windows. Anyway, it offers high accuracy and deserves a try.

#5 Free OCR to Word

OS Platform: Windows and macOS

Our Rating: 3.8/5.0

Free Download Free OCR to Word Software: https://www.ocrtoword.com/

Free OCR to Word offers an easy way to turn files from scanner and images to editable Word or Text format. Other than other free OCR tools, it has an excellent support on image input, besides common image, it also does OCR on ICO, PCX, PSD, CUR, DCM, WMF, EMF, TGA, PXM, WBMP, CRW, WPD, IEV, JP2, J2K, DCX and LYR All. In addition, it offers a set of image and document tools, to view and manage the file easily, which gives a better user experience.

#6 SuperGeek Free OCR

OS Platform: Windows

Our Rating: 3.8/5.0

Free Download SuperGeek Free OCR Software: https://www.ocrfree.net/download.php

Does this program look familiar to you? Let’s say Free OCR to Word. Yes, I finally figure out that SuperGeek Free OCR and Free OCR to Word are exactly the same program, having the same functions but using a different color of interface and available on different website. I have been hesitate if I should put this SuperGeek program on this list, anyway, it is an option to do OCR for free and offline, for users who have problems accessing to Free OCR to Word, this program may help.

#7 OneNote

OS Platform: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Our Rating:3.8 /5.0

Free Download OneNote OCR Software: https://products.office.com/en/onenote/digital-note-taking-app

OneNote from Microsoft is a note-taking program to create and organize notes across different platforms, including macOS, Windows, Android and iOS, also it offers online free portal to manage your notes anytime anywhere. It is free and mainly focusing on processing notes, to process notes source from PDF or images, it builds in OCR feature to copy text from these files, then embed to a note for other use.

#8 Adobe Scan Mobile App

OS Platform: Android and iOS

Our Rating: 3.6/5.0

Free Download Adobe Scan OCR Software: https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/mobile/scanner-app.html

Speaking of PDF editing or OCR files, Adobe is definitely the most professional solution. But its price tag is always the obstacle to install this program. So, it’s really a good news that its mobile version is free to users. Adobe Scan mobile app is available on both Android and iOS, helping turn scans under their mobile phone camera to copyable text. To yield high quality Adobe OCR result, it provides basic editing feature to optimize the photo scans.

#9 LEADTOOLS OCR Application

OS Platform: macOS

Our Rating: 3.5/5.0

Free Download LEADTOOLS OCR Software: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/leadtools-ocr/id604393629?mt=12

LEADTOOLS is a company offering fast OCR SDK technology for developers across all platforms, rather than providing end-user applications, but its LEADTOOLS OCR Application in Mac AppStore gives a chance for users to try its OCR technology. It supports OCR PDF and image to 10 formats, but according to my tests, it does the best on OCR files to text, while there are improvements needs to be done on OCR accuracy. Anyway, it is quite convenient to extract texts from files in the result window, instead of saving in a txt file.

#10 Google Keep

OS Platform: Android, iOS, Web and Chrome

Our Rating: 3.5/5.0

Free Download Google Keep OCR Software: https://www.google.com/keep/

OneNote alike, Google Keep is an application to take and manage notes online or on your mobile phone. Its built-in OCR feature can grab text directly from the image, then share to your Google contacts, or copy to Google Docs for further editing. It is not a piece of software exclusively designed to do OCR, you will benefit a lot when using it to create and manage your notes.

Best Free Offline OCR Software Comparison

Here are lists of Best Free Scanned PDF to Word Converter Software for Windows. Using these free software, you can convert a scanned PDF document to an editable Word file. As output, these software support multiple Word formats including DOC, DOCX, and RTF. Besides that, these also let you convert scanned PDFs to a lot more other file formats such as TXT, HTML, ODT, PNG, TIFF, JPG, and more. These also let you customize various output parameters before converting scanned PDF to Word, such as document format, image format,  correct hyphenated words, remove hidden text, etc.

Many of these converters offer you a batch conversion feature. Using the batch conversion function, you can convert multiple scanned PDF files to editable Word documents simultaneously. One of these software also provides you an additional feature called “Merge“. This feature enables you to combine all source scanned PDF documents into a single Word document file. All converters are extremely easy and intuitive to use. You can also view the software description to know the exact conversion steps. Go through the list to know more about these free software.

My Favorite Free Scanned PDF to Word Converter Software for Windows:

UniPDF is my favorite software as it lets you batch convert scanned PDF documents to Word files. Plus, it supports various other output file formats to convert scanned or normal PDFs.

I also liked Icecream PDF Converter because of its beautiful and intuitive GUI.

You may also like some best free Batch PDF to Word Converter, Scanned PDF to Searchable PDF Converter Websites, and Open Source PDF to Word Converter Software.

UniPDF

UniPDF is a free scanned PDF to Word converter software for Windows. It is a dedicated software that is used for converting PDFs to various formats including Word (DOC, RTF), Text, HTML, and multiple images (TIFF, PNG, JPG, etc.). Using it, you can convert normal as well as scanned PDFs to Word files. The good part is that it lets you batch convert scanned PDFs to Word that saves you some effort and a lot of time. Now, let’s checkout steps to perform conversion in this freeware.

How to convert scanned PDF to Word in UniPDF:

• Firstly, add one or multiple scanned PDFs to its Home tab using the Add button.
• Now, select Word format from the available Output Format section.
• Next, go to the Settings tab and configure options including output Word format, image format, etc.
• After that, hit the Convert button to quickly start batch scanned PDF to Word conversion.

Limitation:

It is free for non-commercial use only.

Final Thoughts:

UniPDF is a good PDF converter that supports various output file formats and lets you batch convert scanned PDF to Word.

Icecream PDF Converter

Icecream PDF Converter is a great PDF converter that lets you convert scanned PDF to Word. It is basically used for the conversion of PDF to several other file formats and vice versa. You can also convert other files to PDF format using it. As output format, you can convert scanned PDF to editable Word (DOC, DOCX, RTF), ODT, JPG, PNG, EPS, HTML, and some more formats. Let us now have a look at the conversion steps.

How to convert scanned PDF to Word in Icecream PDF Converter:

• First, launch this software and go to its From PDF tab.
• Now, import one or more scanned PDFs using its add/plus button.
• After that, set the “To” field to a Word format and click the Settings option to set up some output configurations.
• At last, press the Convert button which will start the conversion of scanned PDF to Word.

Limitations:

Icecream PDF Converter’s free version lets you batch at most 3 scanned PDF documents to Word at a time. Some other features are also locked in this free version which you get only in its pro version.

Conclusion:

This software is another good option to convert multiple scanned PDFs to Word and other formats at once.

PDFMate PDF Converter

PDFMate PDF Converter, as its name implies, is a free PDF converter that lets you convert scanned PDF to Word. Using these freeware, you can convert scanned PDF files to editable Word documents using OCR technology. It supports DOC format as well as various other file formats to convert scanned PDFs to, such as EPUB, TXT, IMG, HTML, SWF, JPG, etc. The process of conversion is very simple; let us checkout.

How to convert scanned PDF to Word in PDFMate PDF Converter:

• First, add the input scanned PDF file to it that you want to convert.
• Now, from available output formats, select DOC format.
• Finally, enter output folder location and click the Convert button to start the conversion.

Additional Feature:

• Merge: It lets you convert and merge multiple PDF files into a single Word document.

Limitations:

The free version has various locked features like batch conversion, 3 page limit for scanned PDFs, etc. To remove these and more restrictions, you need to purchase its pro version.

Conclusion:

It is a beautifully designed software that lets you easily convert scanned PDF to Word and multiple other formats.

PDF2WORD Converter

PDF2WORD Converter is the next free scanned PDF to Word converter for Windows. It is a simple software to convert scanned PDF document file to DOC format. You can convert a single file at a time. Prior to conversion, you can also set up various configurations to customize output Word file, such as conversion mode, merge images compatible with Word, correct hyphenated words, remove hidden text, document type, merge paragraphs, extract text, extract images, etc.

Here are the steps to start scanned PDF to Word conversion in it:

How to convert scanned PDF to Word in PDF2WORD Converter:

• Firstly, select the source scanned PDF file and if it is password protected, enter the correct password to unlock and process it.
• Now, select MS Word as output format and provide output folder location.
• Next, go to the General Settings and PRO Settings tab and customize output parameters.
• At last, you need to press the Convert PDF now! button to start the conversion.

Conclusion:

It is another good scanned PDF to Word converter that lets you customize a lot of parameters before starting the conversion.

ConvertidorPDFToWord

ConvertidorPDFToWord is one of the easiest scanned PDF to Word converter on this list. It is a free and open source software that lets you convert standard and scanned PDF to DOC format. You can load an input scanned PDF file and then convert it to Word format using a dedicated option. Its GUI is mainly in the Spanish language. However, the functions are straightforward and clear which are easy to understand. You can also check out below steps to quickly perform the conversion without facing dificulty.

How to convert scanned PDF to Word in ConvertidorPDFToWord:

• First, enter a scanned PDF in the PDF field.
• Now, provide output Word document file location.
• After that, press the Convertir button to start scanned PDF to Word conversion.

Conclusion:

It is an easy to use and straightforward software to convert a scanned PDF to Word (DOCX) format without putting in too much effort.

Free PDF To Word Converter

Free PDF To Word Converter is yet another free scanned PDF to Word converter for Windows. As its name suggests, this software is specially designed to let you convert normal or scanned PDF to Word. It doesn’t provide you batch conversion feature and can convert only one file at a time. You can convert scanned PDF to DOC, DOCX, and RTF formats in it. Now, below are the steps to convert scanned PDF to Word format.

How to convert scanned PDF to Word in Free PDF To Word Converter:

• Launch this software and browse and import the source scanned PDF file.
• Now, select a desired output Word format and enter output file location.
• After that, set up some output parameters like formatted, include images, etc.
• At last, click the Start conversion button to initiate the conversion process and get the output Word file.

Conclusion:

It is a nice and easy to use free scanned PDF to Word converter that anyone can use without much hassle.