Free Online OCR Tools — Convert Image to Text, Excel and Data

Copy text from an image or screenshot

To extract text from an image, choose the language shown in the picture, run the recognition and copy the result or download it as a .txt file. If you only need one passage and want to select it in place like text on a web page, copy text straight from the picture instead; it lays selectable words over the image. Screenshots, signs and scanned pages work as long as the text is readable to a person.

Turn a photographed table into Excel or CSV

To convert a photo of a table to Excel, upload the picture, review the editable grid where uncertain cells are highlighted, fix any mistakes and download the .xlsx. The same table can be saved as plain CSV for databases and accounting imports. If the table sits inside a PDF instead of a picture, pull the PDF tables into Excel.

Read handwriting from a photo

Handwriting is harder than print, so it has its own reader. Convert handwritten notes to text with a straight-on, evenly lit photo of neat writing; cursive and rushed notes need more correction. It handles one image at a time, so photograph each page and join the results yourself.

Pull fields from receipts, business cards and forms

Extract receipt data to read the vendor, date, total, tax, currency and line items into structured JSON. Scan a business card to get a vCard contact your phone can import. For anything else, such as an invoice number or an ID field, name the fields you want and get them back as JSON. Check totals and dates against the original before they reach your books, and when finance teams handle documents in volume, the document-to-data workflow keeps a review step in place.

Make a scan searchable or translate what it says

Add a text layer to a scanned document so you can search and copy from the PDF; it takes image files, so turn the pages of an existing scanned PDF into images first, or extract its plain text directly when text is all you need. When the text is in a language you do not read, translate the text in the photo in one pass instead of copying it into a separate translator.

For a cleaner read

• Photograph straight on, in even light, with the page filling the frame.
• Set the language to match the text in the picture; a wrong language is the most common cause of garbled letters.
• Rotate sideways or mirrored pictures upright before you upload them.
• Table, handwriting, receipt and field-extraction tools are Premium tools, so check the on-screen result before you export it.
• Compare names, numbers and dates with the original before you use the result.