When converting scanned invoices, reports or images into editable formats, OCR is required. If you are looking for the best free OCR solutions for mac like many others, we collect a list for you: a list of 12 powerful mac free ocr software or online, free OCR services to perform satisfactory OCR on digitized files for 2021.

1. Free Pdf To Word
2. Free Pdf To Text Converter Mac

Convert PDF to Text totally in privacy, without email registration. No one views your files, the conversion is done by the servers. Converted files are deleted after a few hours but once you close the window, you won’t get a chance to download the converted file. Enolsoft PDF to Text for Mac. Enolsoft PDF to Text for Mac is a powerful Mac PDF Converter that allows the users to convert PDF documents into Word, Excel, PPT, Epub, Image, etc. This Mac PDF Converter uses OCR technology to transform scanned PDF documents into editable text files, thus saving you from manually having to type in the text again. PDF to Text 1.2.1 for Mac can be downloaded from our website for free. The unique identifier for this app's bundle is seasky.pdftotext. The following versions: 1.2 and 1.1 are the most frequently downloaded ones by the program users. This Mac download was scanned by our built-in antivirus and was rated as clean.

• Best PDF reader for Mac in 2021: Free and paid. The best PDF readers for Mac can allow you to not just read, but also edit, annotate, convert, and more on your iMac or Macbook.
• PDFelement Pro-Clean and Powerful PDF Editor. Is one of the best programs for all solutions to edit PDF files on Mac. You can edit, add, modify, and delete texts, graphics, and images in PDF format with this tool. You can also convert your PDF files to Word, Excel, EPUB, Images, and more formats.

Full List of Mac Free OCR

Platform	Input	Output
1. PDF OCR X Community	Offline	PDF and Image	PDF, Text
Offline	PDF and Image	Text, Image
3. OneNote OCR	Offline	PDF and Image	Text
4. OCR App by LEAD Tools	Offline	PDF and Image	Text
5. Easy Screen OCR for Mac	Offline	Screenshot	Text
6. DigitEyeOCR	Offline	BMP and GIF	Text
7. Google Docs	Online	PDF and Image	PDF, Word, ODT, RTF, Text, HTML, ePub
Online	PDF and Image	Word, Excel, Text
Online	PDF and Image	Word, Excel, PPT, Text, ePub, HTML, etc.
Online	PDF and Image	Word, Excel, Text, ePub, PPT, DjVu, etc.
Online	PDF, Image and DjVu	PDF, Word, Text
Online	PDF and Image	PDF, Word, Text, RTF

Free Try on The Best Mac OCR Program

• Perform OCR on scanned documents and images
• OCR files and export as 10 editable formats
• Advanced OCR settings to improve OCR accuracy
• Batch OCR
• Recognize 27~200 languages
• High quality OCR results

Free Download

6 Best Free OCR Software for Mac in 2021

There are 2 types of free OCR solutions for Mac users, either online or offline. In this part, we list 6 top free OCR software for MacOS basing on text recognition accuracy and overall features.

1. PDF OCR X Community

PDF OCR X Community is a simple drag-and-drop utility that converts single-page PDFs and images into text documents or searchable PDF files, it supports for more than 60 languages. For multi-page PDFs and batch conversion features, you need to pay its enterprise version.

Download Address: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pdf-ocr-x-community-edition/id571442933?mt=12

Advantages:

1. Extremely easy to use;
2. Support both PDF and image;
3. Recognize 60 languages;

Disadvantages:

1. Free edition only OCR single-page PDF;
2. Formatting is messed up when working on complicate files;
3. Relatively slow OCR process;

2. Evernote

Evernote is a popular note-syncing service, enables users to collect, nuture and share ideas across desktop and mobile platforms. One of its easily overlooked features is automatic OCR service. Users will be allowed to add images into Evernote server for automatic OCR, you may have to wait, but 10 minutes will be quite enough to finish the OCR.

Download Address: https://evernote.com/download

Advantages:

1. Available for all platforms (MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android);
2. Support both PDF and image;
3. Recognize 28 languages;

Disadvantages:

1. Limited OCR feature when dealing with PDF (file size, pages, resolution, etc.);
2. Relatively slow OCR processing;

Evernote OCR review, how-to guide and troubleshooting

Evernote is one of the best and most popular cross-platform note-taking apps. In this article, you will find how to use Evernote OCR and what to do if Evernote OCR is not working.

READ MORE >

3. OneNote OCR

Microsoft OneNote is a program to take and manage notes anytime and anywhere. It greatly facilitates the collaborations between team members. Not only limited to manually input texts to create notes, Microsoft OneNote also embeds the OCR feature, OneNote OCR allowing users to recognize texts from images, so the image texts can be copied and paste as editable or searchable note.

Download Address: https://www.onenote.com/download

Advantages:

1. Available for all platforms;
2. Support both PDF and image;

Disadvantages:

1. Can only copy text from PDF or image, no formatting is retained;
2. OCR fails or crashes sometimes;

How to Do OneNote OCR on Image or PDF(Mac, Windows, iPad)

An impressive feature of OneNote is its built-in capability to do OneNote OCR. Here we are going to introduce OneNote OCR, demonstrate how to OCR image or PDF with OneNote.

READ MORE >

4. OCR App by LEADTOOLS

OCR App by LEADTOOLS is a MacOS application designed to recognize and extract texts from images. Also it offers a set of tools to improve the OCR accuracy, such as tweak OCR Engine Settings, flip, reverse, adjust binarization or brightness of the image. It can also perform OCR on scanned PDFs, but only export files as text. If you want o convert uploaded files to other format with LEADTOOLS, you will need to copy and paste to the text processor accordingly.

Download Address: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/leadtools-ocr/id604393629?mt=12

Advantages:

1. Easy to use;
2. Advanced settings to improve OCR accuracy;
3. Support both image and PDF;
4. Fast OCR;

Disadvantages:

1. Recognize only 5 languages;
2. No formatting is retained, only text;

5. Easy Screen OCR for Mac

It is a light and simple Mac free OCR software to recognize texts from images. All you need to do is, capturing the screenshots of your file first, then performing OCR on the file to make the image text copyable. Also, it allows users to save the screenshot as PNG or PDF format. However, this free OCR software for mac only allows users to OCR 20 images for free.

Download Address: https://easyscreenocr.com/

Advantages:

1. Easy to use;
2. Small in size;
3. Support to take screenshots from any files;

Disadvantages:

1. Only 20 images can be processed with OCR;
2. No formatting is retained;
3. Unstable OCR accuracy;

Free Pdf To Word

6. DigitEyeOCR

Though DigitEyeOCR has discontinued to update for many years, for users who are using MacOS 10.10 and earlier, it is still worth a try. It is a free OCR software for mac to recognize texts from BMP and GIF images. If you want to do OCR on other image formats, you will need to convert the file to DigitEye OCR supported formats.

Download Address: https://digiteyeocr.en.softonic.com/mac

Disadvantages:

1. Only support BMP and GIF;
2. Unstable OCR accuracy;
3. Relatively slow OCR process;
4. No update for years;

6 Best online, free Services for Mac

Also, there are quite a lot of online, free OCR services for mac users, but not all of them can actually perform OCR or bring satisfactory OCR results. And here we pick 6 best free OCR tools online according to our OCR testing.

7. Google Docs

Google Docs is a service offered by Google to manage web-based documents, like creating, editing Word, Spreadsheets, presentations, even store them online for easy access on different devices. Users can perform Google OCR on images, scanned PDFs, it is fast with basically satisfactory results.

Advantages:

1. Support images and PDF;
2. Excellent support on output format (searchable PDF, Word, ODT, RTF, TXT, HTML, ePub);
3. Edit files after OCR processing within Google Docs;

Disadvantages:

1. Require several steps to finish the OCR;
2. Unstable OCR accuracy;
3. Take time to process OCR;

8. Online OCR

Online OCR is an online OCR service that can recognize the texts and characters from scanned files and images. It requires no software installation, what you need to do is upload the file (not exceeding size of 5MB) as guided, choose the language and output format(Word, Excel or Text), then 'Convert' to start the OCR process. Once finish, a download link will be offered to download the converted file.

Advantages:

1. Support both image and PDF;
2. Easy to use;
3. Export files as Word, Excel and Text;
4. Recognize 46 languages;

Disadvantages:

1. Unstable OCR accuracy;
2. Need to manually adjust formatting in the output file;
3. Max file size limit 15 MB;

9. Online2PDF

Online2PDF is another online platform to manage PDF files, such as editing, compressing ,unlocking ,converting, merging, protecting and so on. Comparing with other online, free OCR tools, Online2pdf offers extended features to customize the output and support more output formats.

Advantages:

1. Batch OCR;
2. Support both image and PDF;
3. Excellent support for output format;
4. Allow customizing output files;

Disadvantages:

1. File quantity and size limit;
2. Recognize only 6 languages;
3. Unstable OCR accuracy;

10. ConvertioOCR

Convertio is an online, free tool to OCR image and scanned documents, then save them as various editable formats. You can upload files from local or via url, even icloud storage accounts. It allows users to perform OCR on a multiple-language file.

Advantages:

1. Upload files from local, URl or icloud storage services;
2. Recognize multiple-language file;
3. Excellent support for output formats (11 formats);
4. Convert all or specific pages;
5. Save converted files to Dropbox or Google Drive;

Disadvantages:

1. Unstable OCR accuracy;
2. Relatively slow OCR processs;
3. Need to manually adjust the formatting;
4. Only 10 pages can be done with OCR for free;

11. New OCR

New OCR can convert JPG, PNG, GIF, MBP, TIFF, PDF and DJVU files into Doc, TXT or PDF format. To improve the OCR accuracy, New OCR allows users to rotate images and analyze page layout before the OCR processing. If you want to export the files as other formats, you need to click the “Download” button at the bottom of its page to export.

Advantages:

1. Support image, PDF and DjVu files;
2. Export files as Word, Text and searchable PDF format;
3. Allow to rotate or analyze page layout for more accurate OCR results;

Disadvantages:

1. Unstable OCR accuracy;
2. Fail to do OCR sometimes;

12. Free Online OCR

Free Online OCR is a free service enabling users to convert images, scanned PDFs into editable and searchable text, such as DOC, RTF,TXT or PDF. It will rotate the pages automatically for accurate OCR, you can get editable files with nice formatting.

Advantages:

1. Support both image and PDF;
2. Export files as Word, PDF, Text and RTF;

Disadvantages:

1. Unstable OCR accuracy;
2. Need to manually adjust formatting in the output file;

What if Mac Free OCR Tools Fall Short?

However, these online/free mac OCR tools are not suitable for all mac users, you may feel not satisfied in one way or another:

1. There is a size limit of the files;
2. It doesn’t support various input or output format;
3. Risk of privacy leakages;
4. The tool doesn’t support your expected language;
5. The OCR result is not satisfied;
6. It is feature limited;

......

As we all know, “free” means you cannot get everything you desire from the service, if you require higher than those free services can offer, you will need to pay. This is also true to OCR services.

Best Solution If Mac Free OCR Software/Service Not Working

Choices on paid professional OCR software for Mac users are large in quantity. But if you are looking for the one combining simplicity, versatility and affordability, Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is absolutely the best choice.

Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is a dedicated Mac OCR software to convert and create PDF, also perform OCR on scanned documents or images to make them editable & searchable. One thing makes Cisdem outperform its competitors is its high quality OCR performance：accurate OCR results and maintained original formatting.

Use Cisdem to OCR All Files Now

• Convert PDF to 16 formats;
• OCR scanned documents and images into Word, Excel, PPT, Keynote, Pages, etc;
• Convert images;
• Create PDF from virtually all documents;
• Batch conversion;
• High quality OCR and conversion results;

Free Download

Free Pdf To Text Converter Mac

Steps to Perform OCR on Files with Cisdem

1. Add scanned PDF or image to Converter interface.
   Drag and drop, or click '+' to add files.
2. Turn the OCR button ON, choose page range, file language and output format.
3. Optional. Tweak the advanced OCR settings for more accurate results.
   Click the 'Settings' icon, a new interface will appear. You will find all the contents are marked as Texts, Images or Tables in different colorful boxes. If you want to output a part as table, remove the current mark box, click on 'Mark Tables' in the OCR applied zone, then drag a mark box to select the part you want to mark as Tables.
4. Click “Convert” to start OCR.

So, did you think this list is helpful? Help us spread the word.

• Filed to: Mac Tutorials

'Is there a reliable PDF reader for Mac (macOS 10.15 Catalina)?'

Mac users have a number of PDF reader programs to choose from, including Adobe Reader for Mac and Preview. But if you want a better PDF reading experience, you might want to use a more robust and powerful PDF program. In this article, we’ve compiled the top 5 PDF reader for Mac tools, including PDFelement Pro, which offers more features than a simple PDF reader.

Part 1: Top 5 Best PDF Reader for Mac

1. PDFelement Pro - The Best Alternative Free PDF Reader Pro for Mac to Adobe Acrobat.

As high-quality as Adobe Reader is due to its constant updates and improvements, you can also look into alternative programs to perform many of the same tasks. PDFelement Pro for Mac, as the best alternative PDF Reader to Adobe Acrobat for Mac, acts as both a PDF editor and reader that provides you full functions for PDF editing and a better experience reading PDF on Mac. This tool lets you add text, images, bookmarks, and more to your PDF. In addition, a user can also highlight text, underline, use strike-through features on the text, and crop PDF pages on Mac. Watermarks can also be used to protect your PDF files on Mac. You can even edit and convert scanned PDF files with PDFelement Pro.

Key Features of this PDF Reader for Mac:

• Add, delete or edit text, images, graphics, links, watermarks, and more.
• Convert PDF to Word and other formats, or create PDFs from Webpages, images, and text files.
• Quickly mark up and annotate PDFs with various annotation tools.
• Combine or split PDFs, organize pages, and easily fill out PDF forms.
• Edit and convert scanned or image-based PDFs using the OCR feature.
• Easily add watermarks, passwords, and signatures to PDF documents.

2. Skim - A Popular and Well-developed MacBook PDF reader

Skim is a popular PDF Reader on Mac that is tailored towards scientific purposes, although it can also be used to view other types of documents as well. This free PDF reader software is designed to be customizable for individual use and is handy for notes and previews. Skim is one of the most popular options because it includes easy-to-use and visually impressive reading modes.

Key Features:

• Single swipe highlight mode for easy use
• AppleScript support
• Ability to preview internal links

3. Adobe Reader for Mac - A Widely Used Free Mac os PDF reader

Adobe Reader for Mac is considered the industry standard. You can download a PDF reader for mac-Adobe Reader for free and set it as your default PDF reader. Adobe is still a very well-respected product on the market, as they are constantly making improvements and upgrades to the program. Still, there are other options that offer many of the same features at a lower price and without complicated licensing agreements.

Key Features:

• Fast and easy to use
• Established platform worldwide
• Considered industry standard
• Well developed and supported

4. Haihaisoft Reader for Mac - A Small Size Free PDF Reader for macOS

A prominent feature of Haihaisoft Reader for Mac is its small size at only 3MB; this compact PDF Reader for Mac takes up much less space than other programs like Adobe Reader (see below). The package covers a wide range of languages and is designed for ease of use, while it is also well supported and has been developed for use on a number of platforms. Interesting features include:

Key Features:

• Instant launch time
• No background net connection for added security
• Opens all PDF documents
• Protection with DRM-X

5. PDFSam - A New Free PDF Reader for Macbook Pro or other Macs

PDFSam is a relatively new release that has been met with mixed reviews. This free PDF reader for Mac is designed for splitting and merging documents. Hence, it is called 'SAM.', Some users report problems while using the application, though generally, it is reported to be user-friendly and quick for the average user.

Key Features:

• Split and Merge - (SAM)
• Extract sections as separate PDFs
• Reorder pages when needed
• Compose documents by dragging and dropping

Part 2: Troubleshooting on Opening and Reading PDFs in macOS

Many people experience problems when trying to open or read PDFs on Mac. This is due to a variety of reasons, but luckily this problem is usually quite an easy one to solve in just a matter of minutes. Here are the three main reasons why you may have a problem reading a PDF on Mac and what you can do to solve the problem.

Question 1. Your Web Browser needs Updating

Solution: This is one of the most common problems that can prevent you from being able to read a PDF. Not all browsers update automatically, and it could be that yours needs a manual update. You can usually run a regular software update, but other times you may be required to update manually through the menu. An outdated browser may be the issue, in which case you may need to update your browser to resolve the issue. You can then make annotations and markups within your document.

Question 2. Your Browser is not Compatible

Solution: This issue depends on your operating system. If you are running OS 10.5 x, as many are, you will find that the later versions of Safari, for example, are non-compatible with your operating system. This will lead to you being unable to open PDFs and a number of other problems. It is recommended that users with this operating system try using Firefox instead to solve the problem.

Question 3. Check the Adobe Reader Plug-in

Solution: This problem also affects many users. If you are opening your PDF with Adobe Reader, the Adobe Reader Plug-in can be problematic, especially if it is an automatic launch when you enter your browser. The trick is to delete the plug-in (just the plug-in, not Adobe Reader itself). Try using Adobe Reader as a stand-alone program rather than having it run within your browser, and the problem should be solved. You can also re-install the plug-in if necessary.

Part 3: Best Recommendation

With so many options of PDF reader for Mac, sometimes it is hard to make a choice. But taking all the possible troubles into consideration, PDFelement can be regarded as the best PDF reader for Mac because it can provide you with a cozy reading experience without those troubles. Besides, do you think PDFelement is only a PDF reader? The answer is no; it is a PDF editor and PDF converter as well