OCR software is changing. It is taking on newer technologies and becoming capable of replacing manual processing. The following 12 top criteria will help you find the most effective OCR software your organization can use to automate its translation process.
Top 12 Criteria for Evaluating OCR Software
Accuracy
Accuracy is the most important factor to consider when you’re evaluating document scanning software. The purpose of any OCR software, after all, is to convert images of text into editable text. If your images are still embedded with errors, then you’re not going to be able to use that data for anything.
While there are some ways to get around this issue (like using a searchable PDF), the best way to solve this problem is to find a program that has a high rate of accuracy. Some programs even include accuracy benchmarks for you to compare your results with other users who’ve tested the same documents. If your scanned documents have errors, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do anything with them.
Compatibility
When shopping for OCR software, the first thing to do is make sure the software will work with your operating system. Some packages are only compatible with Windows, some only with Mac OS X, and some can be used on both. Some are only compatible with 64-bit versions of their respective operating systems.
If the software you’re looking at doesn’t specifically state its compatibility with your particular computer, then check out its website to see if it specifically mentions your OS. If it doesn’t, it may still be compatible or semi-compatible, but you may run into problems as there’s no guarantee that it’ll run smoothly until you try it out yourself.
You want to make sure that the software can be used in conjunction with the other tools you use on a daily basis, such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Ease of Use
Ease of use is a very important factor in selecting OCR software. If the software isn’t easy to operate, then it’s probably not for you. There are several factors that contribute to the ease of use of an OCR program.
The first factor is the amount of time it takes to install the program, and how much hard disk space it requires. This can be critical if your computer doesn’t have a lot of memory, or if you don’t have a lot of free hard disk space on your computer.
When you install OCR software, some programs take over your desktop and make it difficult for you to do anything else on your computer until you complete the installation process. Other programs may have a confusing installation process that makes it difficult or impossible for you to complete the installation at all.
Another factor that can impact the ease of use of an OCR program is the difficulty in setting up the scanning hardware connected to your computer. In some cases, if your computer doesn’t have a specific interface needed by the scanner, you might need to purchase additional equipment or devices in order to connect your scanner to your computer.
Or, if this equipment is already connected to other mobile devices, such as a printer or fax machine, and you want to set up your OCR scanner, you might need to disconnect these devices in order to use the scanner.
Cost
Cost is a tricky factor to consider when looking at OCR software because there are so many different ways that you can look at the price. It’s not hard to get hung up on the initial cost of the software, but if you’re considering a long-term investment, it’s just as important to think about what you’ll be paying every month or year after that initial purchase.
In order to make things simpler, most OCR tools will give you some kind of indication about how much it will cost per page for the lifetime of your software. If they don’t provide an estimate like this, you should ask them what the price will be one, three, and five years from now.
A few other factors that can influence the price include how many users are allowed on the software and whether or not upgrades are always included on free OCR software. Some companies will charge extra for every user added to your account—you might want to think about how many people need access to your system before you sign on with someone.
With more users comes more training costs, so if you’re buying this software for a company, keep that in mind before scaling up too much. Free upgrades may seem like a great deal at first glance, but if those upgrades come too frequently, it could be worth paying for upgrades that come less frequently so you don’t have to keep paying for upgrades and training users.
Productivity
When evaluating OCR productivity software, there are a few key criteria to evaluate.
Working with scanned documents is typically much slower than working with electronic documents. This makes it very important that OCR software runs quickly and efficiently.
It should also have features that allow you to export documents to different file formats so that they can be used effectively in other programs.
The ability to customize the program to suit your needs is an important factor. The more specific the program can be tailored towards your needs, the more effective it will be for you.
The ability to work with different file formats is another important factor when evaluating OCR productivity software. Not all files are in PDF files or TIFF format, and thus need to be converted before they can be utilized within other programs.
OCR scanner software should offer conversion options that allow you to adjust the settings based on which version of a certain file type you are using. For example, if you have a PDF file that was created by different versions of Adobe Acrobat, you may need to adjust the settings of the conversion process to ensure that it is compatible with your software.
The ability to work with different image formats is also important when evaluating OCR productivity software, as not all are in PDF documents or TIFF files.
Customization
OCR customization can be a big factor in choosing document conversion software. Some OCR programs allow for a great deal of customizability, such as the ability to change the quality and resolution of the image file.
Other OCR software has many pre-set features that cannot be adjusted. As companies evaluate available software options, it is crucial to keep these two concepts in mind: flexibility and quality control.
Security
There are plenty of files that contain graphics instead of just text, including scanned documents, PDFs, and manual data entry. Since the information is no longer in a straight text file, an OCR program must be able to recognize the shapes within the images or graphics as letters or numbers.
Otherwise, it will be impossible for it to read the text and make sense of what the original file says. This ability is essential for anyone who needs to guarantee that their information is secure from prying eyes, whether they’re protecting their personal data from identity theft or their company’s proprietary information from competitors or foreign governments.
Multi-Thread OCR Engine
When it comes to text recognition, multi-threaded recognition is a good thing. If an application has a multi-threaded engine, this means that it has been programmed to allow multiple images to be processed simultaneously. This allows for faster processing, and potentially lower costs on a per-page basis when scanning in bulk quantities of printed documents.
It also means that you can process more document/image types with less effort and better accuracy when using a multi-threaded optical character recognition engine compared to a single-threaded engine.
Comprehensive Format Support
The ability to recognize a wide array of different types of text is essential for mobile devices. This not only means being able to read from a variety of multiple languages but also being able to capture and convert data from many different applications, such as forms that are filled out on a computer or printed on paper and then faxed or mailed.
For example, if you’re trying to scan invoices, bank statements, or handwritten notes, you want the OCR software to be able to recognize the numbers and figures in order to translate them into the appropriate values.
It’s also important that the software be able to recognize characters in multiple document formats—for example, even within one language, there are several ways numbers can be written. To give another example, it’s necessary that the software be able to read alphanumeric characters from many different fonts and typefaces.
To evaluate how successful an OCR program is at handling many different types of input and output, we set up a test involving documents containing text in both English and Chinese that used multiple font styles and sizes. The documents included:
- A letter with both English and Chinese language sections
- A magazine ad that featured English text
- An invoice with numerical amounts in English
- A binder containing business documents with English text
- A sticky note with only English text
- The software was tested on each of these documents and graded based on how well it could handle different fonts, sizes, and languages.
Page – Level Field Recognition and Data Extraction
Page-level field recognition and extraction are one of the most impressive applications of optical character recognition. Page level OCR means that if you have a scanned document where the text is all mixed up with other objects like images or tables, you can use OCR to extract text and recognize the words wherever they appear on the page. This is particularly useful in converting scanned legacy documents that were never designed to be digital, like old magazine ads or brochures from years ago.
On-Premise vs. Cloud-Based OCR Software
When you’re considering which software to use for your business, it’s important to understand the difference between on-premise and cloud-based OCR software. On-premise software is installed on your own computer and is managed by your IT team.
Cloud-based OCR software, also known as SaaS (software as a service), is software you can access from anywhere using an internet connection.
On-premise OCR software can be cheaper in the long run, but if you have a large amount of scanning or an unpredictable volume of data that needs converting, cloud-based OCR software can save you time and money.
24/7 Customer Service Support
When choosing OCR software, look for a company that offers 24/7 customer service support. With the amount of money, you’ll be spending on this, you want to make sure you can get help if a problem comes up, especially if it’s not something simple you can fix. You don’t want to have to wait on hold and potentially lose out on valuable time and information.
Best OCR Software: Our Top Picks
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Conclusion
Choosing the right OCR solution is hard work, we know. That’s why we’ve created this chart to help you with differentiating between the best OCR software. Many of the criteria we listed above will factor into your decision, so when you’re comparing your top picks, make sure to keep this chart handy as you craft an evaluation rubric to narrow down your list.
FAQs
What are the benefits of Optical Character Recognition?
Let’s say you’re scanning paper documents that aren’t in print – maybe it’s handwritten or has another type of font.
This can be incredibly useful for people who are trying to scan a variety of things, including family history documents, medical records, handwritten notes from meetings, and more.
By using Optical Character Recognition you can turn any image into text that is searchable and easily stored. These files may also be able to be edited and converted back into the original format with minimal quality loss.
What are the 3 criteria for choosing OCR software?
While there are dozens of OCR software products on the market, it can be hard to determine which one will work best for your needs. I compiled a list of the top 3 criteria to help you when choosing an OCR product for your business:
1. Accuracy
2. Support availability
3. Pricing model
How to choose a good OCR software?
Fitting your industry.
Embedding good performances.
Offering an easy integration.
Human review of documents.
Providing excellent customer service.
