While narrowing down the list, some apps didn't meet basic requirements and others performed poorly. When the wheat separated from the chaff, there wasn't a lot of wheat left. And I assumed I'd end up with around 10 apps that I could easily recommend. I went into this experiment thinking I might see subtle differences in terms of how well each app processed color or how many errors I could count among the OCR texts. Other apps have settings to indicate whether you're scanning a document, receipt, or a whiteboard.
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For example, FineScanner Pro by Abbyy has a special setting for scanning book pages, which I used on the fourth test. When available, I used any auto-scanning features in the app that were relevant to that particular text. I used each app in the same natural light conditions against the same background, a wood floor. Life, however, rarely gives us pristine documents. Fading, folding, tearing, book bindings, variations in ink saturation, and other factors can trip up OCR. With any scanning app, you'll get best results when working with flat, single-sided, standard size pages of crisp black text in a single typeface (sans serif, ideally) arranged in paragraphs on white paper. Note that I didn't cherry-pick a document that would be easy. Three consecutive book pages that include displayed equations and a table.
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To verify how well the apps work, I scanned four different items using each app:Ī standard black and white retail receipt that was a little wrinkled,Īn oddly shaped document with both black-on-white and white-on-black text, plus handwritten numbers,Ī color certificate with a seal, signature, and several different typefaces, and How We Chose the Best Mobile Scanning and OCR Apps Having an OCR function that works in multiple languages is a huge plus, too. The apps also need tools for adjusting brightness, correcting color, and selecting grayscale output instead of black and white when needed. Tools that let you manually adjust the cropping are important, for example, because sometimes apps get edge detection wrong. Some even have a Copy All Text function that lets you quickly pick up the text directly from the app and paste it into whatever app you want.įeatures aren't everything, but there are a few we like to see in mobile scanning and OCR apps.
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The best scanning and OCR apps let you save a PDF of whatever you scan and give you additional options for sharing, printing, and exporting your files. What you do with your files after you scan and digitize them matters tremendously. You do need a Microsoft account, however, to get the editable text. We ultimately included it anyway because the results were very good, and the apps don't cost anything. The only one that doesn't, Microsoft OfficeLens, requires a secondary app to complete the process. Four of the apps that made this list meet this criteria. Ideally, you want to be able to scan your document and be able to use the text from it immediately. We sought apps that offer scanning and digitizing in one. Therefore, auto-scan is a highly desirable feature. While not tapping a button may sound trivial, it allows your hands to hold the camera steady, resulting in a sharper image. Whatever you put in front of your phone's camera, the app scans without you having to tap a button (Microsoft OfficeLens being the one exception). All the apps that made this final list have that capability and use it by default. The best mobile scanning and OCR apps have a default automatic scanning function that puts text in focus and accurately detects the edges of documents. What Makes a Great Mobile Scanning and OCR App? Microsoft OfficeLens (when used with OneDrive and Word) Here are the apps we recommend for mobile scanning and OCR keep reading for an overview of each one, including cost, notable features, and how they performed on our tests: At that price, only those with heavy duty scanning and OCR needs will likely spring for it.Ī few other apps can get the job done and cost less than $10, but the list isn't long. It performed better than all the other apps in our tests, but it costs nearly $60. After testing close to 20 mobile scanning and OCR apps, one came out on top: FineScanner Pro by Abbyy.