1. SwifDoo PDF OCR
SwifDoo PDF is an incredible PDF editor and one of the best OCR software for Windows 10, Windows 11, and the older Windows 8/7. Its advanced OCR function can recognize PDF text and make image-only PDFs editable. Additionally, this Windows-based OCR software and document management and editing application can also edit, annotate, and convert files. You can download the OCR software for your Windows to make your scanned text editable for seamless workflows and productivity.
Best For:
- Using software that’s free without a limit using a trouble-free FREE Trial
- Seamlessly recognize OCR PDFs and images with scanned or image-based text
- Effortlessly extract text from scanned PDFs or image-based PDFs
- Performing all PDF-related tasks to manage them more conveniently
2. SimpleOCR
SimpleOCR is one of the best free OCR software for Windows 10/11 or the former versions. It uses advanced algorithms to recognize text from scanned paper documents. It offers batch processing mode and can easily convert the results into editable digital formats such as Word and Excel, saving you significant time. SimpleOCR has an accuracy of 99.8%, according to several tests. To make the most of this program, you can download the open-source OCR software full version for Windows PCs for free.
Pros:
- Smoothly convert PDF to Word Doc with the OCR or save the extracted text as a .txt file
- Supports 50+ languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, and Chinese
- Intuitive user interface with high accuracy in character recognition
Cons:
- Often fails to perform, and even when it does, it loses all formatting, presenting just words in one column down the page
3. Snipping Tool
Snipping Tool is another handy program best known as the Microsoft Windows free OCR (optical character recognition) software. Referring to the Snipping Tool, Windows 11 has a built-in OCR program that Windows 10 or older doesn’t have, making it an excellent option for extracting text. The Snipping Tool’s built-in OCR feature allows you to copy text from any captured image. In addition, it lets you easily capture screenshots of any part of your screen and save, annotate, or share them.
Pros:
- Built-in best OCR software for Windows 11 saves the hassle of downloading and installing
- Automatically analyze the image to find the text on it
- Allows editing, formatting, or searching the text
Cons:
- Blurry, low-quality, or complex images might not work well with the software
4. Microsoft OneNote OCR
As you know, the OCR feature is not offered in common Microsoft Word or other Office software, so Microsoft OneNote OCR was introduced with exclusive OCR functionality. Fortunately, the Microsoft Office OneNote program can do OCR for free and even integrate seamlessly within the Microsoft 365 suite. While it can analyze images and extract text, the output is generally translated into text with formatting anomalies.
Pros:
- A free OCR software for Windows with ease of use
- Offers a comprehensive solution for organizing and digitizing content
- Supports collaborative features and cross-platform accessibility
Cons:
- Only basic OCR features that cannot process large volumes of documents and images
5. FreeOCR
FreeOCR is a user-friendly best free OCR software for Windows free download. Its intuitive interface and powerful text recognition capabilities make it a favorable option for users seeking accurate results from scanned documents or images. This OCR software, available for free download for Windows 11/10/8/7/XP, also supports many different image formats for seamless text extraction to enhance your productivity without a single penny. It outputs plain text that can easily be exported directly to Microsoft Word format.
Pros:
- A free OCR scanner software for Windows that delivers accurate OCR results
- Features ease of use without having to spend money
- Open most scanned PDFs and multi-page TIFF images as well as popular image file formats
Cons:
- It offers limited features and is unsuitable for processing large volumes of documents or images.
6. Google Docs
Google Docs is also a popular choice and one of the best free OCR software for all Windows and other operating systems. The OCR built into the program can easily scan and open PDFs in Docs or other online books. You can simply upload PDFs and photos to Google Drive, right-click on them, choose to open with Google Docs and access them anytime.
Pros:
- It doesn’t require installation or account creation
- Web-based service with high accuracy
- Convert an unlimited number of files to text
Cons:
- Only scan uploaded files and not files directly from the scanner
7. Tesseract
Lastly, Tesseract, developed at Hewlett-Packard in the mid-80s, is also a popular open-source, free OCR software for any Windows user. It has the best OCR engine with a command line and is written in C/C++. While Tesseract is available natively on the DocumentCloud front end, it is the default OCR engine for documents that don’t have an extractable, underlying text layer.
Pros:
- Reasonably comprehensive manual
- Supports a wide variety of languages
- Features ease of setup and use
Cons:
- Struggles with blurry and machine-generated documents, including handwritten texts, scanned documents, and redactions
Bonus Tip: How to OCR a File with SwifDoo PDF
After seeing the comprehensive list of the best free and cost-effective OCR software to download for your Windows computer, you can choose the one that best meets your requirements. However, you can check the steps below to consider the SwifDoo PDF to OCR a PDF or image to extract and edit text. You can drag your image or PDF and drop it into the program to get started.
Let’s find out how to use this Windows-compatible OCR tool to OCR your PDF file smoothly.
Step 1: Download and launch the SwifDoo PDF from the official website or Microsoft AppSource on Windows PC or Mac computers.
Step 2: Open the program and tap the Edit tab in the toolbar. Click OCR. A Recognize Document popup window will display.
Step 3: Choose how to OCR the current PDF document and convert the scanned PDF to a document with text and images. You can also select either text with original formatting or searchable text and images but non-editable.
Step 4: Once you’ve decided how to output the OCR result, specify the page range to perform OCR if necessary. Click OK once you are ready to OCR your PDF file.
Step 5: The document after OCR is automatically opened in a new tab with all text blocks editable for you to edit or save.
Final Thoughts
OCR software has many benefits for various users in different fields. They can avoid retyping, edit printed text, perform quick digital searches, free up space, and, most importantly, quickly access information. This post has discussed the 7 top free or economical OCR software applications for Windows. While you can settle on any tool, we recommend downloading and trying the SwifDoo PDF for its comprehensive ability for all PDF tasks. Its ease of use, accuracy, multilingual support, and level of automation make it a preferred choice.