OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is the technology that reads an image — whether that is a scanned page, a photograph of a document, or a screenshot — and converts the visual text into actual characters that a computer can understand, search, and edit.
Before OCR, a scanned document was just a picture. You could see the words but you could not click on them, copy them, or search for a specific phrase. OCR changes that by analysing the shapes in the image and mapping them to letters and numbers.
How to convert an image to text for free
The most effective free method for most people is to convert the image to a searchable Word document using OCR, then copy the text out. Here is how:
- If your image is a JPG or PNG, convert it to PDF first using Filero's Image to PDF tool.
- Open Filero's PDF to Word tool and upload the PDF.
- The tool automatically detects if the document is scanned and runs OCR on it.
- Download the Word document and open it — your text is now fully editable and searchable.
No account required, and the OCR runs entirely in the browser using Tesseract.js — your document is never uploaded to a server.
What types of images work best with OCR?
Printed text on a white background. This is the ideal scenario for OCR. Standard documents, printed forms, typed letters, and books all convert with very high accuracy — typically 99% or better for clean scans.
High-resolution scans. The higher the resolution, the better the result. A scan at 300 DPI gives OCR much more to work with than a low-res photo taken on a phone from a distance. If you have control over the scan settings, 300 DPI is the sweet spot for text documents.
Good contrast. Dark text on a light background converts well. Faded documents, coloured paper, or watermarked backgrounds reduce accuracy. If the original is low contrast, increasing the contrast in an image editor before running OCR often improves results.
When OCR struggles
Handwriting. OCR is designed for printed text, not handwriting. Cursive in particular is very difficult for standard OCR engines. Results on handwritten notes are unreliable — you will likely need to type them manually.
Complex layouts. Multi-column magazine pages, tables with merged cells, and documents with text overlaid on images can confuse OCR into producing text in the wrong order. The words will usually be correct, but the layout may need manual fixing.
Unusual fonts. Decorative or stylised fonts are harder for OCR to read than standard serif or sans-serif typefaces. Legal or official documents in standard fonts convert very reliably — artistic or heavily styled documents less so.
Other ways to convert images to text
Google Docs:Upload an image or PDF to Google Drive, right-click it, and choose "Open with Google Docs". Google runs OCR automatically and displays the extracted text below the image in the document. Free and reasonably accurate for clean documents.
Microsoft OneNote:Insert a picture into OneNote, right-click it, and choose "Copy Text from Picture". The extracted text is copied to your clipboard. Works surprisingly well for receipts and quick extractions.
Adobe Acrobat: The most accurate OCR available, particularly for complex layouts and languages. Requires a paid subscription. For professional workflows dealing with large volumes of scanned documents, it is worth the cost.
Frequently asked questions
Can I extract text from a screenshot?
Yes — screenshots are just PNG images. Convert the screenshot to PDF using the Image to PDF tool, then run the PDF through the PDF to Word tool with OCR enabled. Screenshots typically have sharp text at screen resolution which converts well.
Does OCR work for languages other than English?
Yes. The OCR engine used by Filero supports over 100 languages including French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. Accuracy varies by language — Latin-alphabet languages perform best, while languages with more complex character sets may have slightly lower accuracy.
How accurate is free OCR compared to paid tools?
For clean, well-scanned documents in English, free OCR is 97 to 99% accurate — meaning you may need to correct one or two words per page. Paid tools like Adobe Acrobat improve on this mainly for difficult documents: faded text, unusual languages, or complex table layouts. For everyday scanned documents, free OCR is more than sufficient.
Ready to try it?
Use Filero's free PDF to Word (with OCR) tool. No account needed, works on any device.
Open PDF to Word (with OCR)