About Picture to Text Converter
This picture to text converter is set up for photos: Grayscale is on, which drops colour noise from a camera picture before the text is read. It is free, needs no sign-up and runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is uploaded.
On a phone, press Take a photo to open the camera. Hold the phone parallel to the page, in even light, with the text filling the frame. If the photo came out sideways, press Rotate 90 degrees before reading.
Photos are harder than screenshots because of shadows, tilt and blur. If the result is poor, add Black and white, which cleans up the background, or retake the picture. Words that the engine is unsure of are highlighted.
How to use Picture to Text Converter
- Add a picture: drop it on the box, tap to choose a file, paste it, or press Take a photo on a phone. PDFs are read page by page, up to 10 pages.
- Tick the languages that appear in the picture. Pick only the ones you need, since each one is downloaded.
- If the picture is tilted, press Rotate 90 degrees. For a faint or noisy scan turn on Grayscale, and try Black and white to remove the background.
- For small text, such as a screenshot, choose Enlarge 2x.
- Press Read text. The card says when the engine is ready; English starts loading when the page opens.
- Check the amber and red words, then press Copy or Download TXT.
Features
- Tesseract OCR in a web worker, in your browser.
- Several languages at once, including Bangla, Hindi and Arabic.
- Input by file, drop, paste or camera, plus PDF pages.
- Grayscale, black and white threshold (Otsu) and rotation to improve a bad scan.
- Enlarge 2x for small text such as screenshots.
- Per-word confidence, with uncertain words highlighted.
- Copy the text or download a TXT file.
- Right-to-left text such as Arabic and Urdu shown in the right direction.
Privacy: how it works
- Pictures and PDFs are read in your browser and are never uploaded to Ulkaa or to anyone else.
- The OCR engine and the language data are downloaded from jsDelivr (English as the page opens, other languages when you pick them). Those requests do not include your picture.
Tips
- Photograph the page straight on, in even light, with the text filling most of the frame.
- Choose only the languages in the picture. Extra languages slow the read and can add wrong words.
- If the result is poor, try Grayscale, then Black and white, then Enlarge 2x, one at a time.
- Check numbers, names and codes by eye. OCR often swaps 0 and O, 1 and l, 5 and S.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?
Yes. There is no price, no trial and no credit card. Ulkaa Tool does the work with your own device, so there is no server bill to pass on to you.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up and no login. Open the page and use it. An Ulkaa account is not needed for anything on this tool.
Does it run in my browser?
Yes. Your pictures are processed by code running in your browser tab, on your own device.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Your pictures are never sent to Ulkaa or to anyone else. You can check this yourself by watching the Network tab in your browser developer tools while you use the tool.
How do I take a photo on my phone?
Press Take a photo. Your phone opens the camera and the picture is read on your device, not uploaded.
The photo is sideways. What now?
Press Rotate 90 degrees until the text is upright, then press Read text.
More Image to Text Converter (OCR) pages
- Image to Text Converter (OCR)Extract the text from a picture, a screenshot or a PDF, with the uncertain words marked.
- Extract Text From a ScreenshotPaste a screenshot and copy the text out of it.
- Bangla OCR OnlineExtract Bangla text from a picture or scanned page.
- Hindi OCR OnlineExtract Hindi text from a photo, scan or screenshot.
- OCR OnlineRun OCR on a scanned page or a PDF and copy the text.