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pdf editor
- Thread starter UKBeast
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What Mac do you have and what OS are you running. Preview does OCR on macOS Ventura (but maybe only in image files. I'm not sure about pdf). I do use Preview for most pdf manipulation, but I also use Nitro PDF Pro. It's powerful but has a slightly weird UI, in my opinion. Still, it will OCR entire documents and save the OCR'd text as a layer that is searchable in any pdf app. It's pricy at $110. I think there is a non-pro version that's cheaper. There are also many pdf apps on the App Store. Check them out.
P.S. I see Nitro PDF has terrible reviews. I'll just say that I only use it once per year to generate a Table of Contents for a lengthy pdf I make. Preview won't do that. As I said, its UI is weird, but it works. I also use it to add the text layer to pdfs that I want searchable.
P.S. I see Nitro PDF has terrible reviews. I'll just say that I only use it once per year to generate a Table of Contents for a lengthy pdf I make. Preview won't do that. As I said, its UI is weird, but it works. I also use it to add the text layer to pdfs that I want searchable.
Nitro PDF Pro
Nitro PDF Pro comes with a full suite of tools to edit, OCR, convert, combine, sign and protect PDFs in a modern, intuitive user interface. EDIT •Easily edit, make changes or redact in PDF documents •Correct typos and track important notes or edits with highlights and annotations OCR...
apps.apple.com
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Like @chabig, I use Nitro PDF Pro (used to be called PDFPen). But it is (for my use) expensive. You might decide to separate OCR and PDF editing. In which case you should look at OwlOCR with the Pro add-on (much cheaper than Nitro).
owlocr.com
Good OCR has been the preserve of a small number of expensive apps. This is hopefully changing as more OCR like functionality is built into macOS.
I also find that there is a lot of variability in quality of OCR. For some documents Nitro is really good, but for others OwlOCR is much better.
You need to try a range of apps and see what fits your workflow.
Instant text recognition for Mac with OwlOCR
OCR instantly anything on the Mac screen and digitize your scans and files, create searchable PDFs using state-of-the-art text recognition. Get started free!
Good OCR has been the preserve of a small number of expensive apps. This is hopefully changing as more OCR like functionality is built into macOS.
I also find that there is a lot of variability in quality of OCR. For some documents Nitro is really good, but for others OwlOCR is much better.
You need to try a range of apps and see what fits your workflow.