Freemium
ToText
ToText pulls the text out of an image or PDF and gives it back as an editable file, free and with no sign-up.
FreeBeginnerWeb
Overview
ToText reads the words inside an image or PDF and hands them back as text you can edit (optical character recognition, or OCR). It cleans the file up first, adjusting contrast, reducing noise and straightening a tilted scan, then reads the characters. It handles many languages, can work out which one it is looking at, and can read a file that mixes more than one. It reads handwriting as well as print.
You drag, paste or upload up to 10 files at a time, 20 MB each. The result exports as plain text, Word, PDF, ODT, EPUB or MOBI. It runs in the browser and is free with no sign-up.
Key features
✓Reads text from images and PDFs
✓Drag, paste or upload a file
✓Handles many languages with auto-detection
✓Reads mixed languages in one file
✓Recognizes handwriting, not only print
✓Reads maths symbols and formulas
✓Translates the extracted text
✓Cleans the image first: contrast, noise and tilt
✓Exports to text, Word, PDF, ODT and e-book formats
✓Free with no sign-up
When to use
Use ToText if:
- You have a screenshot, scan or photo of text and want it as editable text.
- You need to pull text from a PDF that was scanned as images.
- Your document is not in English, since it reads many languages and can detect them.
- You have handwritten notes you want typed up.
- You want the result as a Word file, plain text or an e-book format, not only copied text.
- You want a free tool with no sign-up that works right in the browser.
When NOT to use
Skip ToText if any of these describe you:
- You need the page layout, tables and columns kept. A table comes back as flat lines of text, in the Word and PDF exports as well.
- You are automating OCR for thousands of files in software. This is a web tool that takes 10 files at a time, not an API. Other image to text tools offer bulk options.
- The document is confidential and must never leave your machine. The vendor's own pages disagree on whether files are uploaded, so a tool that works on your own computer is the safer choice.
- The photo of the text is blurry or shot in low light. Recognition depends on how clearly the characters show, and no OCR reads what it cannot see.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. It is free to use with no sign-up. You can start reading a file right away.
Many, including English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Hindi. It can detect the language for you and can read a file that mixes more than one. It can also translate the text it has read.
Yes. It reads handwritten notes as well as printed text. As with any OCR, clear and steady writing comes out more accurately than messy or faint writing.
Up to 10 files at a time, 20 MB each. It takes PDFs and common image types such as PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF and GIF. The list also covers PSD, AI, EPS, XPS, DjVu and camera RAW files such as CR2, NEF, ARW and DNG. The text exports as plain text, Word, PDF, ODT, EPUB or MOBI. The vendor lists a separate export for tables to Markdown, CSV or Excel.
Its feature list says this version does not upload your data. Its security note describes an encrypted connection and automatic deletion of temporary files. For something highly confidential, a tool that runs only on your own machine removes the doubt.
Not reliably. The vendor advertises layout analysis and layout-preserving export. A table came back as plain lines of text, in the Word and PDF exports as well as on screen. A table or a two-column page has to be rebuilt by hand.
Alternatives to ToText
Freemium
Image to Text
Free OCR that pulls the text out of an image, built on the open-source Tesseract engine, with no signup.
BeginnerWeb
Paid
Freemium
