OwlOCR - Screenshot to Text 4+
Screenshots, images and PDFs!
Urtti Apps Oy
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- Free
- Offers In-App Purchases
Screenshots
Description
Grab any text on the screen, convert images or scans to searchable PDFs, open QR-coded URLs, integrate via CLI, access with Finder Extensions and more!
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OwlOCR allows grabbing a part of the screen and having any text in that area be instantaneously recognized and copied to clipboard. Additionally, the application supports recognizing text from PDF files, images and converting the contents to plain text. All conversion is done securely on-device - none of your images or files are sent to third-party services in the cloud.
The output of OwlOCR is plain text that you may copy and then paste to your target use or application. Exporting a PDF file with the text recognition results as an invisible text layer is also supported.
Features:
- Grab a screen area for instant OCR and result copied to clipboard
- High quality text recognition performed on-device securely
- Run text recognition page-by-page or for a directory or a group of files
- Take a photo or scan of document with your iPhone or iPad device (please note requirements: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209037)
- Export searchable PDF files
- Create searchable PDF, extract text to clipboard or plain text right from Finder using OwlOCR Finder Extensions
- Scan barcodes and QR and automatically open links in browser (NEW!)
- Integrate your favourite tools to OwlOCR CLI (NEW!)
- Customize OwlOCR to behave as a menu bar- or dock app
- Wrap naturally or as in input
- Custom dictionary for industry-specific lingo
- Choose line spacing 1.0-4.0
- Automatically start on MacOS launch (option)
- Input filetypes supported: PDF, GIF, PNG, JPEG, JPG.
- Keyboard shortcut Cmd + F1 (configurable) for a single screen area OCR even when OwlOCR is in the background
- Keyboard shortcut Cmd + F2 (configurable) for multiple screen area captures
- macOS Catalina or newer required
- Language support running under MacOS 11.0: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
- Language support under MacOS 10.15 limited to English only.
- Dark Mode supported, B&W/Color options for Menu Bar icon
- Runs natively on Apple M1 and Intel processors
Pro Mode
- 3 week free trial automatically starting upon installation (no sign-up required)
- After trial expiration, the Pro mode can purchased as a lifetime license
Features exclusively in Pro mode:
- Batch text recognition for multipage PDFs and multiple documents in parallel
- Use Finder Quick Actions on multiple files
- Take up to 20 screenshots with multi-screenshot feature
- Run post-process rules automatically
- Command line support for integrations
What’s New
Version 5.4.4
Add option for automatically opening exported PDF screenshots, add keyboard shortcuts for changing pages, remove keyboard shortcut for show colors, improve toolbar consistency during OCR.
Ratings and Reviews
Absolutely brilliant
Seven stars, so glad I found this app. My main use case is converting old scans into searchable PDFs. I love that there are multiple easy pathways for doing that (e.g., menu bar, app window, or Finder shortcut). It's also faster and more pleasant to use than the expensive OCR monopoly who shall not be named. The screenshot functions are even more impressive, so I'm already thinking of ways to incorporate them into my workflow.
The developer, Tommi, is a mensch. I ran into a hiccup during the free trial and couldn't find anything about it online. Turned out I had discovered a new issue; Tommi answered my email and told me he had released an update less than a day later.
Only wish I had found OwlOCR sooner before I threw so much money at a monthly subscription just for OCR! This lifetime Pro license is worth every penny.
I Love this app.
I have been looking for an app that allows me to digitise my notes and this app is wonderful at it. I am able to create searchable pdfs from my handwritten notes and I love that we have the option of either copying to the clipboard to exporting as a pdf. Not to mention the developer is incredibly kind and responsive. This is a suprisingly underserved market for a very common use case and this app delivers. Thanks, Tommi
Developer Response ,
Thank you shahrviral for all our correspondence offline and also for taking a moment to leave this review! Definitely appreciate it a lot!
Quick and great, but having to resnippet each time is annoying
Most of the things I'm trying to scan are in the same area, so it's rather tedious having to click and drag repetitively to get the same area, especially for batch captures. Even for single captures, it'd be nice to have an option for a predetermined area to be scanned when the capture is activated, like how MacOS's built-in screen capture saves your last selected area for easy screenshots and recordings of similar contexts.
App Privacy
The developer, Urtti Apps Oy, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Purchases
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Urtti Apps Oy
- Size
- 24.6 MB
- Category
- Productivity
- Compatibility
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- Mac
- Requires macOS 10.15 or later.
- Languages
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English
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2023 Tommi Urtti
- Price
- Free
- In-App Purchases
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- OwlOCR Pro - Lifetime License $13.99
Supports
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Family Sharing
Some in‑app purchases, including subscriptions, may be shareable with your family group when Family Sharing is enabled.