Image to Text (OCR)
Novaxera's Image to Text tool extracts text from photos, screenshots and scanned PDFs with the open-source Tesseract OCR engine, free and with no signup. It recognizes 10 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Japanese, and returns a plain UTF-8 .txt file.
Free · No signup · No watermark · Files deleted automatically within 60 minutes
Image to Text (OCR) at a glance
The key facts about Novaxera's Image to Text (OCR) tool.
- Input
- An image (JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, TIFF, GIF) or a PDF, including multi-page scans
- Engine
- Tesseract open-source OCR
- Languages
- 10, one per run: English, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese
- PDF handling
- Each page rendered at about 144 DPI; “--- Page N ---” separators
- Output
- UTF-8 plain-text .txt file
- Price
- Free — no signup, no watermark
- Max file size
- 50 MB per file
- File deletion
- Upload deleted right after processing; result deleted within 60 minutes
- Works on
- Any modern browser — Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iPhone
How to extract text from an image
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Upload an image or PDF
Choose a JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, TIFF or GIF image, or a scanned PDF, up to 50 MB.
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Select the language
Pick the language of the text from the 10 options, such as English or Arabic.
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Run OCR
Tesseract reads the text; for PDFs, every page is processed in turn.
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Download the .txt file
Save the plain-text result within 60 minutes, then paste it wherever you need it.
How Novaxera's Image to Text (OCR) works
Novaxera's Image to Text tool uses Tesseract, the widely used open-source OCR engine, to turn the pixels of letters into real, copyable characters. You choose one of 10 languages per run: English, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified) or Japanese. Picking the correct language tells Tesseract which alphabet and words to expect, which matters a great deal for scripts such as Arabic, Chinese and Japanese.
For PDFs, Novaxera renders each page at about 144 DPI and recognizes it, so multi-page scanned documents work in one upload. The output is a UTF-8 plain-text .txt file, with “--- Page N ---” separators marking where each PDF page begins. Formatting, layout and images are not kept. Accuracy depends on the source: clean, straight, high-contrast scans give the most reliable text. Uploads use HTTPS and results are deleted within 60 minutes.
Why use Novaxera's Image to Text (OCR)
Arabic OCR included
Arabic is one of the 10 supported languages, so you can extract Arabic text from photos and scanned PDFs.
Multi-page scanned PDFs
Upload a whole scanned PDF and get every page's text in one file, separated by page markers.
Universal UTF-8 text
The .txt output opens in any text editor and keeps non-Latin characters intact.
Open-source engine
Recognition is done by Tesseract, a widely used OCR engine, rather than an undisclosed method.
No account or watermark
Text extraction is free, with no signup required.
Common use cases
Scanned contracts and letters
Pull the text out of a scanned PDF so you can search, quote or rewrite it.
Screenshots and photos of notes
Copy text from a screenshot, slide photo or printed handout instead of retyping it.
Arabic documents
Extract Arabic text from scanned forms, books or official letters for editing or translation.
Research and archives
Turn photographed book pages or old printouts into searchable text.
Limitations to know
- Handwriting is not reliably recognized; the tool is designed for printed text.
- Output is plain text only, so formatting, tables, layout and images are not kept.
- One language is chosen per run; for a document mixing two languages, run it once per language and combine the results.
- Blurry, skewed or low-contrast images reduce accuracy, so always proofread the result.
Tips for better results
- Photograph pages flat, in good light and straight on; clean, high-contrast scans give the most accurate text.
- For digital PDFs that already contain text, use PDF to Word instead to keep the layout in an editable .docx.
- To edit OCR text in Word, paste the .txt contents into a document and format it there; you can then export it with Word to PDF.
- Several photos of one document? Combine them with Images to PDF and run OCR on the PDF once.
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract text from an image?
Upload the image to Novaxera's Image to Text tool, choose the language of the text and run OCR. Tesseract recognizes the characters and Novaxera gives you a UTF-8 .txt file to download. JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, TIFF and GIF images are accepted, up to 50 MB each.
Does Novaxera's OCR support Arabic?
Yes. Arabic is one of the 10 languages in Novaxera's Image to Text tool, alongside English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. Select Arabic before running OCR. The output is a UTF-8 .txt file, so Arabic characters display correctly in any modern text editor.
Can I convert a scanned PDF to text?
Yes. Novaxera's Image to Text tool accepts PDFs, including multi-page scanned PDFs. Each page is rendered at about 144 DPI and recognized with Tesseract, and the text from every page goes into one .txt file with “--- Page N ---” separators. For digital PDFs, PDF to Word keeps the layout instead.
Can Novaxera read handwriting?
No, not reliably. Novaxera's Image to Text tool uses Tesseract, which is built for printed text, so handwritten notes usually produce incomplete or incorrect results. For the most accurate output, use clean, straight, high-contrast images of typed or printed text.
Does OCR keep the formatting of my document?
No. Novaxera's Image to Text tool outputs plain UTF-8 text in a .txt file, without fonts, columns, tables or images. To build an edited document, paste the text into Word or Google Docs and format it there. Scanned PDFs keep page boundaries through “--- Page N ---” markers.
Is it safe to upload scanned documents for OCR?
Yes. Novaxera's Image to Text tool receives files over an encrypted HTTPS connection and runs OCR on its servers. The uploaded image or PDF is deleted as soon as recognition finishes, and the .txt result is deleted automatically within 60 minutes. Files are not shared or used for anything else, as described in the privacy policy.
Is the Image to Text tool free?
Yes. Novaxera's OCR tool is free, requires no signup and adds nothing to your text. Each file can be up to 50 MB, one file is processed per run, and you choose one language per run from the 10 supported. The site is supported by ads.
Can I use OCR on my phone?
Yes. Novaxera's Image to Text tool works in any modern browser on iPhone, iPad and Android, as well as Windows, macOS and Linux. Take a photo of a printed page, upload it, choose the language and download the .txt file, with nothing to install.
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Last updated · Maintained by Ghaith Alali · Facts on this page describe how Novaxera's Image to Text (OCR) tool currently works. · Privacy policy