Free TIFF viewer with OCR function

Hi all - my first post on this forum

I work for an insurance brokers, and we need some software that will view TIFF files normally as well as allow the user to select some or all of a page to OCR, which can then be added to the clipboard easily for pasting elsewhere. Ideally I'd like this software to be FREE.

I've done a fair bit of research already (just Googling and looking on CNET Downloads), but this requirement doesn't seem that common anymore, most of the free software out there is for batch converting TIFFs into PDFs, which isn't what we need here.

I found FreeOCR (http://www.freeocr.net/) already, and while the interface is nice and easy, the OCR results are terrible even on an easy to read TIFF sample that I obtained and tested. If anyone knows of a better piece of freeware for the job (with reliable results) I'd be most grateful.

Or if you can recommend any software that is licenced that will do the job well that would be good too.

Many thanks in advance, Kev. :major

 

Welcome to Majorgeeks, Kev

I've no idea about this kind of software, I'm just wondering if you are office-based and whether there's a Mac user there, it sounds like something that may be easier with a Mac.

 

Hi satrow, thanks . nope, no Macs here! All Windows XP machines and we run Office 2007.

 

Hmm, do you just need something that will rip text out of a TIFF to paste into another App.?

 

Yes, that's basically it. It should have a fairly easy to use UI as well, because otherwise users here will struggle.

 

Can you test this?

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but we're running Office 2007 and frustratingly Document Image Viewer doesn't seem to be a part of it, unless I'm missing something and have simply not installed it (I seem to remember selecting to upgrade 2003, so it may have missed features out. I will check the install media for Document Image Viewer or similar, as this will solve our problems! Cheers, Kev

 

Add/Remove programs and select Office 2007 > Change ... (but it wouldn't surprise me if MS neglected to add it for 2007).

 

You're a genius! Thanks - it's still included with 2007 but for some reason hadn't installed along with the upgrade I did. I don't think I've ever had to use the Document Image Viewer myself in the past so wasn't aware of it.

Thanks again!

 

I never trust default install settings, especially with something as big as an office suite.

Anyway, glad it works without needing to add anything extra

 

Yeah, you're right to be honest, just seemed easier to click "Upgrade" at the time. Me too