How to Extract Text From an Image or Scan (Free OCR for Bangla and English)
Copy text out of a photo, screenshot, scan or certificate without retyping. Learn how OCR works and how to get the cleanest result.
You have a photo of a notice, a scanned page, a screenshot of a message or a picture of a certificate. You need the text inside it, to edit, to search or to paste into another document. Retyping is slow and full of mistakes, especially in Bangla. OCR solves this by reading the letters in the picture for you.
The free Image to Text tool reads Bangla, English, Hindi and Arabic text and gives you a plain text file you can copy.
Quick answer
Open Image to Text, choose your picture, select the language of the text, press the button and download or copy the text. Clear, straight, well-lit pictures give the best result.
What is OCR?
OCR stands for optical character recognition. The software looks at the shapes in a picture and decides which letters they are, turning an image of text into real text that you can select, copy and edit. It works well on printed text and less well on handwriting.
How to extract text, step by step
- Open the Image to Text tool.
- Add your picture or scan.
- Choose the language that matches the text, for example Bangla or English.
- Press the extract button and wait for the result.
- Copy the text or download it as a
.txtfile, then paste it into Word or a message.
How to get a more accurate result
The quality of the picture decides the quality of the text. Follow these rules:
- Keep the paper straight. Photograph from directly above, not at an angle. If a phone photo is skewed, clean it first with the Document Scanner.
- Use even light. Avoid shadows and glare across the page.
- Use a large, sharp picture. Blurry or tiny text is read badly.
- Choose the right language. A Bangla page read as English gives nonsense.
- Crop to the text if the picture has a busy background.
What works well and what does not
| Works well | Needs checking |
|---|---|
| Printed books, letters and notices | Handwriting |
| Typed certificates and forms | Very small or faint print |
| Screenshots with clear text | Photos with heavy shadows |
| Clean scans | Decorative or stylised fonts |
Always read the result once, particularly numbers, names and dates, before you rely on it.
Scanned PDFs and Word documents
If your source is a scanned PDF rather than a picture, you can turn it into an editable document with the Image / Scan to Word (OCR) tool, which produces a Word file. For PDFs made from real text, use PDF to Word instead, because there is no need for OCR.
Typical uses
- Pulling an ID number or address from a card for a form
- Digitising a book page or class notes
- Copying text from a screenshot of a chat or a poster
- Making old printed documents searchable
- Translating text by pasting it into a translation tool
Privacy
Your picture is used only to read the text, and then it is deleted. No account is needed and nothing is stored in a database. Be careful with highly sensitive documents on any online service, and read the privacy policy.
Frequently asked questions
Which languages are supported? Bangla, English, Hindi and Arabic.
Does it read handwriting? Printed text reads well. Handwriting is not always correct, so check the result.
What file do I get? A plain text (.txt) file that you can copy into Word or a message.
How can I improve a poor result? Keep the picture straight and evenly lit, use a large sharp picture and pick the right language.
Is it free? Yes, with no sign-up.
Next step
Open the Image to Text tool below and stop retyping.
