Is there a way to "OCR scan" existing receipt photos?

[Cartographile 1]

I've recently been using Evernote's "document scanner" aka "Auto" mode in its camera to take pictures of some receipts I want to save. I love how it adjusts the contrast for easy readability and runs OCR over the image to make the text searchable.

 

Since it works so well I was hoping to do the same to some older receipt photos I have in my camera roll. I can't seem to figure out any way to have Evernote process them as a document.

 

I tried downloading Scannable but it's 100% camera only

 

I wouldn't mind importing the old receipts via web or the Mac app, I just figured I'd post here in the iOS sub, since that's where it would be most convenient.

 

Is there any way to import old photos as text searchable documents?

 

I imagine I could "Convert to PDF" but if I remember correctly, searchable PDFs are a Premium only feature - I'm a Plus user.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Any photo will be "OCRd" by Evernote. Those images you have in your camera roll could just be attached to a note and they will become searchable within Evernote. The optimizations you have seen applied to other photos would likely increase the accuracy of the OCR, but it isn't necessary per se. 

 

I use quotes on OCR because it isn't exactly like OCR in the way that we might think (a la ABBYY or Adobe), as it doesn't embed a layer of text in the image that follows the file around. Take the image out, or open it in preview, and it is no longer searchable. 
 

[Cartographile 1]

Any photo will be "OCRd" by Evernote. Those images you have in your camera roll could just be attached to a note and they will become searchable within Evernote. The optimizations you have seen applied to other photos would likely increase the accuracy of the OCR, but it isn't necessary per se. 

 

I use quotes on OCR because it isn't exactly like OCR in the way that we might think (a la ABBYY or Adobe), as it doesn't embed a layer of text in the image that follows the file around. Take the image out, or open it in preview, and it is no longer searchable. 

 

 

Oh awesome! Thanks very much.

 

I didn't know a better way to describe that I wanted my images "searchable" except by saying OCR.

 

Regardless, I would have figured this out sooner, but I tried to make a note with 30+ receipt photos and it was taking forever to upload and sync, so I never got to try and search them.

 

I may just crop them a bit (for the hell of it) and try the upload again. I appreciate your response.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

no problem and good luck! Sometimes it can take a while to make the images searchable because it all has to be processed on Evernote's servers first, then synced back down to your device.