Exporting OCR'd PDF out of Evernote

[B1zguy 0]

I'm looking at using Evernote for my OCR and paperless needs, yet have a few questions. I am wondering how accurate the OCR feature is and whether I can export the OCR'd PDF out of Evernote. In addition, could this be done with images and does Evernote read handwritten notes? Thanks in advance.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

When EN indexes your PDF, they create a second, separate file (see Dave's post below).  Once your PDF has been indexed by EN, you can right click on a PDF in your note & one option is to save the SEARCHABLE PDF.  This saves the copy EN created.  However, you would not want this searchable copy to replace your original b/c, IIRC, people who played with this said the formatting on the searchable copy can be way off from the original document. 
 

Our philosophy is that we want to preserve the exact bits of the files you put into Evernote, so if you drag/save them out, you should get the original file exactly as it was. Any special processing we do (e.g. OCR on PDFs) is done via a second, separate file that we create and maintain. In the UI, you can get a copy of this second text+image PDF, but we don't replace your original.

[_Kalango_ 0]

Hi All,

 

I am an evernote premium user. I have added PDFs on my Mac that are indexed by EN. I can successful search for text in the PDF showing that it has been OCRed but the option to "Save Searchable PDF As ..." is greyed out and disabled. Anyone know why this happens?

 

+1 for this question.

[JsnPints 0]

Hi All,

 

I am an evernote premium user. I have added PDFs on my Mac that are indexed by EN. I can successful search for text in the PDF showing that it has been OCRed but the option to "Save Searchable PDF As ..." is greyed out and disabled. Anyone know why this happens?

[otinokyad 0]

I did my first test of allowing Evernote to OCR a pdf.  

 

Evernote certainly did the best job it could to extract text, but when I export a pdf from Evernote to my Macbook that includes the searchable text and then open it with Preview I see only the text.  All the images on the original pdf are not in this searchable pdf.

 

Can anyone offer input about why this is Evernote's mode of operation on the subject of saving a searchable pdf?

 

Tom Crofford

 

See comment #10 above from Moderator BurgersNFries and the embedded earlier comment from engberg:  

 

engberg, on 23 Aug 2009 - 3:15 PM, said:

Our philosophy is that we want to preserve the exact bits of the files you put into Evernote, so if you drag/save them out, you should get the original file exactly as it was. Any special processing we do (e.g. OCR on PDFs) is done via a second, separate file that we create and maintain. In the UI, you can get a copy of this second text+image PDF, but we don't replace your original.

 

Seems to make it very clear that Evernote has decided NOT to be in the OCR-for-free business.  I would guess it is more a server load issue than anything else.

[Tom Crofford 1]

I did my first test of allowing Evernote to OCR a pdf.  

 

Evernote certainly did the best job it could to extract text, but when I export a pdf from Evernote to my Macbook that includes the searchable text and then open it with Preview I see only the text.  All the images on the original pdf are not in this searchable pdf.

 

Can anyone offer input about why this is Evernote's mode of operation on the subject of saving a searchable pdf?

 

Tom Crofford

[PunctualDiva 1]

Thank you very much for clarifying my misunderstandings.

 

Does the handwritten OCRing work like any other image OCR? What if it was in a PDF? Will I have to utilise the API to export from images?

I've been doing some researching on this after importing a bunch of PDFs into Evernote (Premium) and not having them index.

I was suffering from two problems, one is a technical glitch, where printed documents weren't being indexed. But the other is a deal-killer. PDF's with handwritten text images are not indexed by Evernote. Period.

 

So, if you want to do what you're asking, you'll have to scan your notes into image files to bring them into Evernote.

 

This makes it impossible if you have a PDF based workflow and expect Evernote to do the recognition.

 

Wish I had better news (both for you and for me!)

[B1zguy 0]

Thank you very much for clarifying my misunderstandings.

 

Does the handwritten OCRing work like any other image OCR? What if it was in a PDF? Will I have to utilise the API to export from images?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

 

When EN indexes your PDF, they create a second, separate file (see Dave's post below).  Once your PDF has been indexed by EN, you can right click on a PDF in your note & one option is to save the SEARCHABLE PDF.  This saves the copy EN created.  However, you would not want this searchable copy to replace your original b/c, IIRC, people who played with this said the formatting on the searchable copy can be way off from the original document. 

 

Our philosophy is that we want to preserve the exact bits of the files you put into Evernote, so if you drag/save them out, you should get the original file exactly as it was. Any special processing we do (e.g. OCR on PDFs) is done via a second, separate file that we create and maintain. In the UI, you can get a copy of this second text+image PDF, but we don't replace your original.

 

 

Right! I had forgotten about this. I was stuck thinking in terms of mass exports (when you export a bunch of notes or save the attachments from them somewhere). 

[C6REW 416]

Hi B1zguy,

 

There you go I called in the cavalry! 

 

Regards

 

Chris

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I'm looking at using Evernote for my OCR and paperless needs, yet have a few questions. I am wondering how accurate the OCR feature is and whether I can export the OCR'd PDF out of Evernote. In addition, could this be done with images and does Evernote read handwritten notes? Thanks in advance.

 

1. It is pretty accurate. I did some tests here http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=98

2. I am not aware of any way you can export the OCR'd content out of Evernote from the interface (you might be successful using the API)

3. Evernote does read handwritten notes, but your mileage may vary. The same rules about exportability apply. 

[Laurent Sarrazin 67]

This post on the tech blog could be useful (I hope) : http://blog.evernote...ognition-works/

 

+ 

 

You can get the recognition data through the API (http://dev.evernote.com/documentation/reference/Types.html#Struct_Resource)

but it's a little bit more work...

[C6REW 416]

Hi B1zguy,

 

Forgive me for not fully understanding how you would use the OCR outside of Evernote, must be my lack of knowledge in this field. The only way I have used OCR in the past is to scan a document and with OCR turn it into text. I thought that this is what you wanted to do, which to my knowledge would not work.

 

I will ask one of the other techy guys to take a look at the thread.

 

Best regards

 

Chris

[B1zguy 0]

Hi Chris.

 

So to clarify, I can quite easily take out a document from Evenernote thar I had placed in, however, the OCR'd aspect of the document will remain within Evernote which by no means I can take out?

 

~ B1zguy

[C6REW 416]

Hi B1zguy,

 

Yes you can take out any document within Evernote no problem. But if I understand your request correctly, the OCR part is for Evernote's search so won't be of use to you.

 

Best regards

 

Chris

[B1zguy 0]

Thanks Chris. I'm looking at a means with which I can take out the files from EV and have it stored on my computer like any other file.

 

By the way, jbenson2, what were you trying to say? It appears blank.

[jbenson2 2,147]

I'm looking at using Evernote for my OCR and paperless needs, yet have a few questions. I am wondering how accurate the OCR feature is and whether I can export the OCR'd PDF out of Evernote. In addition, could this be done with images and does Evernote read handwritten notes? Thanks in advance.

[C6REW 416]

Hi and welcome to the forums,

 

When Evernote talk about OCR for pdf's, hand written notes and images, it makes them searchable. So anything written in any of these Notes can be searched like any other Note.

 

I get the feeling you are looking for something to be turned into text. That is not what Evernote does as far as I am aware.

 

Best regards

 

Chris