Google Drive provides OCR (optical character recognition) capabilities for scanned image files, including PDFs. However, there are some limits on what can be achieved with this approach.
OCR is a means of converting non-editable files into editable versions, usually in Microsoft Word format. In the case of Google Drive’s OCR, you need only upload your file, then have it “opened” by Google Docs — no additional software is required. The file can be an image or a multipage PDF.
The key to improving the accuracy of the Google Drive OCR conversion is proper file preparation before uploading to Google Drive. Google also has an extension that fills the gaps left behind by its native OCR approach.
If you’d like to convert scanned images to editable documents in Microsoft Word, there are other approaches as well. Here are our picks for the best third-party online OCR tools.
What Does Google Drive OCR Do?
As part of Google Workspace (which includes Google Drive), Google offers built-in OCR capabilities for scanning and translating PDFs. It supports the following:
PDFs (multipage)
.jpeg
.png
.gif
You can convert these into searchable text and edit them directly in Google Docs, which works within the context of the original file. There’s also a Google Workspace Marketplace add-on that adds extra functionality, such as saving converted files to other formats.
In terms of formatting, Google Drive OCR detects the following:
Bold
Italics
Font size
Font type
Line breaks
However, certain formatting elements won’t survive the OCR process:
Lists
Tables
Columns
Footnotes
Endnotes
Because Google Docs cannot retain the original formatting and layout of PDFs, scanned PDFs will not produce accurate results.
If you’re looking for alternatives, we’ve listed several dedicated OCR-to-Word converters below.
OCR via Google Workspace Add-ons
Google offers a free extension that enhances the Google Drive OCR process. It’s called ‘OCR – Image & PDF to Text & Table & Excel,’ and it allows you to do the following:
Recognize tables from PDF and image documents
Batch process up to 200 images at once
Save converted content directly to Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Excel
This add-on has been installed over 49K times and receives a five-star rating from users who claim it accurately identifies documents even if they contain poor quality scans.
While many OCR tools allow you to export the final result in Word (.docx) format, Google Drive outputs files to Google Docs format by default. For those who want to export to Word, there are third-party solutions. Below are two options for doing so: PDFgear Online and PDFgear Desktop.
Convert a Scanned PDF to Word
Both PDFGear Online and PDFGear Desktop use OCR technology to convert scanned PDFs into Word-compatible .docx files. With PDFGear Online, you simply click the Scan button, then drag and drop the scanned image into the designated area. PDFGear will automatically detect the scanned document, perform OCR, and return the file in editable Word format.
PDFGear Desktop takes a similar approach but allows for batch conversions. While both programs offer limited support for languages beyond English, PDFGear desktop offers more extensive language coverage, including ~30 languages. Unlike PDFGear Online, however, it processes files locally rather than uploading them to the cloud.
Adobe Acrobat: Another Option for Converting a PDF to Word
Although Adobe doesn’t offer OCR for PDF files, its PDF editor does include the ability to convert a scanned PDF file into editable text using the Convert to Word function. This is one method used by PDF editors such as Nitro PDF to convert PDF files to Word, although the results may vary.