Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technology that reads documents and transforms any visible text into a format that the computer can read. This helps users extract text from images or scanned documents.
How DataSnipper uses OCR
DataSnipper uses OCR to run text recognition on documents, enabling you to search and extract text from PDFs, scans, and images. After importing a document, all texts, images, and PDFs are analyzed automatically. In some cases, automatic text recognition may not work due to document complexity, such as handwritten content.
Running Text Recognition manually
The video below walks through running Text Recognition on imported documents in DataSnipper for Excel.
What the video covers: a walkthrough of running Text Recognition in DataSnipper for Excel. It shows where to find the OCR button in the DataSnipper Ribbon, how to check whether a document already contains text, and how to select your imported files and recognize text across them.
To run Text Recognition manually, follow these steps:
Click the OCR button in the DataSnipper Ribbon.
DataSnipper indicates the Text Status as either No text or Contains text, depending on what it recognized without OCR applied.
Click Select All and then Recognize to run Text Recognition on all imported files.
DataSnipper will prompt an automatic request to apply OCR if you have imported pictures or scans. If you accepted that prompt before running the manual process, it will not be possible to run OCR again on those documents.
Facts about Text Recognition
Text Recognition enhances the quality of PDF text by default.
Text Recognition supports all languages in Latin, Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Indian, and Korean scripts and dialects.
Handwritten Text Recognition supports English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Full language list available at the computer vision language support page.
How DataSnipper OCR handles data residency
When using DataSnipper's built-in OCR, text recognition processing is handled by a dedicated OCR resource that is dynamically deployed based on your organization's license location (Azure service regional availability). Your document data is processed within the region associated with your license, helping to meet data residency and compliance requirements. If your organization uses a self-hosted OCR configuration, your own infrastructure and residency rules apply.
Frequently asked questions
Does DataSnipper recognize handwritten text?
DataSnipper can recognize text in handwritten form as long as it is legible. You can find the most up-to-date status per language on the computer vision language support page.
When is OCR applied by DataSnipper?
OCR is applied in two situations: (i) upon importing documents that do not have a text layer (such as images and scanned documents), DataSnipper prompts a notification asking whether you would like Text Recognition applied; and (ii) upon selecting the Text Recognition button in the DataSnipper tab and applying it to the selected documents.
How can I run Text Recognition on a document that already contains text?
Use the Recognize Text button and choose the Recognize option.
Where is my document data processed when using OCR?
Your documents are processed by a dedicated OCR resource deployed in the region associated with your organization's license. This supports data residency requirements and each organization's OCR processing is isolated. If you need to confirm your processing region, contact DataSnipper Support.
Related articles