Enable OCR in Greenshot

Question

I run Windows 10 with Microsoft Office professional Plus 2016 on my computer. Looks like MS OCR functionality is enabled in my system since OneNote is able to copy text from image.

But how to enable this functionality for Greenshot? Currently I have following menu after making screenshot:

I does not have OCR.

And there is no OCR plugin listed in settings:

But OCR plugin file exist:

UPD

During installation OCR option was enabled.

How to enable Greenshot OCR plugin in my system?

UPD 2

I have installed MODI manually according MS recomendation Method 1:

Method 1: Download and install MDI to TIFF File Converter

To download and install MDI to TIFF File Converter, go to the following Microsoft website:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30328

After that I have reinstalled GS, but this not helped. Still no OCR in menu

score 18 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 02 '17 at 07:34

For those of you who for some reason or another can't/won't install SharePoint Designer, I've found a nice alternative solution, using the FOSS Capture2Text.

The software comes with both a GUI and a CLI executable. You can either add the CLI to your $PATH or just direct a new external command in Greenshot to the file's location, as in my example.

Then add the following arguments: -i "{0}" --clipboard

Where -i stands for input and specifies the input picture, in our case "{0}", which Greenshot will replace with the clipboarded screenshot. --clipboard, you'll be surprised to hear, means that the output OCR text will be copied to the clipboard.

Further documentation for both the CLI and the GUI can be found on the project's SourceForge homepage, linked above.

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

Enable OCR in Greenshot

How can I use Greenshot for OCR?

For the Greenshot OCR (Optical Character Recognition) plug-in to work we are depending on a component from Microsoft called MODI (Microsoft Office Document Imaging). If this is installed Greenshot will activate the plugin (if installed) and you will have an OCR destination. If you select this destination the OCR logic from Microsoft will try to detect the text on the screenshot and Greenshot will place this on the clipboard. MODI can be installed as an option from the Microsoft Office 2003 / 2007 installer or as an option from the free Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2007 ( you can find a description and a link to download it under “method 2″ here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982760

Essentially it looks as if you need to download and install something that contains the MODI components. Once this is installed then the Greenshot software is supposed to activate the plug-in that gives it the OCR functionality.

If you cannot find this in the Greenshot software once the MODI components are installed, then try uninstalling Greenshot and reinstalling it.

Dirnei · Answer 3 · 2021-07-07T14:39:04.433

You also need to install MODI (Microsoft Office Document Imaging)

Go on following page and execute method 2 (this worked for me) https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/982760/install-modi-for-use-with-microsoft-office-2010

Method 2: Install MODI by installing SharePoint Designer 2007

SharePoint Designer 2007 is provided as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. To download SharePoint Designer 2007 and only include MODI during the installation, follow these steps:

Download and run the SharePointDesigner.exe file from this location: Download SharePoint Designer 2007

Review, and then accept the software license.

Click Customize to open the installation options.

On the Installation Options tab, click the down arrow and select Not Available for these three sections:

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer

Office Shared Features
Office Tools.

Expand Office Tools

Click the down arrow for the Microsoft Office Document Imaging option, and then select Run all from my computer.

Click Install Now, and then click Close.

Download no longer working

As mention in the answer from OneSource (https://superuser.com/a/1128277/690285) the SharePoint Designer 2007 is no longer available for download. But he posted a link to https://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-SharePoint-Designer-2007/3000-2064_4-75451282.html

Be aware for potential harms of the download link, as it is not an official download from Microsoft.

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 26 '16 at 03:50

The new way is to just save an image with Greenshot, then copy and paste into OneNote, right click the image, Copy Text from Picture, then paste OCRed text.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_other-mso_windows8/office-2013-and-installing-ocr-for-documenting/ab7078a3-fd67-4199-a722-6a0596b838a0?auth=1 https://quietsoundz.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/ocr-in-office-2013/

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 16 '19 at 13:10

For those who can't find the SharePoint Designer download on Microsoft's site because it's not available any more, you can get it here: https://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-SharePoint-Designer-2007/3000-2064_4-75451282.html After I downloaded it, I followed the instructions for Method 2 above and everything worked great! OCR in Greenshot was available after I restarted it ...

canbeiro · Answer 6 · 2018-05-01T05:26:54.260

The method presented above indeed works, but, for now, the OCR it makes is poor. Follows an example:

Step 1) I made a Greenshot's OCR of the following screen capture :

Captured Image with Text

The result was :
Hosted Wths
Language Setbrigs Tool

Step 2) Using 'Abbyy Screenshot Reader', that I had already instaled, I made an OCR of the same capture.

The result was perfect:
Hosted Webs
Language Settings Tool

Conclusion :
=> No errors with 'Abbyy Screenshot Reader' against
=> 5 errors in 33 letters with the Microsoft's OCR used by Greenshot.
IMHO, it is well worth to install Abby Fine Reader version 11 only to get access to the included 'Abbyy Screenshot Reader'.

PS: But I also love Greenshot for image capture. So that I have donated some to the developers. :) Greenshot is by far the best screen capture software I have used, and I use this kind of software for decades, and from time to time I searched better options. Now, I feel no need to search again.

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 24 '23 at 04:01

This is a little more convenient way to use Capture2Text_CLI.exe as your OCR plugin (as posted by another user). Once it's run the OCR, it then loads and passes the text to Notepad++.

Firstly, create a Powershell script with the following content and save it as ClipToNotepad.ps1 (or similar).

Param($snap)
& "C:\Program Files\Capture2Text\Capture2Text_CLI.exe" -i $snap --clipboard
Start-Process "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe"
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
$clipboardText = Get-Clipboard
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("^v")

You may need to edit the paths to Capture2Text_CLI.exe and notepad++.exe if they are installed in different locations.

Place the script in a suitable location. I put mine in the Greenshot install folder.

Now, in the External Command Editor of Greenshot, add a new entry

Name: OCR to Notepad or whatever
Command: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
Argument: -File "C:\Program Files\Greenshot\ClipToNotepad.ps1" -snap "{0}"

You will likely need to change the ExecutionPolicy for Powershell scripts for this to work. So, try

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 06 '19 at 06:52

0

SharePoint Designer 2007 is not available anymore on Microsofts webpage, but MODI is part of Office 2007 too. It works well on Windows 10 1809.

answered Aug 06 '19 at 06:52

jack62

1

Enable OCR in Greenshot

8 Answers8

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