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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:

enter image description here

I does not have OCR.

And there is no OCR plugin listed in settings:

enter image description here

But OCR plugin file exist:

enter image description here

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 enter image description here

8 Answers 8

6

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.

enter image description here

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  • 2
    During installation OCR feature was enabled. More details in UPD. Uninstall/not helped.
    – vico
    May 30, 2016 at 8:27
  • 1
    @vico Yes, but you want to ensure that you follow the support.microsoft.com/kb/982760 and install one of those first, and then check the OCR functionality within Greenshot afterwards. If it's not available after that, then uninstall Greenshot and reinstall after the MODI components are installed. Regardless of what the installation asks for OCR functionality and what it allows you to install with it's software, you likely need to follow the instructions of the MS KB as suggested first and then check or uninstall then reinstall GS. Give that a try and then report back your results. May 30, 2016 at 15:44
  • 1
    I was trying MS Method 1, but this not helped. More details in UPD 2
    – vico
    May 31, 2016 at 7:24
  • 1
    @vico Well it appears that this article is suggesting to try method #2 from the MS KB rather than method #1 so while this is referring to Win 7 and Office 2010, it may be applicable to what you're running as well perhaps? You might ensure you're installing the latest version of Greenshot too in case it's a version issue. May 31, 2016 at 11:51
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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.

HowTo screenshot

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.

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    went for this because of challenges with finding "sharepoint designer", worries about 64 vs 32 bit, and the other answer that said the MS OCR isn't any good anyways. . . this worked, first try :) Thank you for the detailed instructions ~
    – Mike M
    Nov 25, 2020 at 13:03
  • Brilliant alternative! I use --line-breaks as additional option: "-i "{0}" --clipboard --line-breaks" to keep them. Another PLUS: The integrated spell checking! It's really worth a try. Thanks for this Tip.
    – SiL3NC3
    Feb 9, 2021 at 13:10
  • @SiL3NC3 Will FOSS auto-dectect the language or do I have to specifiy it in the CLI?
    – djk
    Jan 15, 2022 at 17:15
  • OMG this really works !
    – Peter
    Feb 12, 2023 at 21:48
5

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:

  1. Download and run the SharePointDesigner.exe file from this location: Download SharePoint Designer 2007
  1. Review, and then accept the software license.
  1. Click Customize to open the installation options.
  1. 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.
  1. Expand Office Tools
  2. Click the down arrow for the Microsoft Office Document Imaging option, and then select Run all from my computer.
  3. 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.

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  • Only the 2nd method worked for me too. Jul 7, 2017 at 12:00
  • Once i installed the SharePoint Designer Microsoft Imaging Option the OCR plugin appeared in Greenshot when I restarted it. Also, the "Copy text from picture" option in OneNote appeared
    – boardtc
    Mar 15, 2019 at 12:45
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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/

2

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 ...

1

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.

1

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
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.

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