7 Tips to Improve OCR Accuracy When Scanning Images

You uploaded a picture, ran OCR, and got back a wall of broken words and random symbols instead of clean text. This is the most common complaint about image to text converters — and in almost every case, the fix isn't a better tool, it's a better input. Here are 7 practical tips that consistently improve OCR accuracy.

1. Scan or Photograph at High Resolution

Low resolution is the single biggest cause of poor picture to text results. Letters that are only a few pixels tall become impossible for the engine to tell apart.

• Aim for 300 DPI or higher when scanning documents
• On a phone, get close enough that text fills the frame — don't rely on zooming into a wide shot later
• Avoid screenshots of already-compressed or resized images where possible

2. Maximize Contrast Between Text and Background

OCR relies on the sharp edge between a letter and its background. Faded ink, colored paper, or a busy background all blur that edge.

• Dark text on a plain light background converts best
• For faded receipts or low-contrast photos, turn on the Enhance accuracy option, which boosts contrast and converts to grayscale automatically
• Avoid photographing text through glass or plastic, which adds glare and reflections

3. Keep Lighting Even

Shadows falling across part of a page are read by the engine as extra noise, and can wipe out entire words in that shaded area.

• Use natural daylight or a diffused light source rather than a single direct flash
• Avoid holding your phone at an angle that casts your own shadow over the page
• For books, flatten the spine so the curve near the binding doesn't fall into shadow

4. Straighten and Crop the Image

A tilted photo forces every line of text to run at an angle, which most OCR engines handle far worse than perfectly horizontal text.

• Shoot from directly above or directly in front of the page, not at an angle
• Crop out extra borders, tables, or background clutter before uploading — use our free Image Crop Tool if needed
• Rotate sideways or upside-down photos so text reads left to right before converting

5. Choose the Correct Language

Selecting the wrong language model is one of the fastest ways to get gibberish output, even from a perfectly clear image.

6. Avoid Decorative or Stylized Fonts

If you have any control over the source document, standard printed fonts recognize far more reliably than script, handwriting-style, or heavily stylized fonts.

• Simple sans-serif or serif fonts (like the ones used in books, forms, and most documents) convert cleanly
• Cursive, calligraphy, and thin decorative fonts often confuse the letter-boundary detection
• For genuine handwriting, expect to proofread and correct the output manually

7. Break Large Documents into Clear Pages or Sections

Trying to cram an entire multi-column page or a huge poster into one image often loses fine detail. Splitting things up helps the engine focus.

• Photograph or scan one page at a time rather than a spread of two pages at once
• For multi-column layouts, crop and convert each column separately, then reassemble the text in order
• Batch-upload multiple images together — the tool labels each block of output by filename so pages stay organized

Frequently Asked Questions