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I have a project which needs to scan certain images with OCR. I know the software abbyy finereader does pretty well (also tried a trial version which works nearly perfectly for me) and now I'm wondering how to embed this software into python or another sripting language so that I can later simply run a command line script, e.g. python the_script.py image.jpg to take an image as parameter, execute abbyy finereader with it and return the recognised text...

I couldn't find a way on google, is there none!? I only found something like this: https://github.com/mikesname/python-ocrlab/blob/master/ocrsite/ocrlab/nodes/abbyy.py but couldn't work out what it really does...

Or which piece of abbyy software would I need to do this!? The Recognition server or the OCR engine or maybe something else?

Thanks a lot in advance

tim
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  • I would think you should get the trial license from abbyy and simply ask them. If I am not wrong, you are entitled to support during trial period. I have tried their cloud sdk and there is an exact command line example you described in python. I assume it would be the same for all their sdk products. – Zaw Lin Feb 19 '14 at 17:08
  • Might be interested in these Linux [shell scripts](https://github.com/cove/scanbd) as provided by xorgar831 [here](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12416607) – zelusp Aug 02 '17 at 21:35

2 Answers2

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I have been working with ABBYY technology for over 15 years. I used to work for ABBYY, and now I work for WiseTREND - one of major ABBYY technology VARs and integrator in USA.

FineReader, namely the retail boxed product, is designed for standalone interactive use by an operator. Command line and API automation is not available in that package. If your usage is small volume, you could use FineReader Corporate Edition as a simple black-box, set it up as a Hot Folder, and have your script drop images into that Input folder, wait for processing, and pickup from Output folder.

For better automation and integration, a different product than FineReader needs to be used.

First, decide if you would like to have local software or a cloud-based OCR.

Cloud - ABBYY, OCR-IT, and a few other providers offer OCR via a Web request. Usually pay per page, and no software purchase required.

Local - some software will run on your server and provide your scripts whit OCR functionality, as black-box or via direct API. Recognition Server is the next product to consider for this. Lastly, if you are developing a large application with the need to distribute it to numerous users, or need in-depth OCR control, then Engine SDK is the product to consider.

If you would like to share more how you would like OCR to be integrated, and what volumes and functionality you need to achieve, we can try to narrow down even more.

Ilya Evdokimov
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  • I'll contact you via mail concerning narrowed down product advice - the question (command line usage of finereader) is answered, thanks for that! – tim Feb 20 '14 at 11:20
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I saw this message very late, but I'm using ABBYY command line for 10 years.

I prefer ABBYY 8 because it makes same good job faster and does not open any GUI. It comes with FineOCR.exe:

"C:...\ABBYY FineReader 8\FineOCR.exe" %1 /lang greek english /send MsWord

It does OCR and opens MS Word. The FineOCR.txt is a simple help file.

Regarding, ABBYY 11, 12 (all versions) there is a FineCmd.exe. Using something like:

"c:...\FineReader\FineCMD.exe" %1 /lang greek english /send MsWord

It does what FineOCR did before (but no .txt help file).

Federico Navarrete
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Mic X
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