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Guides and notes on OCR, PDFs, and text extraction on the Mac.
Written while building ZenOCR, an offline OCR app for the Mac. Guides on scanned PDFs, equations, tables, and the handwriting Live Text gives up on.
TextSniper vs OwlOCR vs ZenOCR: Which to Buy
TextSniper, OwlOCR, Prizmo and six more, with what each really costs. Several call the same Apple engine, so here is which ones give you a different result.
Best OCR App for Mac in 2026: 9 Apps Tested
Nine Mac OCR apps with prices checked and tested on the same pages. Four share one recognition engine, so the real choice is smaller than it looks.
Scanned PDF to Text on a Mac: Is Free OCR Enough?
Four OCR tools on a Mac, tested on the same three scans. On a clean page the free ones are enough. Here is where they start dropping text without telling you.
Extract Tables from Scanned PDF (Mac, Merged Cells)
Three ways to pull a table out of a scanned PDF on a Mac, tested on the same tables. Free OCR reads every character but loses the rows. One tool keeps them.
PDF to LaTeX on a Mac: Mathpix Alternatives Tested
Ways to get LaTeX out of a PDF on a Mac, from free open source tools to Mathpix. Three pages of real maths through three engines, with what each one costs.
PDF to Markdown on a Mac, Including Scanned PDFs
Three ways to turn a PDF into Markdown on a Mac, all offline. Two are free and work only if the PDF already has a text layer. Here is what to use for a scan.
Handwriting OCR on a Mac: Which Tools Read Cursive
Three ways to read handwriting on a Mac, tested on the same four samples. Apple Live Text is free and handles neat printing. Only one of the three read cursive.
Mac Preview OCR: Two Free Ways, and Where They Fail
Preview has two built in OCR features and most people only know one. How to use both for free, and the four kinds of page where you need a different tool.