Introduction to OCR

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) detects and extracts text from images, scanned copies, PDFs, and OFD files, and converts the recognition results into editable text.

OCR provides open APIs, so you can use programming languages such as Python and Java to call OCR APIs to extract text from images. OCR allows you to automate the collection of key data. It helps you build an intelligent service system to improve efficiency. For details about how to obtain APIs, see Optical Character Recognition API Reference.

OCR also provides software development kits (SDKs) for multiple programming languages. For details about how to use SDKs, see Optical Character Recognition SDK Reference.

You can use either of the following methods to call OCR APIs after subscription:

• OCR Experience Center

  If you do not have any programming experience but want to try out OCR services quickly, the OCR Experience Center offers an online web-based method. This method does not require any coding; simply upload an image on the web page and receive the recognition results.

• A software tool such as curl or Postman

  These are good options if you are more comfortable writing code, HTTP requests, and API calls. For details about how to use the tool, see Calling the Passport OCR API.

• Software development kit (SDK)

  SDKs for Java, Python, and Node.js are available for quick integration. For details about how to use the tool, see Using an SDK to Call the Passport OCR.