Load a scanned PDF document with help of Tesseract OCR (free OCR library) and save the result as DOCX document using C# and .NET

  1. Add SautinSoft.Document from Nuget.
  2. Set OCR options to using Tesseract.
  3. Load a template document.
  4. Save the document in PDF format.
PDF to DOCX using OCR

Complete code

using System.IO;
using SautinSoft.Document;
using System;

namespace Example
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Get your free trial key here:   
            // https://sautinsoft.com/start-for-free/

            LoadScannedPdf();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Load a scanned PDF document with help of Tesseract OCR (free OCR library) and save the result as DOCX document.
        /// </summary>
        /// <remarks>
        /// Details: https://www.sautinsoft.com/products/document/help/net/developer-guide/ocr-load-scanned-pdf-using-tesseract-and-save-as-docx-net-csharp-vb.php
        /// </remarks>
        static void LoadScannedPdf()
        {
            // Here we'll load a scanned PDF document (perform OCR) containing a text on English, Russian and Vietnamese.
            // Next save the OCR result as a new DOCX document.

            // First steps:

            // 1. Download data files for English, Russian and Vietnamese languages.
            // Please download the files: eng.traineddata, rus.traineddata and vie.traineddata.
            // From here (good and fast): https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_fast
            // or (best and slow): https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_best

            // 2. Copy the files: eng.traineddata, rus.traineddata and vie.traineddata to
            // the folder "tessdata" in the Project root.

            // 3. Be sure that the folder "tessdata" also contains "pdf.ttf" file.

            // Let's start:
            string inpFile = @"..\..\..\scan.pdf";
            string outFile = "Result.docx";

            PdfLoadOptions lo = new PdfLoadOptions();
            lo.OCROptions.OCRMode = OCRMode.Enabled;
            // 'false' - Never load embedded fonts in PDF. Use the fonts with the same name installed at the system or similar by font metrics.
			// 'true' - Always load embedded fonts in PDF.
            lo.PreserveEmbeddedFonts = true;            

            // You can specify all Tesseract parameters inside the method PerformOCR.
            lo.OCROptions.Method = PerformOCRTesseract;
            DocumentCore dc = DocumentCore.Load(inpFile, lo);

            // Make all text visible after Tesseract OCR (change font color to Black).
            // The matter is that Tesseract returns OCR result PDF document with invisible text.
            // But with help of Document .Net, we can change the text color, 
            // char scaling and spacing to desired.
            foreach (Run r in dc.GetChildElements(true, ElementType.Run))
            {
                r.CharacterFormat.FontColor = SautinSoft.Document.Color.Black;
                r.CharacterFormat.Scaling = 100;
                r.CharacterFormat.Spacing = 0;
            }

            dc.Save(outFile);

            // Open the result for demonstration purposes.
            System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(outFile) { UseShellExecute = true });
        }
        public static byte[] PerformOCRTesseract(byte[] image)
        {
            // Specify that Tesseract use three 3 languages: English, Russian and Vietnamese.
            string tesseractLanguages = "eng+rus+vie";

            // A path to a folder which contains languages data files and font file "pdf.ttf".
            // Language data files can be found here:
            // Good and fast: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_fast
            // or
            // Best and slow: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_best
            // Also this folder must have write permissions.
            string tesseractData = Path.GetFullPath(@"..\..\..\tessdata\");

            // A path for a temporary PDF file (because Tesseract returns OCR result as PDF document)
            string tempFile = Path.Combine(tesseractData, Path.GetRandomFileName());            

            try
            {
                using (Tesseract.IResultRenderer renderer = Tesseract.PdfResultRenderer.CreatePdfRenderer(tempFile, tesseractData, true))
                {
                    using (renderer.BeginDocument("Serachablepdf"))
                    {
                        using (Tesseract.TesseractEngine engine = new Tesseract.TesseractEngine(tesseractData, tesseractLanguages, Tesseract.EngineMode.Default))
                        {
                            engine.DefaultPageSegMode = Tesseract.PageSegMode.Auto;
                            
                            byte[] imgBytes = image;
                            using (Tesseract.Pix img = Tesseract.Pix.LoadFromMemory(imgBytes))
                            {
                                using (var page = engine.Process(img, "Serachablepdf"))
                                {
                                    renderer.AddPage(page);
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }

                return File.ReadAllBytes(tempFile + ".pdf");
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine();
                Console.WriteLine("Please be sure that you have Language data files (*.traineddata) in your folder \"tessdata\"");
                Console.WriteLine("The Language data files can be download from here: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_fast");
                Console.ReadKey();
                throw new Exception("Error Tesseract: " + e.Message);
            }
            finally
            {
               
            }
        }        
    }
}

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Imports System.IO
Imports SautinSoft.Document
Imports System

Namespace Example
    Friend Class Program
        Public Shared Sub Main(args As String())
            ' Get your free trial key here:   
            ' https://sautinsoft.com/start-for-free/

            Call LoadScannedPdf()
        End Sub

        ''' <summary>
        ''' Load a scanned PDF document with help of Tesseract OCR (free OCR library) and save the result as DOCX document.
        ''' </summary>
        ''' <remarks>
        ''' Details: https://www.sautinsoft.com/products/document/help/net/developer-guide/ocr-load-scanned-pdf-using-tesseract-and-save-as-docx-net-csharp-vb.php
        ''' </remarks>
        Private Shared Sub LoadScannedPdf()
            ' Here we'll load a scanned PDF document (perform OCR) containing a text on English, Russian and Vietnamese.
            ' Next save the OCR result as a new DOCX document.

            ' First steps:

            ' 1. Download data files for English, Russian and Vietnamese languages.
            ' Please download the files: eng.traineddata, rus.traineddata and vie.traineddata.
            ' From here (good and fast): https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_fast
            ' or (best and slow): https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_best

            ' 2. Copy the files: eng.traineddata, rus.traineddata and vie.traineddata to
            ' the folder "tessdata" in the Project root.

            ' 3. Be sure that the folder "tessdata" also contains "pdf.ttf" file.

            ' Let's start:
            Dim inpFile = "..\..\..\scan.pdf"
            Dim outFile = "Result.docx"

            Dim lo As PdfLoadOptions = New PdfLoadOptions()
            lo.OCROptions.OCRMode = OCRMode.Enabled
            ' 'false' - Never load embedded fonts in PDF. Use the fonts with the same name installed at the system or similar by font metrics.
            ' 'true' - Always load embedded fonts in PDF.
            lo.PreserveEmbeddedFonts = True

            ' You can specify all Tesseract parameters inside the method PerformOCR.
            lo.OCROptions.Method = AddressOf PerformOCRTesseract
            Dim dc = DocumentCore.Load(inpFile, lo)

            ' Make all text visible after Tesseract OCR (change font color to Black).
            ' The matter is that Tesseract returns OCR result PDF document with invisible text.
            ' But with help of Document .Net, we can change the text color, 
            ' char scaling and spacing to desired.
            For Each r As Run In dc.GetChildElements(True, ElementType.Run)
                r.CharacterFormat.FontColor = Color.Black
                r.CharacterFormat.Scaling = 100
                r.CharacterFormat.Spacing = 0
            Next

            dc.Save(outFile)

            ' Open the result for demonstration purposes.
			System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(New System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(outFile) With {.UseShellExecute = True})
        End Sub
        Public Shared Function PerformOCRTesseract(image As Byte()) As Byte()
            ' Specify that Tesseract use three 3 languages: English, Russian and Vietnamese.
            Dim tesseractLanguages = "eng+rus+vie"

            ' A path to a folder which contains languages data files and font file "pdf.ttf".
            ' Language data files can be found here:
            ' Good and fast: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_fast
            ' or
            ' Best and slow: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_best
            ' Also this folder must have write permissions.
            Dim tesseractData = Path.GetFullPath("..\..\..\tessdata\")

            ' A path for a temporary PDF file (because Tesseract returns OCR result as PDF document)
            Dim tempFile As String = Path.Combine(tesseractData, Path.GetRandomFileName())

            Try
                Using renderer = Tesseract.ResultRenderer.CreatePdfRenderer(tempFile, tesseractData, True)
                    Using renderer.BeginDocument("Serachablepdf")
                        Using engine As Tesseract.TesseractEngine = New Tesseract.TesseractEngine(tesseractData, tesseractLanguages, Tesseract.EngineMode.Default)
                            engine.DefaultPageSegMode = Tesseract.PageSegMode.Auto

                            Dim imgBytes = image
                            Using img = Tesseract.Pix.LoadFromMemory(imgBytes)
                                Using page = engine.Process(img, "Serachablepdf")
                                    renderer.AddPage(page)
                                End Using
                            End Using
                        End Using
                    End Using
                End Using

                Return File.ReadAllBytes(tempFile & ".pdf")
            Catch e As Exception
                Console.WriteLine()
                Console.WriteLine("Please be sure that you have Language data files (*.traineddata) in your folder ""tessdata""")
                Console.WriteLine("The Language data files can be download from here: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_fast")
                Console.ReadKey()
                Throw New Exception("Error Tesseract: " & e.Message)
            Finally

            End Try
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

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