Text does not only come in English. Menus, signs, contracts and papers arrive in many languages and scripts. Our image to text converter does not ask you to choose a language: it sends every file to the OCR engine with language detection switched on, so you upload and extract. This post explains what that means in practice and how to get a clean result.
How automatic detection works here
Most OCR engines can be told which language to expect, and do better when told. Ours is always run in automatic mode: the engine works out the language from the characters it finds and reports what it detected alongside the text. You never set it, and you cannot set it, which is the right trade for a tool meant for quick uploads from any device.
Which languages are supported
We have not published a list, and we will not invent one. The engine handles many languages, but how well a given one comes through depends on its script, the font and the image. The reliable test is a page of your own: upload it and read the result. If it comes back as the wrong language or as nonsense, email support@imagetotext.online with the language and a sample, and we will check it.
Mixed-language documents
Because you never pick a language, a document that mixes two is handled the same way as any other: upload it and read the output section by section. If one script comes back garbled, crop that part and upload it on its own, so the detector sees only that script.
Where multilingual OCR earns its keep
- Travellers: photograph menus, signs and labels abroad and get the text for translation
- Students: pull text from foreign-language textbooks, journal articles and study material
- Business: digitise contracts, invoices and correspondence in another language
- Researchers: quote and cite international publications without retyping
- Immigration: get the text of foreign-language documents for translation and filing
Tips for non-Latin scripts
- Use high-resolution images: complex scripts such as Chinese and Arabic need the detail.
- Keep the text horizontal and the page straight.
- For handwriting in any script, neat printing works far better than cursive.
- For right-to-left scripts, check the reading order in your editor before you use the text.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. There is no language setting; the engine detects the language from the image.
Upload them as they are. If one part comes back garbled, crop it and upload that part alone.
We have not published a list. Try a page of yours; if it fails for your language, email support@imagetotext.online with a sample and we will check it.
We have not tested right-to-left scripts specifically. Upload a page and check the reading order in your editor; if it is wrong, email us a sample.