Read French text from photos and scans.

French paperwork that often needs OCR

• Leases (bail), état des lieux checklists and quittances de loyer from landlords.
• Tax and benefits mail such as an avis d'imposition or a CAF or Service Canada letter.
• Québec, Belgian and Swiss forms, where English and French often share a page.
• Menus, wine labels and museum placards photographed while travelling.
• Book and textbook pages for study notes, with long quotations in « guillemets ».

French typography quirks to watch

• Grave versus acute: è and é look alike when small, and là/la or où/ou change meaning.
• The œ ligature (cœur, œil, sœur) may come out as oe. Both are readable, but fix it if you need exact spelling.
• Guillemets « » are usually recognized; the thin space French puts before : ; ! ? and inside « » may vanish or double.
• ç under the c (français, garçon) is small and easy to lose on a soft photo.
• Capitals often drop accents in French print (ECOLE for ÉCOLE), so the OCR result simply mirrors the page.

How to do it, step by step

1. Tap the button above. Scan → Text opens, already set to French.
2. To get a searchable PDF instead, pick one of the PDF links under the button. French stays selected.
3. Add the photo or scan of your French page.
4. Use the rotate arrows if the page is on its side.
5. Press Recognize text. Allow a moment on the first French run while the model loads.
6. Scan the result for è/é and œ, then copy it or download a .txt file.

Tips for better results

• Small accent marks need sharp focus. Tap to focus on the text before taking the photo.
• Avoid flash on glossy brochures and menus; glare wipes out accents first.
• For bilingual Canadian forms, run once in French and once in English and keep the better half of each.

Open French OCR (image to text) →