It works really well on receipts pdfs and scanned books. I haven't tried handwriting.
Just try it in a docker container on your pc to get a feel for it. It's easy to setup. This demo shows you what the web app frontend looks like. https://demo.paperless-ngx.com/accounts/login/?next=/ ---- On Tue, 04 Nov 2025 18:27:33 -0800 VY <[email protected]> wrote --- > Hi Patrick > > The one you are using looks interesting too: > https://docs.paperless-ngx.com/ > > Can you handle PDFs and parse the content? Do you like it so far? > > -v > > > On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 8:54 AM Patrick O'Connor <[email protected]> wrote: > > > What software do you use Ted? > > > > That sounds appealing. > > I have been messing with this. I would love have an OCR to database setup. > > I have some uaecasea at work. > > > > https://docs.paperless-ngx.com/ > > > > Patrick > > > > > > ---- On Tue, 04 Nov 2025 06:02:16 -0800 Ted Mittelstaedt < > > [email protected]> wrote --- > > > Followup on the "handwritten forms" > > > > > > If you are able to convert these forms into a multiple-choice form that > > people fill in boxes by hand, instead of writing actual words on them, I > > can > > > Tell you how to convert these into actual data output. At my office we > > have this customer satisfaction survey thing that we do periodically, and > > > For a zillion unrelated reasons it has to be handed out on paper. > > The department doing it was wringing their hands over this as it would take > > > Hours and hours and hours for some poor soul to go through all of the > > forms and input the results into a spreadsheet. > > > > > > I looked into commercial products that do this - and there's only 1 > > company out there that sells software nowadays for this - Tungsten > > Automation. These turkeys have been spending the last decade buying up > > every company in the "hybrid paper workflows" market and they now have a > > complete monopoly on it - and literally they sell complete systems, they no > > longer sell standalone software that does forms conversions. Pricing is > > quote-only and it's in the low 5 figures. > > > > > > I found an open source software program for this and built a system > > around it - so now, they just feed the 300 or so paper surveys into the > > hopper in a scanner like what I just linked to, and all the resulting PDF's > > get fed into the system and the data is then loaded into a MariaDB > > database. I then took their Excel spreadsheet and converted it into a > > front end using the ODBC drivers for MariaDB. Works slick saves hours of > > drudgery. > > > > > > Anyway, this is only good for multiple choice click box forms that > > people fill out by hand. For OCR of cursive or handwritten printing - good > > effing luck. > > > > > > Ted > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: PLUG <[email protected]> On Behalf Of VY > > > Sent: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 4:47 AM > > > To: General Linux/UNIX discussion and help, civil and on-topic < > > [email protected]> > > > Subject: [PLUG] document scanner > > > > > > Dear All > > > > > > I am looking for a good document scanner that is Linux compatible. > > Better yet if it is Raspberry Pi compatible. > > > > > > I have a bunch of forms that have hand writing on them. I will be > > getting > > > them on a regular basis and I like to scan them and convert them to > > high-resolution PDFs. > > > > > > Any pointer for such a scanner is much appreciated. > > > > > > -Vincent > > > > > > > > > > >
