# Image OCR Scraper (`seemuapps/image-ocr-scraper`) Actor

Extract text from any image. Bulk OCR for screenshots, scanned documents, receipts, signs, and photos. Supports 109 languages and outputs clean Markdown or structured JSON with bounding boxes.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/image-ocr-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Seemu Scraping](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Developer tools, Social media
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 29 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $30.00 / 1,000 image processeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Image OCR Scraper

Extract text from any image - bulk OCR for screenshots, scanned documents, receipts, signs, menus, business cards, and photos. Supports 109 languages with text, table, formula, and chart recognition.

### What you get

- Clean extracted text in **Markdown** format (preserves headings, lists, tables) or **JSON** (with bounding boxes for each text block)
- Accurate recognition powered by PaddleOCR - handles printed and handwritten text, multiple languages mixed in one image, rotated text, and low-quality scans
- One output record per image with the extracted text and source URL
- Bulk processing - pass up to 50 image URLs and get all text in a single run
- Export to JSON or CSV directly from the Apify console

### Use cases

- **Document digitization** - turn scanned PDFs, receipts, and invoices into searchable text
- **Data entry automation** - pull structured data from forms, business cards, and ID documents
- **Screenshot analysis** - extract text from app screenshots, error messages, or social media images
- **Translation pipelines** - OCR a foreign-language image, then run the text through a translator
- **Accessibility** - generate text alternatives for image-based content
- **Compliance & search** - make image-heavy archives full-text searchable

### How to use

1. Paste one or more image URLs into the **Images** field (or upload files directly)
2. Choose **Output Format** - Markdown for human-readable text, JSON for structured data with positions
3. Click **Run** - extracted text appears in the **Dataset** tab when complete
4. Export results as JSON or CSV, or connect to downstream actors via the Apify API

### Output format

Each dataset record:

```json
{
  "inputImageUrl": "https://example.com/receipt.jpg",
  "text": "# Receipt\n\n**Store:** Example Mart\n**Date:** 2026-05-10\n\n| Item | Price |\n|------|-------|\n| Coffee | $4.50 |\n| Bagel | $3.25 |\n\n**Total:** $7.75",
  "outputFormat": "markdown",
  "status": "success",
  "error": null
}
```

When `outputFormat` is `json`, the `text` field contains structured JSON with text blocks and bounding-box coordinates instead of Markdown.

### Input options

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| Images | URL list | One or more `http/https` image URLs or base64 data URIs |
| Upload Images | File upload | Upload images directly from your computer |
| Output Format | Select | `Markdown` (clean readable text) or `JSON` (structured with bounding boxes) - default: Markdown |

### Limits

- Maximum 50 images per run
- Each image must be a publicly accessible URL or a base64 data URI
- Processing time is typically under 1 second per image
- Supported languages: 109 including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, and more

### Related AI image actors

Part of a complete AI image toolkit - explore the rest of the suite:

- [AI Image Background Remover](https://apify.com/seemuapps/image-background-remover) - Remove backgrounds to clean transparent PNGs
- [AI Image Upscaler](https://apify.com/seemuapps/image-upscaler) - Batch-upscale images to 4K or 8K
- [AI Image Watermark Remover](https://apify.com/seemuapps/image-watermark-remover) - Remove text and logo watermarks from images
- [AI Image Captioner](https://apify.com/seemuapps/image-captioner) - Generate text descriptions for any image
- [Photo Location Finder](https://apify.com/seemuapps/image-to-location) - Find where a photo was taken - no EXIF needed

# Actor input Schema

## `images` (type: `array`):

Images to OCR. Each entry must be a publicly accessible http/https URL or a base64 data URI (data:image/jpeg;base64,...).

## `imageFiles` (type: `array`):

Upload image files directly. Combined with any URLs provided above.

## `outputFormat` (type: `string`):

Markdown gives clean human-readable text with structure preserved. JSON returns structured data with text positions and bounding boxes for downstream processing.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "images": [
    "https://dummyimage.com/600x100/fff/000.png&text=Hello+World+OCR+Test"
  ],
  "outputFormat": "markdown"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One record per image: inputImageUrl, text, outputFormat, status (success|error), error.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "images": [
        "https://dummyimage.com/600x100/fff/000.png&text=Hello+World+OCR+Test"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/image-ocr-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "images": ["https://dummyimage.com/600x100/fff/000.png&text=Hello+World+OCR+Test"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/image-ocr-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "images": [
    "https://dummyimage.com/600x100/fff/000.png&text=Hello+World+OCR+Test"
  ]
}' |
apify call seemuapps/image-ocr-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,seemuapps/image-ocr-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/updzqIzgR9gSfjJcV/builds/Zg0WEehvLHM80Rssc/openapi.json