Pro scanner app for iPhone/iPad with OCR & advanced editing (PDF)

Versions

• Is Prizmo also available on computers?

  Yes, it is. More information here.
  

Supported Devices

• Will Prizmo work with my iPad?

  Yes, it will. Prizmo 5 is a universal iOS application, working on both iPhones and iPads, with a dedicated user interface.
  
  

Scanning

• I took a picture of a letter but it is upside down. How can I correct that in Prizmo?

  You can rotate the input photo without any problem in Prizmo. This change is applied to each page separately, so don't worry if some pages of your Prizmo document need to be rotated, and some don't.
  
  If a number of your input pictures are upside down, you won’t have to rotate them one by one. You can use the Batch Editor to apply the rotation on the pictures that need it.
  
  Prizmo also comes with a special auto rotation feature based on Apple's CoreML (machine learning). When in Prizmo's camera view, tap on the "Compass" icon in the top-left corner to activate orientation detection. When a page is upside down, Prizmo will automatically put it right up after capture.
  
  

• Which character sizes are supported?

  Prizmo can handle many sizes, from quite small to quite big. However, remember that you need a picture of good quality for accurately processing OCR. A blurry shot is not a good starting point for performing OCR.
  
  

• It would be great if I could just use the scan/save feature without the OCR feature on certain items. Is this possible?

  You can select the Image mode for this. You have access to image processing tools like rotation, crop, perspective correction, brightness... but without OCR. The result will be an improved image you can export to any app or service (mail, Dropbox,...).
  
  

• How can I quickly scan a multipage document?

  There is no limit to the number of pages you can add to a Prizmo document.
  
  For easy and fast scanning of physical pages, activate “Autoshoot” in Prizmo’s camera view. Prizmo will automatically shoot any document that is presented in front of the device’s camera. Tap on “Done” when you are finished.
  
  You can also add new pages to an existing Prizmo document. Tap on the “+” sign in the top-right corner to import one or more pictures or a PDF document from Files, the new pages will automatically be added to the existing Prizmo document.
  
  

• I want the edge repair and flattening options to be constantly active when I process documents.

  This is possible by going to Prizmo’s Settings > Scanning where you can choose which operations will be automatically performed on new documents.
  
  

Document

• How do I quickly navigate through a multipage document?

  While in the document processing view, just slide your finger to the left/right to navigate between the pages of the document. You can also toggle the text panel in the top-left corner to display the pages of your document.
  
  

• How do I rename a document?

  When in the document browser, tap on the current title to rename the document.
  
  

Export

• Which export options are available?

  There are several export options available for exporting each page individually.
  
  

  	Text Documents	Business Cards	Images
  Copy to Clipboard	✓	✓	✓
  Send by Email	✓	✓	✓
  Send Message	✓	✓	✓
  Open in Another App*	✓	✓	✓
  Save in Photo Album	✓	✓	✓
  Read Text	✓
  Add to Contacts		✓

  
  * Open in another application installed on your iPhone/iPad like Dropbox, Google Drive...
  
  

• Which formats are available for export?

  
  

  	Text Documents	Business Cards	Images
  Output Formats	Prizmo Document Text Document Word Document (DOCX) JPEG Image PNG Image PDF (image) PDF (image + searchable text)	Prizmo Document vCard PDF Word Document (DOCX) Text Document JPEG Image PNG Image	Prizmo Document JPEG Image PNG Image PDF (image)

  
  

• Which online services can I export to?

  You can export to any compatible application installed on your iPhone/iPad that accepts either PDF, Text, or vCard file formats. These are the online storage services that we support: iCloud, Dropbox, WebDAV & OneDrive.
  
  

• Is there a way to reduce the file size of the exported document?

  In the “Export” section of Prizmo’s Settings, you have multiple options regarding the quality of the JPEG images of your PDF documents. Two effective compression formats are also available when your documents contains pages with black and white cleanup. They can either be compressed with:

  • Lossless CCITT G4: for smaller files ∼200KB/page
  • Lossy JBIG2: for the smallest files ∼50KB/page

  
  

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

• I tried Prizmo's OCR but I got poor results. What can I do?

  We checked the accuracy of the OCR engine in the available languages. Even with pictures taken in poor circumstances (document on several other documents, picture taken in front of the document rather than above...), we got pretty good results.
  
  Here are some recommendations for improved OCR results:

  • make sure the picture you've taken is not blurry, as this decreases OCR accuracy.
  • you should be right above the document you want to photograph.
  • use the camera flash when you take a picture.
  • choose the language of the document in the list when using built-in OCR. (*)
  • optimize the character contrast. Choose the Readability tools, and zoom in to get the text in close-up. Then, play with the slider related to character thickness. You should be able to read the text properly on the whole page.
  • check characters are dark on a light background. If not, update the Text setting available in the Readability tools.
  • try using the Cloud OCR as it is usually more accurate than the built-in OCR.

  
  
  (*) The Cloud OCR will automatically recognize the language, there is no upfront language selection to do.
  
  

• Is the quality of my images good enough to perform OCR?

  Image quality is a major issue indeed. OCR results will most likely be disappointing if the input image quality is poor. Here are a few examples of what should be avoided:
  
  

  • The image is blurry. Check you are able to read the text on the picture. You can't in this example. Please take a new picture of better quality.
    
    
  
  
  • The ticket is crumbled.
    
    
  
  
  • It is a double-sided document. Characters, lines and colors which are printed on the other side could hinder OCR.
    
    
  
  

• Is OCR performed on the iPhone itself or on your servers?

  When you use the built-in OCR, the images are only processed locally on your device unlike the Cloud OCR where the images are sent to the Cloud service of Microsoft that sends back the recognized text to Prizmo (a link to Microsoft's Privacy Statement can be found within the app).
  
  

• When to us Cloud OCR?

  Cloud OCR provides improved accuracy and also handles more languages. Cloud OCR requires an internet connection to run and a separate Cloud Plan subscription.
  
  Languages available: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish.
  
  

• Are you going to add new languages for OCR?

  Yes, we are constantly monitoring availability of new languages. If more languages become available and have passed our quality tests, we will certainly add them to the list.
  
  

• Can Prizmo recognize handwritten notes?

  Prizmo is indeed capable of recognizing handwritten notes, only in English at the moment, when using the Cloud OCR option.
  In order to activate the function, you have to first select the Cloud Handwriting OCR in the top-right corner while in Prizmo's camera view.
  
  Note that the quality of the recognition can vary according to the neatness of one’s handwriting, you may thus need to adapt your style to get the best results.
  
  Take into account the following tips for better recognition of your handwriting:
  
  

  • Use a blank sheet of paper (not lined or checkered)
  • When it’s a longer text, make sure that the letters from the bottom and top lines do not intertwine in order to avoid OCR confusion
  • Use capital letters for proper nouns
  • Distance from the sheet when taking a picture is also important: try to have the whole page fit into the field of view of the camera

  
  As you can see in the images below (taken from Prizmo Go using the same Cloud Handwriting OCR) showing two different handwritings, the OCR nearly managed a 100% accuracy when taking the above tips into account.
  
  

  

  Punctuation marks such as commas or periods at the end of sentences are still hard for the OCR to recognize, but we expect it to improve in the near future. New languages will be added when these become available.
  
  

• Can I recognize text from a screen / screenshot?

  Prizmo's OCR, as most OCRs on the market, only works with printed text and not text from a computer screen. It all depends on the pixels visible in the photo you took. It might work better on retina displays and if the Cloud OCR is activated, but even then results won't be as accurate as they are with a printed document.
  
  Using a screenshot of the iPhone/iPad screen that is made on the device itself is supported, and typically leads to good results on devices with Retina displays.
  
  

• The text of my document has been poorly recognized. Can I improve this?

  Sure. You can adjust the Readability slider to improve OCR results. Follow these steps:
  
  

  • If the text of your document has already been recognized: tap on the “OCR” button in the dock then tap “Reprocess Page”. You can now adjust the Readability slider as well as the polarity.
  • If it’s just a part of the text that is concerned: select the text block in question then tap on the “OCR” button in the dock and you will be able to adjust the Readability of that particular text block.

  
  

• Can Prizmo recognize more than one language in a document?

  Once your document has been processed and OCRed, it is divided into blocks of text. Select the text block that contains another language then tap on the “OCR” button in the dock to change change the OCR language.
  
  

Text-to-Speech (TTS)

• Are there high quality voices available?

  You can download enhanced variant of voices by going to iOS Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech > Voices.
  
  

• Can I modify the reader's speaking rate?

  Of course. When you are in Text-to-Speech mode, tap on “1x” (which is the regular speed) at the lower right corner and adjust the speaking rate to your liking.
  
  

Accessibility

• I am a blind iPhone user. Can you tell me if Prizmo works with the VoiceOver screenreader on the iPhone?

  Yes, the user interface is compatible with VoiceOver.
  
  Prizmo also features automatic page detection with spoken guidance prior to shooting as well as a spoken description of the scene (quantity of text & page visibiliy). It will help you to take the best picture possible for recognition.There is also a deep integration with Dynamic Type for improved and customisable text appearance.
  

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Are there keyboard shortcuts available when using Prizmo on iPad with an external keyboard?

  Yes, Prizmo supports several keyboard shortcuts in different areas of the app. Keeping the Command key pressed will make the list of supported keyboard shortcuts appear.

  Main View

  Scan Document	⌘ N
  Scan Business Card	⇧ ⌘ N
  Import Picture	⌘ I
  Search	⌘ F
  Maximize/Minimize Document Browser	⌘ ⌃ F
  Open Text Reader	⌘ R

  Document View

  Close Document	⌘ W
  Rename Document	⌘ ↩
  Scan New Page	⌘ N
  Import Picture	⌘ I

  Page View

  Show Image	⌘ 1
  Show Text	⌘ 2
  Next Page	⌘ ⌃ →
  Previous Page	⌘ ⌃ ←
  Back to Document	⌘ W

Automation

• Is it possible to invoke Prizmo from another app?

  Yes, Prizmo can be invoked from other apps like Shortcuts to perform a text recognition. This is handled with a custom URL scheme. Go to Settings > Automation for the documentation.
  
  

• Is there a fast way to apply e.g. cropping or cleanup on a multipage document?

  There is! You can use Prizmo’s batch editor for fast and easy processing. Once you have applied the desired image enhancements and OCR to one page of your document, and you wish to replicate those settings to other the others pages, you need to tap on the “Batch Editor” button in Prizmo’s dock.
  
  You can now choose which settings you wish to replicate on which pages of your document. The settings that you can choose from are:

  • Orientation
  • Cropping
  • Cleanup & Adjustments
  • Readability
  • Text recognition
  • Page Format

  
  Note that you can also quickly access the batch editor by doing a long press on a page of your document then tapping on the second icon in the top-left corner.
  

Business/Education

• Can your app be purchased in volume for schools or businesses in the Apple’s VPP store?

  Prizmo's app variant, Prizmo 5 (Volume Ed.), can indeed be purchased through Apple's volume purchase program (VPP). It is available at $17.99 / €19.99 on the App Store and at $8.99 / €9.99 on the VPP Store for a minimum of 20 units.
  
  The app is functionally equivalent to Prizmo with Premium Pack. Note that it doesn’t support the Cloud OCR.
  
  

Updates

• Can Prizmo 4 users upgrade to Prizmo 5?

  Yes, of course. Please follow the instructions below on how to get upgrade pricing:

  1. Requirement: having previously purchased Prizmo 4.
  2. If Prizmo 4 is not on your device anymore, go to your App Store Purchases to download Prizmo 4.2.2 or later, then go to step 4.
  3. If Prizmo 4 is on your device but you can’t update it to version 4.2.2: delete Prizmo from you device, and go to step 2.
  4. Launch Prizmo 4.
  5. Download and launch Prizmo 5.
  6. Go to Prizmo 5 Settings > Manage Purchases > Premium Pack.
  7. There, you will get special upgrade pricing and a message in the footer mentioning it.
  8. Purchase Premium Pack.
  9. Optional: you may now delete Prizmo 4 from your device.

Issues

• I'd like to scan passages from my French textbook but it doesn't work properly. What can I do?

  If you are using the Built-in OCR, before taking the picture, make sure to choose the right OCR language. Tap the button in the upper right corner of the camera view, and select the language in the list or change the language later (the page will need to be reprocessed).
  
  If you are using the Cloud OCR, language is then detected automatically. You will need to be subscribed to the Cloud Plan in order to use the Cloud OCR. If that’s already the case, make sure you have enough units left (each recognition equals one unit).
  
  

• I want to keep the pictures I take with Prizmo. How can I do that?

  Just activate “Save Pictures to Album” in Prizmo’s settings. Make sure to allow Prizmo access to the Photos app.
  
  

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