OCR for French and Bilingual Canadian Forms (English, Français or Both)

In Canada, a lot of paperwork isn't in English only. Quebec residential notices are in French. Federal forms are often printed in English and French side by side. Correspondence from bilingual organisations switches language from one paragraph to the next.

Run an English-only reader over those pages and the accented words are the first casualties: letters get dropped or swapped, and a word the reader isn't sure about may be filtered out entirely. OCR Pages in EZ PDF Editor now has a French reader built in, and it can read both languages together.

Three language choices

The OCR Pages window has a Language on the page setting with three options:

• English — for English-only documents.
• Français (French) — reads French first, with English as a fallback, so English names and terms on a Quebec form still come through.
• English + French — leads with English and reads French alongside it. Choose this for bilingual forms where both languages share the page.

The setting works with both OCR choices: Make it searchable, which keeps the page exactly as it looks, and Turn it into editable text, which rebuilds it as text you can retype.

The language is usually picked for you

• Pages that already carry text — the editor looks at the words on up to three pages, starting with the page you're on, and opens the window on the matching language.
• A scan has no words to look at yet, so the first page converted is checked. If it comes back clearly in the other language, that page is read again in the right language and the rest follow. The message afterwards tells you, for example: “Page 2 was in French, so the pages were read as French.”
• Your own choice wins. Pick a language yourself and it's remembered for next time. English + French skips the check, because it already reads both.

How to OCR a French or bilingual form

1. Open the PDF in EZ PDF Editor and sign in.
2. Open OCR Pages from the sidebar Tools (or Convert Pages to Text in the ⋯ menu).
3. Choose what you want — Make it searchable or Turn it into editable text.
4. Choose the pages — This page, All pages, or a range like 2-4.
5. Check Language on the page — Français (French) for a French form, English + French for a bilingual one.
6. Run it. The first French page takes a few seconds longer while the French reader loads (about 6 MB, from our own server). After that it's quick.
7. Proofread names and accented words before you download or send.

Accents make it into the download

Accented letters — é, è, ê, à, ç, ô, œ — and French quotation marks « » come through in the recognised text, and they stay in the PDF you download. A searchable scan can be found by typing the accented word; an editable page shows the accents as real text you can correct.

Where this helps

• Quebec housing paperwork — notices and forms from the Tribunal administratif du logement, landlord and tenant letters, leases.
• Bilingual federal and provincial forms — English and French printed side by side on the same page.
• French correspondence — letters you need to search, quote or answer.
• Records from bilingual workplaces — minutes, policies and HR forms that mix both languages.

Tips for better results

• Scan straight and bright, around 300 DPI. Skewed, shadowy photos cost more accuracy than the language does.
• Choose English + French whenever both languages share a page, rather than relying on one.
• Watch dotted leader lines (“…………… 7”) — dense dots can misread in any language.
• Check proper names. Names and addresses aren't dictionary words, so read them over.

The short version

OCR Pages reads English, French, or both. Pick Français for a French document or English + French for a bilingual form — or let the editor pick from the page — and accented words come through in the text and in the downloaded PDF. It works for both searchable and editable output.