OCR PDF Extractor

This is a Python-based application for extracting text from scanned PDF files. It uses Tesseract OCR and Poppler to process each page, and outputs the recognized text to a .txt file. The tool includes a simple file selector and displays progress in the terminal. It's also packaged as a standalone .exe using PyInstaller, so it can run on any Windows machine without requiring Python or additional installations.

---

Features

• Converts scanned PDF pages to images using Poppler
• Extracts text using Tesseract OCR (supports Spanish)
• Displays progress using a terminal progress bar
• Saves the extracted text to texto_extraido.txt
• Automatically opens the text file after processing
• Can be compiled into a single-file .exe

---

Requirements (for development)

• Python 3.8 or later
• Tesseract OCR (installed locally)
• Poppler for Windows
• Python packages: pytesseract, pdf2image, tqdm
• spa.traineddata file for Spanish OCR

---

⚠️ Language Support

This app uses Tesseract OCR with support for both English and Spanish.
Make sure your Tesseract installation includes the following language data files:

• eng.traineddata (included by default)
• spa.traineddata (must be downloaded manually if not present)

To install Spanish language support, download spa.traineddata from the official repo:
https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata

Place the file inside the tessdata folder of your Tesseract installation directory.

---

Installation Steps

1. Install Tesseract OCR

• Download the Windows installer from:
  https://github.com/UB-Mannheim/tesseract/wiki
• Install it to:
  C:\Tesseract-OCR or a similar folder
• Copy the full path to tesseract.exe for later use
• Make sure the folder tessdata/ includes spa.traineddata (for Spanish).

2. Install Poppler for Windows

• Download from:
  https://github.com/oschwartz10612/poppler-windows/releases/
• Extract it to a folder such as:
  C:\poppler
• The path to use in code is:
  C:\poppler\Library\bin

3. Install Python dependencies

pip install pytesseract pdf2image tqdm

---

Running the App (from Python)

To use the application from source:

1. Make sure Python and all dependencies are installed.
2. Open a terminal in the project directory.
3. Run the script:

python ocr_pdf.py

4. A file picker window will appear. Select a scanned PDF file.
5. The extracted text will be saved to texto_extraido.txt and opened automatically.

---

Building the Executable (.exe)

You can compile the project as a portable .exe using PyInstaller.

1. Project Structure Required Your project folder should look like this:

ocr_pdf/
├── ocr_pdf.py
├── README.md
├── requirements.txt
├── Tesseract-OCR/
│   └── tesseract.exe, tessdata/, etc.
└── poppler/
    └── Library/
        └── bin/
            └── pdfinfo.exe, other DLLs...

---

2. Run PyInstaller Inside the ocr_pdf folder, run:

pyinstaller --onefile ^
  --add-data "Tesseract-OCR;Tesseract-OCR" ^
  --add-data "poppler\\Library\\bin;poppler\\Library\\bin" ^
  ocr_pdf.py

Notes: The --add-data argument ensures all necessary binaries are included. The resulting executable will be created in the dist/ folder as ocr_pdf.exe.

---

Distributing the Executable

You can share the .exe file from dist/ directly. The end user can:

1. Double-click to open the application.
2. Select a PDF file.
3. Receive the extracted text in a plain .txt file, opened automatically.

No Python, Tesseract, or Poppler installations are needed on the target machine.

---

This application was developed for a freelance client who needed to extract Spanish-language text from scanned PDF documents. The final product is a self-contained .exe that works on any Windows machine and outputs the OCR results to a text file with no installation required.