Offline OCR software for Hindi and English PDFs on Windows

Whether it’s a government form, a court notice, an old bank statement, or a scanned textbook – documents containing both Hindi and English are quite common in India. When the need arises to convert these into editable text, most online tools either fail to accurately process the Devanagari script or require the document to be uploaded – a practice that is not advisable for sensitive files.

People often look for offline OCR software for Hindi and English PDFs on Windows – specifically those who want to ensure their documents are not uploaded to any external server, while also requiring accurate recognition of both scripts: Devanagari and Latin. This guide is intended for exactly such users.

Why is OCR difficult for mixed Hindi-English PDFs?

Performing OCR on an image-based PDF that contains only English is straightforward. However, when both “आवेदन पत्र” (Hindi) and “Application Form” (English) appear on the same page, the OCR engine must recognize two distinct scripts simultaneously.

There are three main challenges involved:

• Recognition of Devanagari matras (vowel signs): Distinctions such as “की” vs. “कि” or “में” vs. “मे” can be misidentified if the OCR engine is not properly trained.
• Mixed-line recognition: The engine may become confused when text in different scripts (e.g., “Aadhar Card” and “आधार कार्ड”) appears on the same line.
• Layout preservation: Within a table, Hindi and English columns must remain distinct; otherwise, the output results in garbled, nonsensical text.

That is why, rather than just any “OCR software,” an offline OCR tool with Hindi language support is necessary.

Tool 1 – Tesseract OCR + GUI Frontend (Free, Open Source)

Tesseract OCR is completely free, supports over 100 languages, and works offline. It is the same engine that powers many paid tools.

How to set it up for Hindi on Windows:

You can download the Tesseract 5 installer for Windows from UB Mannheim. During installation, on the language selection screen, do the following:

• Expand ‘Additional Script Data’ and select ‘Devanagari Script’, and select ‘Hindi’ under ‘Additional Language Data’.
• To run Tesseract from any location, add ‘C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR’ to the ‘Path’ variable.

Hindi + English command to do OCR together:

If using the command line, this syntax works for mixed documents:

tesseract input.pdf output -l hin+eng pdf

Here, Tesseract uses both language models – Hindi and English – simultaneously (specified as hin+eng).

The Hindi language pack (hin.traineddata) can be downloaded from GitHub at github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata and must be placed in the C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tessdata folder.

However, Tesseract has one drawback: it does not have a built-in GUI. To address this, there are two popular, free frontends available:

• NAPS2 – It is very popular within the Reddit community; it is free OCR software that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and it can scan directly from printers – such as those from HP, Epson, Canon, or Brother – to convert documents into PDF, TIFF, JPEG, or PNG formats. Download: naps2.com
• FreeOCR – A simple Windows GUI that uses the Tesseract engine. Once the Hindi language pack is added, it can process documents containing a mix of Hindi and English.

Performance – Hindi+English on mixed PDF:

• Clear scan (300 DPI): 80–88% accuracy
• Matras (vowel signs) and half-letters: Occasionally incorrect
• Layout preservation: Table structure is partially compromised

Tool 2 – PDF-XChange Editor (Free + Paid, Offline OCR)

PDF-XChange Editor, a free Windows PDF viewer from Tracker Software, includes a built-in OCR engine – it is one of the cleanest implementations available for offline OCR.

Status of Hindi support:
PDF-XChange uses its own OCR engine, which is distinct from Tesseract. To support Hindi, a separate language pack must be downloaded. Once the Hindi pack is installed, it delivers quite good results on documents containing mixed scripts.

When to use this tool:

• When you need to keep a PDF directly editable
• When batch OCR is required
• When you need to preserve the table structure of a scanned form

Free vs Paid:

Download: tracker-software.com

Performance – Hindi+English on mixed PDF:

• Clean scan: 85–90% accuracy
• Layout: Table columns are mostly accurate
• Mixed-line text: Better than Tesseract

Tool 3 – NAPS2 with Tesseract (Best Free Combo)

It is worth mentioning NAPS2 separately because it is not just a wrapper for Tesseract – it features its own processing pipeline that pre-processes scanned documents for OCR.

It supports over 100 languages ​​and enables text searching within scanned PDFs.

Setting up Hindi in NAPS2:

• Install NAPS2 → Settings → OCR → Select the Tesseract engine
• Language download: There is an option within NAPS2 to download the Hindi language pack
• Document type: Select “Hindi + English”

What sets NAPS2 apart:

• Deskew feature: Automatically straightens a scan if it is slightly crooked – this improves OCR accuracy.
• Brightness/Contrast adjustment: If the scan quality is poor, it can be improved through pre-processing.

Tool 4 – OCRmyPDF (Free, Command-Line, Tesseract-based)

OCRmyPDF is an open-source command-line software that adds a searchable OCR text layer to scanned PDFs.

On Windows, it operates using Python and Tesseract. For Hindi:

Download the .traineddata file for the Hindi language pack from github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata and place it in the tessdata folder used by Tesseract.

Command:

ocrmypdf -l hin+eng input.pdf output_searchable.pdf

Who is this tool for:

• Those who want to process files in bulk
• Those who only want to create “searchable PDFs,” not edit them
• Developers who are building automated workflows

Performance: Just like Tesseract – since it’s the same engine. However, the output PDF is of archival quality.

Tool 5 – PDF24 Creator (Free, Windows Desktop App, Offline)

PDF24 Creator is a free Windows desktop app that includes built-in local OCR.

Regarding Hindi: The OCR feature in PDF24 Creator is based on the Tesseract engine, yet the interface is very user-friendly for beginners. The Hindi language pack must be added separately.

Key highlight:

• Compress, merge, and split PDFs – all in one tool.
• No subscription, no account, no file upload.
• Free download from pdf24.org

Practical Comparison – On a mixed Hindi-English sample:

Below is a comparison based on a scanned PDF of a typical government form that contained both Hindi and English, with a scan quality of 300 DPI:

Note: These figures are estimates based on typical use cases. Actual accuracy depends on scan quality, font type, and document clarity.

The biggest mistake: not checking scan quality before performing OCR. A minimum of 300 DPI is essential – at anything less, Devanagari matras (vowel signs) are almost always misidentified.

Keep these important points in mind to improve OCR accuracy

• Minimum 300 DPI: Government offices often use 150 DPI for scanning – re-scan the document or upscale the image.
• Greyscale preferred: In color scans, OCR engines sometimes misinterpret background colors as text.
• Straight alignment: Accuracy can drop by 15–20% if the scan is crooked. The ‘deskew’ feature in NAPS2 can help with this.
• Font matters: OCR performs better with standard fonts; most tools will struggle with decorative or handwritten Hindi text.
• Language order: When specifying languages ​​(e.g., ‘hin+eng’), place the primary language – the one that appears most frequently in the text – first.

An Important Note on Privacy

Many people in India use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for documents like Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, medical reports, or legal documents. Uploading such files to online tools is not advisable.

The primary issue with online OCR tools is that files must be uploaded to a third-party server. For this reason, all the tools listed above are 100% offline – your documents remain entirely on your own PC.

Free Tools Quick Reference

Be sure to check out fixtech.in to read practical guides related to Windows, Android, and PDF – all available.

Which tool is for whom?

• For absolute beginners, simple use: PDF24 Creator – install it, drag and drop your files, and it will perform OCR.
• For the best accuracy: PDF-XChange Editor – (requires adding the Hindi language pack).
• For bulk processing: OCRmyPDF – process 50 files at once with a single command.
• For working directly with a scanner: NAPS2 – handles scanning, OCR, and PDF creation all in one place.
• For developers or those who know Python: Use Tesseract directly or via the pytesseract library.

FAQs – Offline OCR software for Hindi and English PDFs on Windows

Conclusion

The need for offline OCR software for Hindi and English PDFs on Windows is very real – especially when processing sensitive government documents, legal papers, or medical records. All the tools mentioned above operate entirely offline, are free (or available as a one-time paid purchase), and offer genuine support for the Hindi Devanagari script.

The easiest way to get started: install NAPS2, download the Hindi language pack within the application, drag and drop your PDF, and run the OCR process. If you need higher accuracy, try PDF-XChange Editor. For handling bulk files, OCRmyPDF can process everything with a single command. You don’t need to worry about privacy – with these tools, your entire OCR workflow remains strictly on your own PC.