Greek OCR — Image to Text & PDF
Εξαγωγή ελληνικού κειμένου από εικόνες και έγγραφα
- Greek alphabet support
- Accent mark recognition
- Mathematical symbols
Free image OCR. No account needed. PDFs use pages.
Open OCR for all languagesKaryotakis elegies, 1927
Real scan. Unedited OCR.
Τι νέοι ποὺ φτάσαμεν ἐδῶ, στὸ ἔρμο νησί, στὸ χεῖλος
τοῦ κόσμου, δῶθε ἀπ' τὄνειρο καὶ κεῖθε ἀπὸ τὴ γῆ!
Οταν ἀπομακρύθηκεν ὁ τελευταῖος μας φίλος,
ἤρθαμε αγάλι σέρνοντας τὴν αἰωνία πληγή.
Με μάτι βλέπουμε αδειανό, μὲ βῆμα τσακισμένο
T τὸν ἴδιο δρόμο παίρνουμε καθένας μοναχός,
νιώθουμε τἄρρωστο κορμί, ποὺ ἐβάρυνε, σὰν ξένο,
ὑπόκωφος ἀπὸ μακρὰ ἡ φωνή μας φτάνει ἀχός.
Ἡ ζωὴ διαβαίνει, πέρα στὸν ὁρίζοντα σειρήνα,
μὰ θάνατο, καθημερνό θάνατο καὶ χολὴ
μόνο, γιὰ μᾶς ἡ ζωὴ θὰ φέρη, ὅσο ἂν γελᾶ ἡ ἀχτίνα
τοῦ ἥλιου καὶ οἱ αὖρες πνέουνε. Κ' εἴμαστε νέοι, πολὺ
νέοι, καὶ μᾶς ἄφισεν ἐδῶ, μια νύχτα, σ' ἕνα βράχο,
τὸ πλοῖο ποὺ τώρα χάνεται στοῦ ἀπείρου τὴν καρδιά,
χάνεται καὶ ρωτιόμαστε τί νάχουμε, τί νάχω,
ποὺ σβύνουμε ὅλοι, φεύγουμ᾽ ἔτσι νέοι, σχεδόν παιδιά!
12Original text order preserved
Greek OCR converts images, scans and PDFs containing Greek (Ελληνικά) text into editable, searchable digital text. FastOCR reads Greek online: upload an image with no account, or a PDF with a free account, then copy the text or download a searchable PDF. Accuracy depends on scan quality, so check the result against your original.
Try it with your Greek document
Drop your file here
PDF, PNG, JPG, WebP, BMP, HEIC
PDF up to 1 GB · images up to 20 MB
Tips for a clear photo
- Lay the page flat.
- Use even light, with no shadows.
- Turn off the flash to avoid glare.
- Fill the frame with the page.
What is Greek OCR & Developer API?
Developer API docs →Greek OCR is the automated process of converting scanned multi-page PDFs up to 1GB and documents into editable, searchable Greek text while preserving accents, complex ligatures, and native character shapes. FastOCR reads printed text in this script and generates full-text searchable PDFs with selectable text overlays. For engineering teams building RAG pipelines, vector search databases, or automated document ingestion, FastOCR also provides a Greek OCR REST API at api.fastocr.org with 20 free pages a month for every signed-in account. The API accepts PDF files up to 1 GiB, and PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and BMP images up to 20 MiB. An image counts as one page.
Greek alphabet support
Recognizes all 24 Greek uppercase and lowercase letters.
Accent mark recognition
Correctly handles monotonic accent marks (tonos) on vowels.
Mathematical symbols
Excellent recognition of Greek letters used in equations.
Mixed Greek & English
Handles bilingual documents with both scripts in one pass.
Searchable PDF output
Creates PDFs with invisible text layer for full-text search.
Translate after extraction
Extract Greek text then translate to English or other languages.
Why Greek OCR Is Challenging
- Distinguishing Greek letters from visually similar Latin letters (e.g., v/ν, p/ρ, u/υ, x/χ)
- Recognizing monotonic diacritical accents (tonos and dialytika) on lowercase vowels
- Processing historical polytonic Greek texts with breathings and multiple accents
- Handling mathematical and scientific notation mixed with Greek textual content
How to Extract Greek Text from a PDF & Images
- Go to fastocr.org
- Upload your Greek image or PDF. Language is detected automatically.
- Wait for processing — images take seconds, PDFs show a progress bar.
- Download results: searchable PDF, raw text file, or copy text directly.
Tips for Better Greek OCR Accuracy
- Scan at 300 DPI to preserve small vowel accent marks (tonos) and dialytika
- Verify that Greek character representations are not replaced by similar-looking Latin letters in the output
- For polytonic Greek (ancient texts), check breathing marks carefully, as standard OCR defaults to monotonic
- Use high-contrast scans to distinguish ι (iota) from Latin I and υ (upsilon) from Latin u
Common Use Cases for Greek OCR
- Digitizing Greek legal deeds, notary records, and government gazettes (FEK)
- Extracting text from Greek academic papers, philosophical texts, and scientific studies
- Converting scanned Greek books, publications, and newspaper archives
- Processing Greek invoices, tax forms, and business filings
FastOCR vs Standard OCR Apps for Greek
| Capability | FastOCR Dedicated Cloud AI | Standard Online OCR Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Greek Script Recognition | ✅ Full native cloud recognition for Greek (complex alphabets and diacritics) | Limited character sets or unhandled accents |
| Multi-Column & Table Layouts | ✅ Preserves proper paragraph and table alignment | Merges unrelated columns together |
| Searchable PDF Output | ✅ Dual-layer searchable PDF with coordinate-aligned text overlay | Plain unformatted text dump only or unsupported |
| Instant Web Access | ✅ Zero software installation (runs in mobile & desktop browser) | Requires local CLI libraries or complex desktop setup |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it support ancient or polytonic Greek?
Partially. FastOCR is optimized for modern monotonic Greek. It can recognize polytonic characters, but accuracy on breathings and accents is slightly lower.
How accurate is Greek OCR?
FastOCR reads printed Greek text. Its Latin-adjacent alphabet and clear typography enable high-performance text extraction.
Is Greek OCR free?
Yes. Image OCR is completely free and requires no signup. PDF processing requires a free account — see fastocr.org/pricing for plan details.
How does Greek OCR handle lookalike characters shared with Latin?
Greek shares many visually similar characters with Latin (α/a, ε/e, ο/o, ι/i). FastOCR uses context-aware AI models that distinguish Greek from Latin characters based on surrounding text and document language.
Dedicated Greek Tools
PDF to Text
Convert and extract Greek documents.
Image to Text
Convert and extract Greek documents.
Handwriting OCR
Convert and extract Greek documents.
Searchable PDF
Convert and extract Greek documents.
Greek to English Translation
Convert and extract Greek documents.
English to Greek Translation
Convert and extract Greek documents.
All supported languages
Convert and extract Greek documents.
Explore Specialized OCR Workflows
FastOCR provides dedicated AI text recognition engines optimized for complex document types and formats:
Free for images. No registration required.
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Free Greek OCR
Upload & Extract TextLast updated: July 24, 2026