🎯 Goal
Make a document searchable and analyzable when it contains non-selectable text (e.g., paper scans, image-based PDFs).
Once OCR-processed, the file can be queried using an LLM assistant just like any other text document.
🧠 What Is OCR?
OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition.
It’s a technology that automatically detects and transcribes visible text in an image — for example: a scanned page, a photo of a contract, or a handwritten note.
Typical documents requiring OCR:
Scanned PDFs (meeting minutes, letters, legal docs…)
Files from fax machines or paper printouts
🔍 Why Does It Matter?
A non-OCR document:
Can’t be indexed by search engines
Is invisible to AI assistants
Doesn’t allow content selection or copy-paste
Thanks to OCR, Outmind automatically converts these “silent” files into intelligent and searchable content.
✅ Benefits
Finally leverage dormant content: scans, archives, paper-based PDFs
Unify your document base (paper + digital + images) in one interface
Save time by searching across all formats
Ask direct questions to previously inaccessible content
📌 Key Takeaway
OCR is a critical prerequisite for unlocking the power of LLMs across all your documents.
With Outmind, you don’t need to do anything: OCR is applied automatically, behind the scenes, allowing you to search and analyze any file — even a scan from 2005.
⚙️ How Outmind Uses OCR
📂 Upon File Ingestion
As soon as a document is added to Outmind:
It’s checked for selectable text
If missing, OCR is applied page by page to extract the content
🔎 During Search
Once OCR-processed, the document becomes fully searchable.
You can find contracts, reports, or letters based on keywords from a scanned image.
💬 With an LLM Assistant
OCR also enables you to ask questions about a scanned document. For example:
“Can you summarize this scanned report?”
“What sensitive information should be anonymized in this letter?”
“What are the key dates in this invoice?”
The assistant accesses the OCR-extracted text, as if it came from a native digital file.
🧪 Real-World Use Case
You have a signed mission report available only as a paper scan.
With Outmind:
The file is OCR-processed automatically
It becomes keyword searchable (e.g., “network incident”, “recommendation”)
You can launch an LLM assistant to:
Summarize the document
Extract company names
Identify next steps
Spot risks or alerts