What’s OCRFlux (and why should you care)?
- It’s a free tool that rips text from PDFs and images and spits it out as neat Markdown or JSON.
- Think of it like a robot intern who doesn’t sleep, doesn’t ask for coffee, and works for free.
- You don’t need to be a tech wizard. You just need to know how to click and type.
The Super-Simple Process
Download Python ➜ Open Terminal ➜ Install OCRFlux ➜ Give it a PDF ➜ Get clean text
Easy Setup (Zero Brainpower Required)
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Go to python.org and hit the giant yellow download button.
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Install Python — make sure to tick “Add Python to PATH” before you click anything else.
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Open your black screen thingy (Command Prompt on Windows or Terminal on Mac).
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Type this in and hit Enter:
pip install ocrflux
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Now drop a PDF onto your desktop. Let’s say it’s called
file.pdf. -
Back in that black screen, type this:
ocrflux “C:\Users\You\Desktop\file.pdf” -o “C:\Users\You\Desktop\file.md”
You’ll get a .md file full of text you can read, copy, paste, or throw into your AI tools.
Want More Power? (Use With Caution)
-f json→ gives you text as structured JSON (if you’re into that sort of thing).--device cpu→ skips GPU and uses your processor (a.k.a. slow mode).- Drop your own plugins into the plugin folder if you want to pretend you’re a hacker.
- You can even batch-process huge folders using Docker (advanced nerd territory).
Watch Out 
- It can eat a lot of RAM with big files. Don’t do this on grandma’s laptop.
- GPU helps but isn’t required. Without it, it just moves slower than a Monday morning.
- It’s not made for bad handwriting. If your PDF looks like a doctor’s note, good luck.
The Honest Truth 
- This project is new and still growing. Stuff might break.
- Some long tables break across pages. Try this fix:
--merge-threshold 0.6 - If Windows yells at you about permissions, run your terminal as Administrator.
Handy Links
- GitHub: https://github.com/chatdoc-com/OCRFlux
- Demo & API: https://ocrflux.pdfparser.io/
- Python Download: https://python.org/downloads
Steals your PDF, gives back Markdown, doesn’t leave a ransom note.
#ParseAndChill
!