OCR Web Service Zapier integrationAutomate OCR Web Service with Zapier.
The OCR Web Service Zapier integration has 0 triggers, 3 actions and 0 searches. Another app hands over a scanned PDF or an image, and the actions turn it into an editable file, into plain text, or both, ready for the next step of your automation.
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What the OCR Web Service Zapier integration does
OCR Web Service reads the text inside scanned documents and pictures, then gives it back in a form you can edit. On Zapier it offers three actions and no trigger: another app supplies the file, OCR Web Service reads it, and the following steps use the result.
Three results people usually want. Searchable supplier invoices: a scanned invoice lands in a folder, Extract Text From Image File pulls out its text, and the next step stores it where your accountant can search it. Editable contracts: a signed PDF comes back by email, and Convert Image File produces a version you can open and edit in a word processor. Both at once: Convert File and Extract Text gives you the editable file and the raw text in a single step, which saves an action when you need both.
Where it stops: OCR Web Service has no trigger, so it never starts a Zap. The document always comes from another app, a folder, a form or an inbox. There is no search step either. And the input file is given as a link, so the document has to be reachable at a URL that the service can open, which rules out a file only stored on someone's laptop.
If you are still choosing a tool, read the Make vs Zapier comparison and our Zapier review with your document volume in mind.
Zapier vocabulary in one minute
Eight words from the editor, explained once here and then used as they are.
- Zap
- The automation you build: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time the trigger event happens.
- Trigger
- The event that starts the Zap. With OCR Web Service it always comes from another app, like a new file in a folder.
- Action
- What the Zap does once started: the step that writes, sends or, here, converts something for you.
- Task
- The unit Zapier bills: one action your Zap completes successfully. Your plan is counted in those.
- Polling vs instant
- A polling trigger is checked on a timer; an instant one is reported by its app at once. It depends on where the file comes from.
- Filter
- A step that lets the Zap continue only when what arrived meets your condition, like a file name containing invoice.
- Connection
- Your OCR Web Service account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step that sends it a document.
- Multi-step Zap
- Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action or a filter makes one, and it needs a paid plan.
What an OCR Zap really costs
Each document that goes through an OCR action successfully is one task.
- Paid plan requiredNo, but saving the result adds an action
- Free plan100 tasks a month, Zaps of two steps
- TriggersNone, the file comes from another app
- Accepted inputsPDF, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
The trigger that brings in the document never costs a task, and neither does Zapier checking for new files. Each action that succeeds counts once; a failed one is not billed. OCR Web Service is not reserved to paid plans, so it runs on the free plan: 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, but two steps per Zap. Reading a file and then saving the text somewhere is two actions, so most useful OCR Zaps need a paid plan. Picking Convert File and Extract Text instead of two separate actions saves one task per document. On the free plan, a polling trigger is checked every 15 minutes.
Connect OCR Web Service to Zapier in three steps
- 01
Open your connections
In Zapier, open the Apps page of your account and click + Add connection. Search for OCR Web Service in the dialog and select it. You need an account with the service first.
- 02
Sign in
Click Add connection and sign in to OCR Web Service in the tab that opens. Use the account your team will run the conversions on, so every Zap shares the same one.
- 03
Grant access
Accept the access request. The tab closes and the service joins your connections, ready to be picked from a menu in any Zap without you signing in again.
Your first OCR Zap: make scanned invoices searchable
GoalWhen a scanned invoice lands in a shared folder, extract its text and store it next to the file name in a sheet.
- 01
Start from the folder
Create a Zap and pick your cloud storage as the trigger app, with a new file in a folder as the event. Choose the folder where the scanner drops invoices.
- 02
Test the trigger
Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent files of the folder, so you build the rest of the Zap on a real scanned invoice.
- 03
Extract the text
Add OCR Web Service and choose
Extract Text From Image File. Map the file link from the first step into Input file, then test and read the text that came back. - 04
Store it
Add a spreadsheet action and map the file name and the extracted text into two columns. This second action makes the Zap multi-step, on a paid plan.
- 05
Publish
Click Publish to switch the Zap on. Invoices already sitting in the folder are not read, only those that arrive from this moment.
The 3 OCR Web Service actions
OCR Web Service gives you 3 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Convert Image File
ActionIn Zapier“Convert PDF or Image File to editable text formats”
Turns a scanned PDF or an image into a document you can edit, in the output format you choose. Input file and Output file format are both required.
Convert File and Extract Text
ActionIn Zapier“Convert scanned file or PDF to editable format and extract text from image”
Does both jobs in a single step: it converts the scan to an editable format and, when Get extracted text is set to true, also returns the text it read. Input file and that setting are required.
Extract Text From Image File
ActionIn Zapier“Extract text from the scanned Image File or PDF”
Reads a scanned image or PDF and hands back only its text, with no converted file. Input file is the only required field.
When an OCR Web Service Zap breaks
Zapier lists no help article and no documented limit for OCR Web Service. The risks are those of every Zap, plus the required fields of the three actions.
Read these before publishing. If a run still fails, the Zapier troubleshooting guide is the next stop.
Old documents are not read
A Zap only reacts to files that arrive after it is switched on. Scans already in the folder before publishing are never converted.A bulk scan is held back
Scanning a whole archive into the folder at once can make the trigger return a huge batch, and Zapier's flood protection may hold it back.The Zap feeds itself
Saving the converted file back into the folder the Zap watches starts it again on its own output, and burns through your tasks.Input file is not a link
The actions expect the URL of the document. Mapping a file name or an unsupported format instead stops the step before any reading happens.
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