OnDevice OCR Pro app icon OnDevice OCR Pro

Guide

Automate text recognition
on your Mac

How to make your scans and PDFs
automatically searchable with a hotfolder workflow

Anyone who regularly has to make large quantities of documents, PDFs or scans searchable via OCR — such as incoming invoices, contracts, client files or scanned archive documents — and would rather not do it manually has a simple option: setting up a monitored folder, known in technical jargon as a “hotfolder”.

Monitoring a folder via hotfolder

If you use a network scanner, new scans usually end up in a folder on the network or on your hard drive — often as PDF, PNG, JPEG or TIFF files.

The hotfolder continuously monitors this folder in the background: as soon as new files are added, they are automatically processed using text recognition (OCR) and saved as a searchable PDF. This saves you from processing them manually at the end of the workday or over the weekend.

With OnDevice OCR Pro, this process is set up in just a few minutes:

  1. Open OnDevice OCR Pro and click “Settings” in the top-right corner.
Main window of OnDevice OCR Pro with the “Settings” button highlighted in the top-right corner
  1. Switch to the “Hotfolder” tab at the top.
  2. Click “Configure Hotfolder”.
Settings window with the “Hotfolder” tab selected and the “Configure Hotfolder” button
  1. Select the folder you want to monitor.
  2. Optional: you can also specify a destination folder — the finished, searchable PDFs will then be moved there automatically.
  3. Click “Start Watching” and confirm the access permission.

Besides language, quality and interval, you can also choose here whether your scans should be automatically rotated correctly and deleted after text recognition.

“Hotfolder Configuration” window with folder selection, settings and the “Start Watching” button
  1. Click “Save & Close”. You can now close the app completely.

The app and hotfolder now run in the background. You can tell that monitoring is active by the icon in the menu bar — from there you can reconfigure or stop it at any time.

Hotfolder icon in the macOS menu bar with the “Configure Hotfolder” and “Stop Watching” menu items

You can restart your Mac at any time — the hotfolder is automatically reactivated after a restart.

That’s all there is to it

From now on, as soon as a new document appears in the folder — whether an image or a PDF — it is automatically processed via text recognition.

Want to give it a try? You can test OnDevice OCR Pro free of charge and with no obligation — the resulting PDFs will simply carry a watermark. If you like it, unlock the full version with a one-time purchase — no subscription.

The Mac editorial team at ifun.de has also featured OnDevice OCR Pro, highlighting its local processing, batch processing and hotfolder automation: Read the article on ifun.de.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Technical details

Which file formats are supported?

The app supports PDF files as well as the most common image formats, including JPEG, PNG, TIFF and HEIC/HEIF. You can add both individual files and entire folders via drag & drop.

Which languages can be recognized?

OnDevice OCR Pro accurately recognizes text in 13 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese (Yokogaki), Korean, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Is handwriting recognition supported?

No. OnDevice OCR Pro is designed for printed and typed text. Handwriting is not currently supported.

Features

What does “Auto-Rotation” do?

Sometimes documents or books have to be placed at an angle on the scanner because they otherwise won’t fit on the scanning surface. OnDevice OCR Pro reliably detects such rotated pages and aligns them correctly during OCR processing.

Pricing

How much does OnDevice OCR Pro cost?

Prices may vary depending on country, currency and App Store taxes. You can see the current price directly in the Mac App Store: click the Mac App Store button and open the In-App Purchases section. The price for the lifetime version in your region is shown there.

Is there a subscription?

No. You purchase OnDevice OCR Pro once and can use the app indefinitely.

System requirements

Does the app run on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs?

Yes, OnDevice OCR Pro is a universal app and runs natively on both Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and newer) and Intel Macs.

Which macOS version is required?

macOS 14.6 (Sonoma) or later. Currently, all essential features are available in every supported version.

Privacy & trust

Does the app work offline?

Yes. OnDevice OCR Pro works completely offline — no internet connection is required, and no data is transmitted to a server.

Is any data collected?

No. OnDevice OCR Pro does not collect any user data. Personal data never leaves your Mac.

Is OnDevice OCR Pro GDPR-compliant?

OnDevice OCR Pro is designed for GDPR-compliant document workflows. The app processes documents entirely locally on your Mac. Files and recognized text are not uploaded, not used for training, and not transferred to third parties. The app contains no tracking and no telemetry. For more details, see the Privacy Policy.

This statement applies to OnDevice OCR Pro itself. If you connect external AI agents or automation tools, you are responsible for their file access and data processing. OnDevice OCR Pro does not transfer documents to AI services; it only provides the local integration interface.

Automate your text recognition with OnDevice OCR Pro.

Download on the Mac App Store