OCR engine & languages
Choose the OCR engine, download engine packs, and set the default OCR languages.
Open Settings and choose the OCR Engine tab to pick which engine recognises your text, download the language packs an engine needs, and set the Default OCR languages Scanix falls back to when a job doesn't specify one. This page is the full reference for every control on the tab.
The two halves of the tab save differently: the engine you select takes effect the instant you click it, while the Default OCR languages list is staged until you press Apply.
Screenshot
The OCR Engine tab: the engine cards with one selected, the Engine Status panel below, and the Default OCR languages picker at the bottom. — shot settings-ocr-engine-languages-01
Select the OCR engine
Each engine is a card with a radio button. Clicking a card selects it and saves instantly — there is no Apply step for the engine choice. The list is published from Scanix's catalog, so which engines appear can change over time.
Every card shows the engine's name, a short plain-language description, and a row of Best for chips that hint at the document types it suits. The engines that ship with the app are:
| Engine | Best for |
|---|---|
| Tesseract | Invoices, Receipts, Books |
| EasyOCR | Receipts, Mail, Mixed scans |
Both ship with the installer and work offline.
The card list is catalog-driven
The engines you see are whatever Scanix's catalog has published — the table above lists the engines that ship with the app. Other engines may appear when published. Where the engine provides one, a card also shows a Learn more link to the engine's own site.
Catalog indicator and Refresh
At the top right of the section, a Catalog: indicator shows where the current engine list came from (and its version when known). A Refresh button re-fetches the published catalog; while it runs it reads Refreshing….
Card badges
A card can carry a status badge next to the engine name:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Needs download | The engine's runtime is built in, but its weights aren't on disk yet. Fixable by downloading a language pack (below). |
| Coming soon | The engine's runtime isn't available in this build — you can't select it. |
| Requires Scanix ≥ version | The engine needs a newer Scanix Desktop than you're running. Update the app to use it. |
A selected engine that left the catalog
If your saved engine is later unpublished, Scanix shows a notice and silently falls back to another engine so OCR keeps working. If the selected engine simply isn't in the current published catalog, a banner asks you to pick another or wait for it to be published.
Download language packs
When the selected engine shows Needs download, its language packs are listed beneath the card. Each pack row shows its name, size, the locales it covers, and its Download and Remove buttons.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Download | Fetches and installs the pack. While downloading, the button reads Downloading… N% and a progress bar fills. |
| Remove | Deletes an installed pack from disk. |
A pack row can also carry a badge:
| Pack badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Experimental | An early-tier pack — accuracy may be lower than a production pack. |
| Deprecated | The pack is being retired; prefer its replacement where one is offered. |
When no packs are listed
If a Needs download engine has no packs published yet, Scanix tells you the engine isn't ready and suggests choosing another engine while you wait. Packs can only be published from the catalog — not added by hand.
Screenshot
A selected engine card showing the Needs download badge with its language packs listed below — each row with a size, locales, and the Download / Remove buttons. — shot settings-ocr-engine-languages-02
Engine Status
Below the engine cards, the Engine Status panel reports the live state of the engine you've selected.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Engine | The selected engine's name. |
| Version | The installed engine version (or – when unknown). |
| Status | Ready when the engine's weights are on disk, or Needs setup — download a language pack above when they aren't. |
A GPU badge appears beside the Engine Status heading when the selected engine is running with GPU acceleration.
Default OCR languages
The Default OCR languages list is the fallback Scanix uses when an OCR call doesn't pass an explicit language. Unlike the engine choice, this list is staged — your changes apply only when you press Apply.
Pick languages from two groups:
| Area | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Popular | A short row of the most common languages. |
| All languages | The full list, with a Search languages… box to filter by name or code. |
Chips toggle on and off; the count (or Multi-select) is shown above the list. A chip marked with a download glyph is an on-demand pack that downloads on first use.
Leave it empty for auto-detect
Clear every language and Scanix runs auto-detect — a wider script-detection pass that is slower on every page. Setting one or more languages is faster because it skips that wide-net pass. To clear a non-empty list, use Advanced: use auto-detect instead and confirm.
Screenshot
The Default OCR languages picker: the Popular chips, the All languages column with the Search languages… box, and the status line indicating faster scanning when languages are selected. — shot settings-ocr-engine-languages-03
For the full language list, codes, and how per-template language choices interact with this default, see OCR languages.
Next steps
OCR languages
The full language catalog, codes, and how defaults combine with per-template language picks.
OCR in Scanix
How recognition runs across the app — when it fires, and what the engine produces.
Settings overview
A tour of every Settings tab and which controls save instantly versus on Apply.