MandaHow good is Manda's image OCR?
The Manda Team · · 5 min read
How well can Manda read Chinese from an image? We tried signs, packaging, a notice, a menu, a book page, and a historical newspaper. Manda turns a photo or scan into editable text through Import Text → Upload → Upload Image. The examples below show what it extracted and where you may need to check the image yourself.
We uploaded the 10 images below through Upload Image. They are real photographs or scans found online, not AI-generated images. Most come from Wikimedia Commons; the book page comes from a photograph published by Epigram Bookshop. The images shown are the exact files we uploaded. Most were cropped to focus on the relevant text; the candy package and book page were also rotated to make the text upright. We did not retouch or replace any letters. The cover illustration is separate from the test set.
The blocks headed Manda's result reproduce the Upload Image output verbatim, including errors, extra symbols, and mixed character forms. These are qualitative examples, not an estimate of accuracy across all photos. No words were hand-corrected in the OCR results.
1. A clear two-character sign
Easy: large Traditional Chinese characters on a plain background.
Image: Chinese squat toilet sign by Hippietrail, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from the source photograph.
Manda's result:
蹲式
Assessment: Exact: 蹲式 is the entire Chinese sign.
2. Ingredients on a food can
Medium: several lines of Traditional Chinese and English on a photographed label.
Image: File:HK food 紅豆沙 Chinese Red Bean 糖水 sweet sugar soup metal can 商用包裝 大件裝 heavy package can August 2025 N13P 01.jpg by SevenSwords TinSumh, CC0. Cropped from the source photograph.
Manda's result:
成份：红豆、水、白砂糖、蔗糖脂肪酸酯(E473)。
Ingredients: Red Beans, Water, Sugar, Sucrose Fatty
Acid Ester (E473).
請存放於陰凉乾爽處及避免陽光直接照射，開罐
後請即冷藏 / Store in a cool, dry place. Keep away from
direct sunlight, Refrigerate after opening.
Best Before: See Can Lid (DD/MM/YYYY)
此日期前最佳：見罐蓋上(日/月/年)
Assessment: Nearly all of the Chinese and English label text is readable, including the ingredients, storage directions, and date note. A few Traditional Chinese characters appear in Simplified form, such as 红 in 红豆 and 凉 in 陰凉.
3. A building notice
Medium: a multi-line Traditional Chinese notice photographed in place.
Image: File:Taipei Commercial Building important notice 20190406.jpg by Solomon203, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from the source photograph.
Manda's result:
嚴重警告
請勿隨手亂丢菸蒂垃圾
製造公共區域髒亂
必要時公布影像張貼
請菸君子自重
台北商業大樓公告
Assessment: The warning and building attribution are recovered in the right order. 丢 is a character-form error where the photographed notice uses Traditional Chinese.
4. A distant road sign
Medium to hard: small white text on a green sign in a wider roadside photo.
Image: File:Road sign Xi'an-Lintong China.jpg by 6-A04-W96-K38-S41-V38, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from the source photograph.
Manda's result:
高速加油站
国家
前方 10
km 西临高速
XILIN EXPWY
入口
ENTRANCE
Assessment: The main message, 高速加油站 and 前方 10 km, is recovered. Text from a smaller neighboring sign is also included, and the distance is split across lines.
5. A bilingual restaurant menu
Hard: two columns of small Chinese and English dish names with prices.
Image: File:Menu of a Taiwanese restaurant in Queens New York 01.jpg by H.R. Tsua, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from the source photograph.
Manda's result:
各式滷味 Taiwanese Appetiters
1. 豆干 Bean Curd.
2. 海带 Seaweed. $3.95
3. 豬耳 Pig ear $3.95
4. 维胗 Chicken Gizzards. $5.95
5. 牛肚 Tripe.. $4.95
6. 牛筋 Tendon $6.95
7. 香腸 Sausage $6.95
8. 大腸 Pig Intestine $6.95
9. 豬舌 Pig Tongue. $6.95
10. 牛腱 Beef.. $6.95
11. 油豆腐 Fried Bean Curd. $6.95
12. 三拼 Combination Any 3. $3.95
$9.95
凉菜 Cold Appetizers
15. 凉拌豬耳絲 Shredded Pork Ear.
16. 蒜泥海带絲 Shredded Seaweed w. Garlic. $6.95
17. 麻辣牛肚 Beef Tripe in Chili Sauce... .$5.50
18. 凉拌黄瓜 Cucumber. .$7.95
19. 醉雞 Chicken in Wine Sauce. $5.95
20. 拌土豆絲 Shredded Potato $8.95
21. 金针菇老醋拌雲耳 Straw Mushroom & Tree Mushroom $4.95
23. 烤赵 Marinated Gluten $6.95
$6.95
Assessment: Most numbered dishes and their English names are legible. Some dish characters are wrong, and several prices are missing, detached, or attached to the wrong row; check the image before relying on an order or price.
6. A street-name sign
Hard: angled white Chinese characters on a blue roadside sign.
Image: File:20240921 Street sign of Tawan Road.jpg by Windmemories, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from the source photograph.
Manda's result:
北塔湾路南
N Tawan Rd. S
Assessment: The street name 塔湾路 is recovered, with its English name. The 北 and 南 direction markers are concatenated with the Chinese street name instead of being placed as on the sign.
7. A large no-smoking sign
Harder than it looks: prominent black characters, a pictogram, and English below.
Image: No Smoking sign by 茅野ふたば, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from the source photograph.
Manda's result:
嚴禁吸煙
No Smoking
Assessment: Exact for the visible sign text: 嚴禁吸煙 and No Smoking.
8. A page from a modern book
Medium: a photographed page of horizontal Simplified Chinese prose and dialogue, with a slight curve near the binding.
Image: page 61 of 《爱的十秒》 by 吴韦材, from an Epigram Bookshop photograph. Cropped to one page and rotated from the source photograph.
Manda's result:
得宽阔，而当一个人老到心态能自处于平淡，那剩下的，
就只是安静度日这回事吧了。
房里不只冷，房里还沉静。静得听到壁上时钟的秒
针。
十秒。
十秒那概念是多长？十秒就是一辈子？
一辈子，那又多长？就算风扯云涌难舍难割，一辈子
也不过就浓缩在这十秒罢了。
有人，轻轻推门进来。
是位把哀伤神情偷偷隐藏在哀伤底下的女子。
女子见病人醒着，迅速用笑脸相迎—“爸，醒了？
还觉得怎样？喝点水么？”
病人缓缓摇头，“今天不忙了么？”
“不忙。今天不忙。”
“看你天天就这样耗下去，你这份挨人受气的工作，
就能给你需要的精神安慰么？一个女人家，实实在在找个
归宿好，你也老大不小了。”
谊女句句听在心里，却只是坐到床缘。
她忍着情绪，望住他，“你放心吧，爸，我会打算
的。”
“你哪会打算。”病人想半坐起来，她把他扶起。
“爸，你大我20年，我也40出头了。”
“可你还是没长脑袋。”说到要点病人又似有冲动的
样子，“我常说的，要真正懂得保护自己。你跟他根本没
有可能，而你明知道这一切，却还不能自拔。”
“爸，其实我了然一切。这时候只是这时候的事，我 61
Assessment: The prose is largely readable and follows the page's line order. A few characters are wrong, such as 吧 for 罢 and 谊女 for the printed 这女; the page number is joined to the final line. The excerpt starts and ends mid-sentence because this is one page of a longer story.
9. Text on a candy package
Very hard: small type on packaging; the source photo was rotated upright before upload.
Image: File:Chinese Mentos box.jpg by Popolon, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from the source photograph and rotated upright.
Manda's result:
mentos 清新薄荷味
无糖薄荷糖
透爽口气 30
分钟
净含量：35克·有助于宜人口气长达30分钟约50粒
Assessment: The brand, flavor, product type, weight, and much of the promotional copy are readable. Tiny package text contains character errors, and some phrases are out of order.
10. An old newspaper scan
Very hard: low-resolution historical print with dense vertical Chinese text.
Image: File:Beiyang official newspaper 1903.jpg by Beiyang official newspaper. Public domain; full scan.
Manda's result:
報官洋北
訓物件R零民上载总一年之中四時人部电有那空酒合客的時然廣美段食不可日冠桥出疑一切顾四只安本会属厘器具一改美器派月端爵只零中平类學人软修款察次食不可大秀侧的下些传食博不峰之国大抵温做是领类能限了心想考分外震同办子种著些市数有位额一约禁指现差常公的想考不要点了码兵的人家知通罚有定灭奥与权费聖的衡節命以结财用世品台光緒二十九年二月十七日
e 第三十六册
Assessment: Unreliable. The scan's vertical, degraded print produces long strings of incorrect characters; this output should not be used as a transcription.
What this tells us
Manda reads short signs accurately in these examples and recovers most of the notice, food label, road sign, and candy packaging. The book page becomes readable, editable prose with a few character errors. The restaurant menu yields many dish names, but its prices and row structure need closer checking.
Small type and crowded layouts can produce wrong characters, misplaced prices, and scrambled descriptions. The old newspaper is a failure case. Compare extracted text with the image before relying on it, especially for prices, directions, or study material. You can correct the text in the editor before opening it in the reader.
To try your own image, open Import Text, choose Upload → Upload Image, and select a photo or scan. A close, sharp, evenly lit crop helps. OCR runs in your browser; the first use loads the recognition models and may take longer.