Can I get text out of a scanned logo image?

You can, within limits. Vectornation by Zaweba has Find text in the image, part of its Image Trace, which compares the letters in a trace with the fonts installed on your PC and suggests the text, the font, the size and where it sits. Choose Use this text and real, editable text goes in its place. It works offline, and it reads separate letters only.

That last point is the important limit. Joined script, hand lettering, and strokes thinner than about 3 pixels are not read. For a logo set in an ordinary typeface, though, it can save a lot of guessing.

Why you would want text rather than traced letters

When you trace a scanned logo, the letters become shapes. They look right, but they're not type: you can't fix a spelling, change the wording for a new branch, or adjust the spacing as text. Traced letters also carry the little wobbles of the scan, so curves that should be smooth are slightly lumpy and stems that should be straight lean a fraction.

If you know the font, setting the words again as real text gives you perfect letter shapes and something you can edit. Find text in the image does the detective work of naming the font for you.

How it works

Place the scanned logo with File > Place and trace it with Image Trace. With the trace done, use Find text in the image. Vectornation looks at each traced letter and compares it with the fonts on your computer, then offers its best match for the words, the typeface and the size, and shows where the text would go.

If the suggestion is right, Use this text puts real text in that position. You can then hide or delete the traced letters and keep the new type.

All the comparison happens on your PC. Nothing is uploaded to a font identification website, which is worth knowing when the logo belongs to a client.

What helps it succeed

The font has to be on your computer, since that is what the letters are compared with. If you suspect the logo uses a typeface you own but haven't installed, open Vectornation's font manager, which can install fonts per user, and add it before you try.

A clean scan helps. Straight on, sharp, with good contrast between the letters and the background. A logo photographed at an angle will have distorted letters that match nothing well, so straighten or rescan it if you can.

Size matters too. If the strokes are thinner than about 3 pixels in the image, the letters can't be read reliably. Scan at a higher resolution rather than enlarging a small picture.

When it can't help

Script fonts where letters join, hand drawn lettering, and logos where the letters have been customised beyond the original font will not come out as text. That is not a failing so much as the nature of those logos: the letters are artwork, not type.

For those, trace the lettering as shapes with Image Trace, which traces shapes rather than pixels and keeps corners sharp and curves smooth with the fewest points. Then tidy by hand where needed with the path clean up commands in Object > Path.

Checking the match

Even a good match deserves a close look. Put the new text over the scan at reduced opacity and compare a few telling letters, such as a lower case g, an R or a lower case a, where similar fonts usually differ. If the spacing is a little off, adjust tracking rather than accepting traced letters.

Getting real text back from a scan is one of the more satisfying jobs in logo work, and in Vectornation by Zaweba it is part of the same trace you were going to do anyway.