Acronym for Intelligent Character Recognition. ICR is the computer translation of hand printed and written characters. Data is entered from hand-printed forms through a scanner, and the image of the captured data is then analyzed and translated by sophisticated ICR software. ICR is similar to optical character recognition (OCR) but is a more difficult process since OCR is from printed text, as opposed to handwritten characters.

The biggest drawback of using ICR for data capture is the level of accuracy achieved, due to the changeable quality of handwriting on the forms and documents being processed. It can be difficult for ICR systems to accurately convert handwriting into text, particularly where names are being interpreted.

There are many ICR systems on the market today, ranging from simple desktop solutions that sell for a few hundred dollars to sophisticated, high-volume systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars.