MERLIC 5.1 includes a new tool for optical character recognition that is based on HALCON’s Deep OCR technology. Compared to other algorithms, this holistic deep-learning-based approach can localize characters much more robustly, regardless of their orientation, font type, polarity, and it requires significantly less parameter tuning. Recognition performance is further increased by the automatic grouping of characters. This allows the identification of whole words and thus reduces the chance of misinterpretation of similar-looking characters. This new tool does not require the Deep Learning Add-On and is therefore already included in the entry level package MERLIC 5.1 S.