diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 9d2d120824..0fc53fdf23 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@
 - Update Chart.js version.
 - Improve line chart appearance. Fix mouse hover label issue.
 - Add JavaScript dependency manager.
+- Add support for passing arguments to the OCR backend.
 
 2.7.3 (2017-09-11)
 ==================
diff --git a/docs/releases/3.0.rst b/docs/releases/3.0.rst
index 4951839f88..4c5ba82440 100644
--- a/docs/releases/3.0.rst
+++ b/docs/releases/3.0.rst
@@ -426,6 +426,8 @@ Other changes worth mentioning
 - Remove the data filters feature.
 - Update Chart.js version.
 - Improve line chart appearance. Fix issue with mouse over labels next other chart margin.
+- Add support for passing arguments to the OCR backend.
+
 
 
 Removals
diff --git a/mayan/apps/ocr/runtime.py b/mayan/apps/ocr/runtime.py
index 307f2a6a40..69819029e7 100644
--- a/mayan/apps/ocr/runtime.py
+++ b/mayan/apps/ocr/runtime.py
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import yaml
+
 from django.utils.module_loading import import_string
 
-from .settings import setting_ocr_backend
+from .settings import setting_ocr_backend, setting_ocr_backend_arguments
 
-ocr_backend = import_string(setting_ocr_backend.value)()
+ocr_backend = import_string(
+    setting_ocr_backend.value
+)(
+    **yaml.safe_load(
+        setting_ocr_backend_arguments.value or '{}'
+    )
+)
diff --git a/mayan/apps/ocr/settings.py b/mayan/apps/ocr/settings.py
index d1f3ea672c..6e8f061335 100644
--- a/mayan/apps/ocr/settings.py
+++ b/mayan/apps/ocr/settings.py
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ setting_ocr_backend = namespace.add_setting(
     global_name='OCR_BACKEND', default='ocr.backends.pyocr.PyOCR',
     help_text=_('Full path to the backend to be used to do OCR.')
 )
+setting_ocr_backend_arguments = namespace.add_setting(
+    global_name='OCR_BACKEND__ARGUMENTS',
+    default=''
+)
 setting_auto_ocr = namespace.add_setting(
     global_name='OCR_AUTO_OCR', default=True,
     help_text=_(