OCR PDF
Make a scanned PDF searchable with OCR in your browser. Six languages, page ranges and searchable PDF or text output. Your scan is not uploaded.
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Read the full guide: How to Make a Scanned PDF Searchable with Free OCR
About This Tool
OCR PDF reads the words in scanned pages and adds them to the file so you can search, select and copy them. Choose the document language, keep the searchable PDF output or switch to a plain text file, then click Start Character Recognition. The scanned images stay on the pages unchanged.
Recognition is done by Tesseract, an open-source OCR engine, running in your browser. Six languages are offered: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Arabic, and you can select several for a mixed document. Before reading, each page is rendered at one, two or three times its size, matching the Standard, High Quality and Ultra Resolution settings; High Quality is the default. A page box such as 1-3, 5 limits the run to chosen pages.
In the searchable PDF, every recognised word is written as invisible text at the spot where the engine found it, using a standard Western font. Arabic letters cannot be written with that font, so for Arabic scans the .txt output is the dependable choice. The tool also replaces the document title with the file name followed by (OCR). It does not ask for passwords, and running it on pages that already contain text adds a second copy of that text.
The scan is processed in the browser tab and is not uploaded. On first use your browser downloads the OCR engine and language data from a public CDN (cdn.jsdelivr.net), which is software coming to you, not your file leaving. For archived lab or batch records, treat the recognised text as a finding aid and check key values such as batch numbers against the image.
Step-by-step instructions and common mistakes: How to Make a Scanned PDF Searchable with Free OCR.
How to Use
Add the scan
Drop one scanned PDF on the upload area or click to browse.
Pick the languages
Under Select Recognition Languages, click each language used in the document. English is selected to start with.
Set output and detail
Keep Double-Layer Searchable PDF or choose the .txt option, pick an accuracy resolution and, if needed, enter pages such as 1-3, 5.
Run and download
Click Start Character Recognition, wait for the page-by-page progress to finish, then download the result. Text output also shows a preview.
Use Cases
Searching old paper records
Make scanned logbooks, supplier certificates or legacy procedures searchable for an instrument ID or batch number.
Copying text from a scan
Pull the wording out of a scanned letter or report as a .txt file so you can paste it into a new document.
Preparing scans for redaction
Add a text layer so Find and Redact can locate names and numbers, remembering that the new layer is hidden text too.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which languages can it recognise?
Six: Arabic, English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. For a document that mixes languages, pick each one that appears; every extra language means another download the first time you use it.
Does OCR change how my pages look?
No. The original page images are kept, and the recognised words are added as invisible text on top. Because word size and position are estimated from the scan, a selection may not line up exactly with the printed words.
Why can I not search my Arabic scan after OCR?
The invisible layer is written with a standard font that cannot hold Arabic letters, so those words are left out of the PDF. Choose the plain text output for Arabic documents.
Can it read a password-protected PDF?
No. The tool does not ask for a password. Unlock the file first with Decrypt PDF, using the password you already have.
How can I get better results?
Start from a sharp, straight scan without shadows, straighten skewed pages with Deskew PDF, and try Ultra Resolution for small print. Proofread numbers, dates and names afterwards, since OCR can confuse characters such as 0 and O.