OCR
OCR PDF
Reads text from scanned pages entirely on your device and can rebuild the PDF with an invisible, selectable text layer so it looks exactly the same. The first run downloads the language model.
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your document is never uploaded.
Drop your scanned PDF here
.PDF · up to 50 MB per file · single file
Files are processed in your browser and never uploaded.
How to OCR a PDF
Recognise the text in a scanned PDF so you can copy, search and reuse words that were previously just pixels.
- 1Upload the scanned PDF.
- 2Choose the language of the document.
- 3Run recognition and wait while each page is analysed.
- 4Review or download the recognised text.
Why use OCR PDF
- Find information in scans instead of reading page by page.
- Copy quotes and figures out of paper documents.
- Multiple recognition languages supported.
- Recognition runs in your browser, so pages are not uploaded.
Privacy and how your file is handled
This tool runs in your browser using JavaScript and WebAssembly. The file you choose is read locally by the page and is not uploaded to PDFSolution servers.
Read more in our security overview and privacy policy.
OCR PDF — frequently asked questions
- What is OCR?
- Optical character recognition analyses the image of a page and works out which characters it contains, producing machine-readable text.
- How accurate is OCR?
- Accuracy depends on the scan. Straight, high-contrast pages at 300 DPI in a common typeface read very well; faint faxes, handwriting and heavy skew produce errors. Always proofread important numbers.
- Which languages are supported?
- Several recognition languages are available in the language selector; choose the one that matches the document for the best result.
- Is OCR slow?
- It is the most computation-heavy tool here because every page is analysed on your own device. Long documents can take several minutes.
- How do I get a searchable PDF instead of plain text?
- Use Make PDF Searchable, which adds an invisible text layer over the scan.
- Can I convert the result to Word?
- Yes, Scanned PDF to Word does OCR and produces an editable document.
Related PDF tools
- Make PDF SearchableAdd a searchable text layer.
- Scanned PDF to WordOCR a scan into an editable document.
- PDF to WordConvert PDF documents to editable Word files.
- Compress PDFReduce PDF file size with selectable levels.
- Translate PDFTranslate a document into another language.
Browse the full PDF tools directory or read our PDF guides and how-tos.