OCR a Scanned PDF
Make a scanned PDF searchable, or pull its text out entirely, using OCR that runs in your browser.
Select PDF file
or drop a scanned PDF here
- Stays on your device
- No sign-up
- No watermark
How to make a scanned PDF searchable in 3 steps
- 1
Select PDF file
Click the button or drop the file. It is not uploaded.
- 2
Run OCR
It runs in this tab, on your device.
- 3
Download
Save the new file. Your original stays as it was.
Often used next
All 26 tools- PDF to TextExtract selectable text from a PDF into a plain .txt file.
- PDF to WordTurn a PDF into an editable Word file with its text and headings.
- Compress PDFShrink a PDF to fit email and upload limits, with a level or target size.
- Merge PDFCombine multiple PDF files into a single document in seconds.
About this tool
Turn a scanned document into a searchable PDF, or pull out the raw text, using an OCR engine that runs entirely on your device. Most "free" OCR tools upload your scan to a server to read it — this one doesn't have to.
Limits and edge cases
- Runs meaningfully slower than a server-side OCR service, since your device — not a server farm — does the recognition work; long or many-page scans can take a while.
- Accuracy depends on scan quality: clear, high-resolution, upright printed text reads well, while handwriting, skewed pages, or low-resolution phone photos produce more recognition errors.
- The first run downloads the OCR engine and language data (a few megabytes) before it can start — after that, it's cached in your browser for faster repeat use.
- A password-protected PDF must be unlocked first, since rendering pages for recognition requires opening the file directly.
OCR a PDF: what it can't read reliably, and how to check before you trust the output
- Handwriting. This engine is trained on printed text. Cursive or handwritten notes will produce garbled or missing output, not a best-effort transcription.
- Skewed or rotated pages. A page scanned even slightly crooked reads worse than a straight one: rotate it first with Rotate PDF if a scan came in sideways.
- Low-resolution or low-contrast photos. A phone photo taken at an angle, in poor light, or heavily compressed loses the character detail OCR needs: a flatbed scan reads far more accurately.
- Languages other than English. This tool currently loads only the English language model. Text in other languages will be recognized poorly or not at all.
- Complex tables and multi-column layouts. OCR reads left-to-right, top-to-bottom text well, but a table's structure (which cell belongs to which row) is not preserved: expect the words, not the layout.
- Watermarked or low-contrast text. Text overlapping a watermark, stamp, or a light background color is harder to separate from the page than clean black-on-white text.
Compared with tools that upload your file
iLovePDF, Smallpdf and PDF24 all offer this kind of job, and the online ones upload your file to their servers to do it. Here the work happens in this tab instead. Read the honest comparisons with iLovePDF, Smallpdf and PDF24, including where they are the better choice, or how to check that a tool does not upload.
Frequently asked questions
Is my scanned document uploaded anywhere to run OCR?+
No. Recognition runs locally in your browser using WebAssembly. The one thing that is downloaded is the OCR engine and language model themselves (a few megabytes, the first time you use this tool) — never your document.
Why is this slower than some other OCR tools?+
Because it's running on your device instead of a server farm built for this. For a few pages it's usually quick; for long or low-quality scans, it can take a while. That trade-off is what keeps your document from ever being uploaded.
What's the difference between the two output options?+
"Searchable PDF" keeps the original scanned page images exactly as they look, and adds an invisible text layer behind them so you can select, search, and copy text. "Extract text" skips the PDF entirely and just gives you a plain .txt file of everything the OCR engine could read.
Does it work on handwriting or poor-quality scans?+
It's built for printed text and works best on clear, reasonably high-resolution scans. Handwriting, skewed pages, or very low-quality photos will produce lower accuracy — that's a limitation of OCR generally, not specific to this tool.
Should I use OCR or PDF to Text?+
Use PDF to Text if you can already select and copy words in a PDF reader — that file has a real text layer and extraction is instant. Use OCR when the PDF is a scan or photo of a page and you can't highlight the words.
Related guides
Ready to start?
Free, no sign-up, nothing uploaded.