OCR PDF
Turn scanned PDFs into searchable, selectable text with OCR.
Drag & drop your file here
or select from your device
Max 5MB · encrypted in transit · auto-deleted after use · 10 conversions left today · Sign up free for more
Drag a file to change the order it merges in.
Processing your file…
Processed securely, deleted after download
Continue to…
- Encrypted upload
- Deleted after download
- No sign-up needed
- Works on all devices
How to Make a Scanned PDF Searchable with OCR
-
1
Upload the scanned PDF
Choose a scanned or image only PDF from your device.
-
2
Recognise the text
OCR reads every page and adds a searchable, selectable text layer.
-
3
Download the searchable PDF
Save a PDF you can search, copy and select from.
Features of OCR PDF Tool
-
Make scans searchable
Add a real, selectable text layer to scanned or image-only PDFs.
-
Find and copy text
Once processed you can search, highlight and copy text like any digital document.
-
Many languages
Recognises a wide range of languages and alphabets, not just English.
-
Ready to convert
After OCR, turn the file into an editable document with PDF to Word.
-
Runs in the browser
No desktop OCR software to buy or install.
-
Private by design
Your scans are encrypted and deleted automatically after processing.
Scanned PDFs often look like normal documents, but they behave like images. You cannot search for text, copy sentences and highlight words. This free OCR PDF tool recognizes the text in scanned pages and adds a hidden text layer, making your PDF searchable and selectable while keeping its original appearance. It works in any web browser, adds no watermark and is completely free to use.
Convert Scanned PDFs into Searchable Documents
A scanned PDF is simply a collection of images until OCR (Optical Character Recognition) reads the text. This tool scans every page, detects the characters and adds a searchable text layer under the original images. The document keeps the same visual layout, but you can now search for keywords, copy text, highlight content and select words just like in a regular PDF. This makes it much easier to find important information such as contract clauses, invoice numbers, or names without checking every page manually. If your document was created from photos taken with a phone, you can easily use OCR tool to create a clean PDF tool. After OCR is complete, you can also convert the searchable PDF to Word if you need to edit the extracted text.
Improve OCR Accuracy
The quality of OCR depends on the quality of your scanned document. Clear, sharp and properly aligned pages produce the best results, while blurry, tilted or low-quality scans may contain recognition errors. For better accuracy, rotate pages sideways before processing and remove unnecessary borders or empty margins if possible. Scanning documents with good lighting and high resolution also improves text recognition. Taking a few moments to prepare your document helps create a more accurate searchable PDF, which is especially important for legal, financial, business or academic documents.
Secure OCR on Any Device
The tool works directly in your web browser, so there is nothing to install and no account is required. Files are transferred through a secure connection and are automatically deleted from the server shortly after processing to help protect your privacy. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS, allowing you to make scanned PDFs searchable from any device. If your searchable PDF becomes larger after OCR, you can use a Compress PDF tool to reduce its file size for easier sharing and storage. You can also convert it to PDF/A for long-term archiving while keeping the searchable text intact.