OCR PDF
Run OCR on a scanned PDF to make its text searchable and selectable, while the pages keep looking exactly the same.
How to use OCR PDF
- Choose a scanned PDF.
- Pick the Languages in the document.
- Choose Skip pages with text or OCR every page.
- Click Make searchable and wait for the pages to be recognised.
- Click Download searchable PDF, or copy the Recognised text.
Frequently asked questions
What does OCR do to a PDF?
OCR (optical character recognition) reads the text in scanned images and adds an invisible text layer, so you can search, select and copy it. The page images are not changed.
Which languages does the PDF OCR support?
English, Hindi, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. You can pick more than one for mixed documents.
Is my scanned PDF uploaded for OCR?
No. Recognition runs in your browser with tesseract.js. The language model is downloaded the first time you use a language and then cached, but your PDF stays on your device.
How accurate is the OCR?
Clean, straight scans at a good resolution give the best results. Blurry photos, handwriting or unusual fonts lead to more mistakes, so check the Recognised text.