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PDF TOOLS · FREE ONLINE TOOL
OCR PDF
Turn scanned PDFs into real, searchable textA scanned PDF is a photograph of a document pretending to be a document: you cannot search it, copy a paragraph from it, or feed it to a translation tool. This tool runs a full OCR engine directly in your browser and turns those page images back into real, selectable text.
// OCR PDF · GET STARTED
Use OCR PDF
Turn scanned PDFs into real, searchable text
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Each page is read by a real text-recognition engine on your device. English printed text works best; clean scans give the most accurate results. Nothing is uploaded.
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How to use the OCR PDF
Recognize text
Click "Start OCR" and let each page be read.
Copy or download
Copy the text or download it as .txt.
// OCR PDF · ABOUT THIS TOOL
About the OCR PDF
A scanned PDF is just pictures of pages: you cannot search, copy or translate it. This tool runs a full OCR engine in your browser that reads the pages and turns them back into real text, with a progress readout as it works.
The first run downloads the recognition data (about 15 MB), cached for quick starts afterwards. Everything stays on your machine.
Where it helps most
Everyday moments when turning a scan into searchable text saves hours of retyping.
Searchable archives
A filing cabinet of scanned contracts becomes searchable the moment the text layer exists. Finding a clause across fifty documents turns from a weekend of reading into a text search.
Quotes without retyping
Extracting quotes from a scanned book chapter for your notes, without retyping a word. Researchers digitizing old journals make decades of work discoverable.
Invoices to data
Converting a stack of paper invoices into text for data entry. Nonprofits processing donated paper records turn them into databases instead of dead storage.
Meeting notes
Turning photographed meeting notes and whiteboards into something you can actually search. The unglamorous jobs that eat afternoons, handled in minutes.
Getting the best accuracy
Four simple habits that help the engine read your pages correctly.
Scan at 300 DPI or better
For best results, feed the engine clean scans at 300 DPI or better. Straight, high-contrast pages of printed text are its home turf.
Clean, flat pages
Blurry or skewed scans produce more errors, so use well-lit, flat pages. Clean scans of printed English text come back impressively accurate.
Printed text works best
Handwriting is not reliably recognized, and the tool is honest about that. Clean printed English text is its strong suit; anything else needs a careful eye.
Proofread the result
Faded or slightly skewed originals still produce usable text with more errors, so a quick proofread catches what the engine missed.
OCR PDF: private by design
Recognition runs entirely on your device. Your scans are never uploaded, no account needed, no copies stored.
OCR PDF FAQs
Upload the scanned PDF and click Start OCR. The engine reads each page in your browser, and you can copy the recognized text or download it as .txt.
