What does “searchable PDF” mean?

The pages look exactly the same, but an invisible layer of text is placed over each word. You can then search with Ctrl+F, select and copy text, and the document can be indexed.

Which languages are supported?

English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian and Catalan. Choosing the right language improves accuracy, especially with accents and special characters.

How long does it take?

A few seconds per page. The first time, the OCR engine (about 10 MB) and the language data are downloaded; after that they are cached in your browser.

Is there a page limit?

Up to 60 pages per run. For longer documents, split them with Split PDF and process each part.

Very accurate on clean, straight scans at 200–300 DPI. Handwriting, very low resolution or crooked pages reduce accuracy.

Are my files uploaded to a server?

No. Everything is processed inside your browser and your files never leave your device. There is no upload, no queue and no temporary storage, so the tool keeps working even if you go offline after the page has loaded.

Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limit. The site is funded by a few unobtrusive ads around the tools, never inside your files.

OCR PDF

Upload a scanned PDF, choose its language and get either the same PDF with a hidden text layer (so you can search, select and copy) or a .txt file with all the text. OCR runs in your browser with Tesseract.

Free, no sign-up and no uploads: processing happens in your browser · Updated September 18, 2026

Upload your scanned PDF

Drag here or click · PDF · Max. 100 MB

You can also paste a copied PDF with Ctrl+V

Document language

ResultPDF with searchable textThe same PDF, with an invisible text layer to search and copy.Text only (.txt)All the recognized text, page by page.

Recognized text

When you need OCR

Scanners and phone scanning apps usually produce PDFs where every page is just an image: you cannot search them or copy anything. OCR recognizes the characters and turns them into real text. If your PDF already has selectable text, you do not need it: go straight to PDF to Word or PDF to Excel.

Text from a single image

For a photo or screenshot instead of a PDF, use Image to text. For long scanned documents, Split PDF first and process each part.

Related tools

PDF to Word

Convert a PDF into an editable Word document (.docx).

Image to text (OCR)

Extract text from a photo, screenshot or scan.

Split PDF

Split a PDF into pages or extract a range.

Compress PDF

Reduce the size of your PDF files.

Frequently asked questions

What does “searchable PDF” mean?: The pages look exactly the same, but an invisible layer of text is placed over each word. You can then search with Ctrl+F, select and copy text, and the document can be indexed.
Which languages are supported?: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian and Catalan. Choosing the right language improves accuracy, especially with accents and special characters.
How long does it take?: A few seconds per page. The first time, the OCR engine (about 10 MB) and the language data are downloaded; after that they are cached in your browser.
Is there a page limit?: Up to 60 pages per run. For longer documents, split them with Split PDF and process each part.
How accurate is it?: Very accurate on clean, straight scans at 200–300 DPI. Handwriting, very low resolution or crooked pages reduce accuracy.
Are my files uploaded to a server?: No. Everything is processed inside your browser and your files never leave your device. There is no upload, no queue and no temporary storage, so the tool keeps working even if you go offline after the page has loaded.
Is it really free?: Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limit. The site is funded by a few unobtrusive ads around the tools, never inside your files.