OCR a PDF and make scans searchable
Turn scanned pages into text you can search, select and copy. The pages keep their exact look, and nothing is uploaded.
- Processed on your device, never uploaded
- Free, no sign-up, no watermark
Done
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About OCR PDF
OCR PDF reads the words in a scanned PDF and adds them as an invisible text layer. The page images stay unchanged, but you can now search, select and copy the text. It does not rebuild the document in its original fonts. It keeps the scan and places searchable text over it.
It is useful for office staff, students and anyone with a pile of scanned letters, receipts or old documents. For example, a clerk can make a scanned rental agreement in Hindi searchable, then find a clause with a quick text search.
This free OCR PDF online tool supports English, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Urdu and Arabic, and can also read English in mixed-language pages. It runs in your browser using Tesseract, and scans are never uploaded. OCR results can contain mistakes, so check important text. Clear, straight scans read well. Blurry, tilted or handwritten pages give weaker results.
How to use OCR PDF
- Click Choose file or drop your scanned PDF on the page. Pages that already contain text are marked.
- Pick the document language. Tick Also read English if the pages mix languages.
- Optionally choose which pages to read, whether to re-read pages that already have text, and whether to also download a .txt file.
- Press Make searchable. The OCR engine in your browser reads each page.
- Download the searchable PDF, plus the plain text file if you chose it. Use New file to start again.
Search and copy
An invisible text layer is placed exactly over the words, so Ctrl+F, selecting and copying all work.
Indian languages too
English, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Urdu and Arabic.
Private by design
OCR runs in your browser with Tesseract; your scans are never uploaded.
Looks the same
The original page images are kept exactly as they are.
Example
Input: a 4-page scanned letter in Tamil with a few English words.
Choose Tamil, tick Also read English, then click Make searchable.
Result: a PDF that looks the same as the scan, but you can search and copy its words. Check names and numbers before relying on them.
OCR PDF: questions people ask
Is OCR PDF safe to use?
The OCR runs in your browser with Tesseract, and your scans are never uploaded.
Why does it download something the first time?
The reader for your language downloads once on first use. It is about 2 to 4 MB.
Will the text be correct?
Clear, straight, normal-size scans read well. Blurry, tilted or handwritten pages read less well, so always check the result for mistakes.
Can I edit the words after OCR?
The text becomes selectable, but to change words you need the PDF Editor.
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