OCR PDF
Run OCR to make scanned PDFs text-searchable. Extract text from images in your PDF.
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What is OCR PDF?
Make scanned PDF documents searchable with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) online for free. Upload a scanned or image-based PDF and the tool will recognize the text in the images, creating a searchable PDF layer that lets you select, copy, and search text while keeping the original visual appearance intact.
Why use this tool?
Supports multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese. The OCR layer is added transparently on top of the original images, preserving the visual appearance while making text selectable and searchable. Server-side processing with Tesseract OCR engine ensures accurate recognition.
Common use cases
Use when you have scanned documents, photographed pages, or image-only PDFs that need to be searchable. Essential for digitizing paper archives, making scanned contracts searchable for legal review, converting scanned invoices for text extraction, or enabling accessibility features on image-based PDFs.
How to use OCR PDF
- 1Upload your scanned or image-based PDF file
- 2Select the language of the text in your document
- 3Click "OCR PDF" to start text recognition
- 4Wait while the OCR engine processes each page
- 5Download your searchable PDF with selectable text
Frequently asked questions
What is OCR and how does it work?
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a technology that recognizes text within images. It analyzes the shapes and patterns in scanned pages, identifies individual characters and words, and creates an invisible text layer in the PDF. This lets you select, copy, and search text that was previously just a picture.
Which languages are supported?
The tool supports English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese. Select the language that matches the text in your document for the best recognition accuracy.
Will OCR change how my PDF looks?
No. The original scanned images are preserved exactly as they are. OCR adds an invisible text layer behind the images, so the PDF looks identical to the original but with the added ability to select and search text.
How accurate is the OCR text recognition?
Accuracy depends on the quality of the scan. Clear, high-resolution scans with standard fonts produce very high accuracy (95%+). Low-quality scans, unusual fonts, or heavily stylized text may have lower accuracy. For best results, use a 300 DPI or higher scan.
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