OCR PDF

Load a scanned PDF and read its text with on-device OCR. You get a searchable PDF and the extracted text — nothing is uploaded.

Drop a PDF here, or click to browse .pdf · stays on your device

How to OCR a PDF

Three steps, all in your browser.

Add your scanned PDF

Drag in a PDF or click to browse. Image-based (scanned) PDFs are exactly what OCR is for.

Run OCR

Click Run OCR. The English text-recognition engine loads once, then reads each page — progress shows as it goes.

Download

Get a searchable PDF (looks the same, but the text is selectable) and the extracted plain text as .txt.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I OCR a PDF?

Load a scanned PDF and click Run OCR. The tool renders each page, recognises the text with an on-device English engine, and gives you a searchable PDF plus the extracted text to copy or download. It all happens in your browser.

What is a searchable PDF?

A scanned PDF is just images, so you can't select or search the text. OCR adds an invisible text layer on top of the page image, so the document looks identical but you can now select, copy and search the words.

Why is some of the text wrong?

OCR accuracy depends on the scan: clear, high-contrast, straight pages read best; faint, skewed or handwritten pages read worse. This tool uses the English model, so other languages won't recognise well. The invisible text layer is aligned word-by-word, so it's great for search but not a perfect character-for-character copy.

Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?

No. The recognition engine (tesseract.js) and the English model run entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded. Closing the tab clears everything.

How to OCR a PDF

Add your scanned PDF

Run OCR

Download

Frequently Asked Questions

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