Make a Scanned PDF Searchable (OCR)

Text recognition that runs in your browser — the scan never leaves your device.

The short version

A scan is a picture of a page — you cannot search it or copy from it. OCR reads the letters and adds an invisible text layer, so the page looks the same but works like a normal PDF. The scan is never uploaded.

How to use it

  1. Drop your scanned PDF into the box above. OCR is part of Premium.

  2. Choose the languages in the document, up to 3 at a time. Keep "Skip pages that already have text" ticked.

  3. Click "Recognise text" and download. Search the file for a few words to check the result.

Good to know

  • Recognised pages are re-drawn as an image with an invisible text layer on top. They look the same, but you can search, select and copy the text.
  • Accuracy depends on the scan. Clean, straight, high-resolution pages come out well; angled phone photos, small print and handwriting much less so. Always check names and numbers.
  • 39 languages, including English, Russian, Kazakh, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic. Each language is a one-time ~4 MB download to your browser, then it is cached.
  • Need to hide names in a scan? Run OCR first, then Redact can find them. Redacted pages are re-drawn again, so the text under the boxes is gone.
  • OCR is part of Premium. See pricing.

Free and Premium

Free

15 pages a day

  • Every tool except OCR — merge, split, organize, compress, redact, sign, edit, page numbers, protect, convert (incl. PDF to Word and JPG), extract text
  • No watermark, no account, no email
  • Counted across all tools; the count resets every day
Premium

$9/month

  • No page limit on any tool
  • OCR: make scanned PDFs searchable, 39 languages
  • Your signature saved on this device (never uploaded), and your signature or initials on every page in one click
  • One-click form filling with your saved details — name, address, email
  • Or $69/year · $149 once, for life

Free or Premium, the tools work the same way: your files never leave your device.