The free OCR PDF tool turns a scanned document into a searchable one. Upload a scanned or image-based PDF and the tool uses optical character recognition, OCR, to read the text on the page and add an invisible text layer beneath the image. You can then search, select, and copy the text, which you cannot do with a plain scan. It is free, adds no watermark, and needs no account.
Importantly, the visible page is not changed or re-rendered. The text layer is added underneath the existing image, so your document looks exactly as it did, but now behaves like a real text document. The tool reads 14 languages, and you choose the language of your scan before you run it.
How to OCR a PDF
- Upload your scanned PDF. Select the file or drag it onto the upload area.
- Choose the language and run OCR. Pick the language the scan is written in, then click Run OCR. The tool reads the text on each page and adds a searchable text layer.
- Download. Save the searchable PDF, which looks the same but is now selectable.
What OCR Can Do, and When to Use It
OCR is for scanned and image-based PDFs, the kind where you can see text on the page but cannot select it because it is really a picture. The tool recognizes that text and makes it searchable and selectable. A PDF that already has real text does not need OCR, and the tool leaves such pages alone rather than re-processing them. Accuracy depends on the quality of the scan: clean, straight, high-resolution scans read very well, while faint, skewed, or low-resolution pages produce more errors. The tool offers 14 languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean and Hindi. It reads one language per run, so choose the language the scan is written in; a wrong choice lowers accuracy. Recognition is never perfect and results vary by language and script, so check names and numbers against the page before you rely on them.
What Happens to My File?
Your PDF is processed on our server. The uploaded file is deleted when processing ends, whether it succeeds or fails. The result is stored in a folder with a random name, stays available to download for about two hours, and is then deleted automatically. Uploads and downloads use HTTPS.
When to Use OCR on a PDF
- Searching a scanned document. Find a word or figure in a scan you could only read before.
- Copying text from a scan. Pull quotes or data out of a scanned page without retyping.
- Digitizing records. Turn a scanned archive into documents you can search through.
- Preparing for Excel. Add a text layer so a scan with clear tables can be converted to Excel.
Related PDF Tools
Once your scan is searchable, you can convert it to Excel if it holds clear tables. For an editable Word file, send the scan straight to PDF to Word, which has its own OCR option for signed-in users. You can also compress the result.
