What it does
PDF OCR reads text from scanned or image-based PDF pages and produces a searchable PDF or plain text.
- Recognises scanned text
How do I OCR a scanned PDF?
OCR a scanned PDF by uploading it; the tool recognises the text in the page images and produces a searchable PDF (or plain text) with a selectable text layer. Choose the language, then download. Recognition runs in your browser, so the document is never uploaded.
- Recognises text in scans and images
- Creates a searchable, selectable text layer
- Multi-language support
- 100% client-side
What is
PDF OCR
Optical Character Recognition for PDFs — reading text from scanned page images and adding a searchable, selectable text layer or exporting plain text.
PDF Tools
Related terms
Tesseractsearchable PDF
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes.
OCR adds a hidden text layer aligned to the image so the scanned PDF becomes searchable and selectable.
Many.
You can choose from a range of recognition languages for best accuracy.
No.
Recognition runs locally with Tesseract in your browser.
Detailed Explanation
How it works
Pages are rasterised with pdf.js and passed to the Tesseract.js OCR engine, which returns recognised text positioned as a hidden layer.
- pdf.js + Tesseract.js
Use cases
Make scanned contracts, receipts, books and forms searchable, or extract their text for reuse.
- Scans to searchable text
Limitations
Accuracy depends on scan quality, language and fonts; low-resolution or skewed scans reduce recognition quality.
- Quality-dependent
Privacy
OCR runs entirely in the browser, so sensitive scans never leave your device.
- 100% local