OCR PDF
Make a scanned PDF searchable β OCR adds a selectable, copyable text layer under the page images.
Drop a scanned PDF here or click to select
PDF Β· Max 10 MB
How to use OCR PDF
- 1Upload your scanned or image-only PDF (up to 10 MB).
- 2Click "Make Searchable (OCR)" β each page is read in turn. This can take up to a minute.
- 3Download the searchable PDF. The pages look the same, but you can now select, search, and copy the text.
Features
Invisible text layer
Recognized words are placed under the page image, so the look is unchanged.
Search & copy
The output is a normal searchable PDF that any reader can find text in.
Self-contained OCR
Runs on a self-hosted engine β your file never goes to a third-party OCR service.
Why use this tool
Rescue old scans
Make archived, scanned documents findable again.
Copy without retyping
Pull quotes and data straight out of former image-only pages.
Supported formats
Input
Output
Frequently asked questions
How many pages can I OCR?
OCR is compute-heavy, so each run processes a limited number of pages within the free OCR trial (shared with Image to Word). Premium raises the limit. Very long scans are processed up to that cap.
Does it already-searchable PDFs?
This tool is for scanned/image-only PDFs. If your PDF already has real text, use PDF to Text or PDF to Word instead.
Which languages are supported?
English text is recognized. Clear, high-contrast scans give the best results.
Your files stay private
Your PDF is processed in server memory with a self-hosted OCR engine and deleted immediately after the searchable file is returned.
Related tools
PDF to Text
Pull the plain text out of any PDF into a clean .txt file β no formatting, just the words.
Image to Word
OCR a photo or scan into an editable Word document.
PDF to Word
Turn a locked-in PDF into a Microsoft Word document you can actually edit.
Compress PDF
Shrink PDF file size losslessly β same quality, tighter packaging.
Do more with Premium
Everything here stays free. Premium removes the limits for $3.99/month β or $39.99/year.
Unlimited conversions
No daily cap β convert as much as you need.
100 MB file size
10Γ larger uploads than the free tier.
Ad-free experience
A clean workspace with zero distractions.
Priority processing
Your conversions jump to the front of the queue.