Make a Scanned PDF Searchable with OCR
Recognise text in scanned PDFs or photos on your device and add it as an invisible layer you can search and copy.
Free, with no sign-up and no watermark. The file is processed in your browser and never uploaded.
Recognise the text in scanned PDFs and photos and add it as an invisible text layer. Your original pages are kept exactly as they were — the scan still looks the same — but you can now search, select and copy the text. Several images become one PDF.
Recognition runs on your device with Tesseract. Pick every language in the document, including Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and more.
Step by step
- Upload: Add a scanned PDF, or JPG, PNG or WEBP images.
- Choose languages: Add every language under Document language(s). Each downloads its language data (about 2–15 MB) the first time.
- Pick a resolution: 200 DPI — faster or 300 DPI — accurate. Leave Skip pages that already contain text ticked for mixed documents.
- Run OCR: Click Make Searchable PDF.
- Use the text: The PDF downloads; you can also Download text or Copy text.
Handy for
Scanned contracts
Search a scanned agreement for a clause.
Archives
Make years of scanned paperwork findable.
Before redacting
Add text so Hide Personal Data can find personal data.
Copying text
Get text out of a photo of a document.
Good to know
Use 300 DPI for small print and older typewritten documents.
Straight, evenly lit scans give much better results — use Camera Scan for phone photos.
Recognition isn't perfect; check important numbers in the copied text.
Questions
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read and processed by JavaScript running in your browser tab. Nothing is sent to a server, and the result is created on your device.
Why does it download something the first time?
On-device AI needs a model file. It is downloaded once from a public model host, cached by your browser, and then runs locally — your document itself never leaves your device.
Will the pages look different?
No. The original page images are kept; only an invisible text layer is added on top.
Does it work on handwriting?
Not well. Use Handwriting to PDF for handwritten notes.
Further reading
- PDF to Word: How to Get a Document You Can Edit — Convert a text PDF to an editable Word file with headings, lists and tables; run OCR first on scans, or edit or copy the text when Word is not needed.
- Make a Scanned PDF or Photo Searchable with OCR — Use on-device OCR to make scanned PDFs searchable, or turn photos into text, Word or Excel, in 26 languages including Hindi, with tips for better accuracy.
More Read & Analyse tools
- Compare Two PDF Versions — Show two versions side by side with added and removed words, or overlay pages to highlight changed pixels.
- Summarise a PDF with Citations — Quote a PDF's key sentences with page numbers on your device, or get a rewritten summary via Gemini with your key.
- Ask Questions about a PDF — Ask questions about a PDF and get answers with page numbers, on your device or via Gemini with your own key.
- Fix a Damaged PDF — Try a qpdf rebuild, a lenient re-save, then page-by-page rescue to recover a damaged PDF, with a log of each step.
- Image to Text (OCR) — Extract editable text from photos, screenshots and scans on your device — 26 languages, no upload.