OCR PDF

Make a scanned PDF searchable — text layer added on your device.

🔒 On your device

How to use it

Drop a scanned PDF onto the upload area.
Choose the language of the document — this strongly affects accuracy.
Leave Output as Keep original pages so the file stays small.
Press OCR PDF. Larger documents take a while; progress shows page X of N.
Download the searchable PDF — it looks identical but the text can now be selected and searched.

The recognised text has lots of mistakes.

Accuracy depends on scan quality. Re-scan at 300 DPI, straighten the page, and make sure you picked the right language.

The PDF already has selectable text.

Then you don't need OCR — use PDF to Text instead; it's instant and 100% accurate.

The file got much bigger.

Set Output to Keep original pages. Rebuild pages as images replaces every page with a picture, which inflates the file.