01
A scanned English contract
Uploading scanned-contract.pdf with Language set to English and Output set to Searchable PDF returns the same scanned pages with an invisible, selectable text layer added underneath.
OCR PDF
PDF ToolsOCR scanned PDFs to make them searchable or extract text, in many languages — free online.
PDF file
About
About the OCR PDF
Runs the Tesseract OCR engine over a scanned or image-based PDF, right in your browser, to give you back a searchable PDF or plain-text file in your chosen language.
Archivists use it to make old scanned documents searchable, while researchers use it to pull text out of a scanned paper or book page that has no underlying text layer. It's one of many free PDF tools on Toolapt, and like every tool here, it's free to use with no sign-up and no limit on how many times you run it.
Examples
OCR PDF examples
4 worked examples
02
Extracting just the text
Uploading old-report.pdf with Output set to Plain text downloads a .txt file containing only the recognized text, with no images.
03
A non-English document
A scanned French letter with Language set to French recognizes the text correctly in French; German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese are also supported.
04
A mixed document
A PDF with typed pages and a few scanned signature pages gets OCR only on the scanned pages; the typed pages already have real text and are left exactly as they were.
Related tools
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to common questions about the OCR PDF.
What does OCR PDF do?
It runs optical character recognition over a scanned or image-based PDF to recognize the text on each page, giving you back a searchable PDF or a plain-text file.
Is OCR PDF free to use?
Yes. It's free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many files you process.
Is my file safe when I use this tool?
Yes. OCR runs entirely in your browser, so your PDF never leaves your device — nothing is uploaded, stored or seen by anyone.
Why does the first run take longer?
The first time you use it, the OCR engine and the data for your chosen language (a few megabytes) load from this site. After that your browser usually has them cached, so later runs start much faster. Your PDF itself is never sent anywhere.
What's the difference between the two output formats?
"Searchable PDF" keeps your original pages exactly as they were and adds an invisible text layer on top, so you can search, select and copy text while the page still looks like the scan. Pages that already contain real text are left as they are. "Plain text" gives you just the recognized text with no images.
Which languages are supported?
English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese — pick the one that matches the document's actual language for the most accurate recognition.
Will OCR be 100% accurate?
Accuracy depends heavily on scan quality — clean, high-resolution scans of printed text recognize very well, while blurry scans, handwriting or unusual fonts can produce more errors.
Does OCR PDF have any limitations?
It's built for printed text in the supported languages; handwriting recognition is much less reliable. Each page takes a few seconds on a typical computer, so long documents take a while — and longer on an older phone. Password-protected PDFs need unlocking first with Unlock PDF.