Make Scanned PDF Searchable with OCR
ReadyRecognize writing on scanned PDF pages and create a searchable PDF. Select the document language and check names, numbers and small text in the result.
All tools are free to use. File size and processing limits may vary by tool.
How to OCR a PDF
Make scanned PDFs searchable with OCR. This tool uploads your file for processing. Downloads expire after 60 minutes; scheduled cleanup deletes files.
Browser tools keep files on your device. Advanced document tools upload files for temporary server processing; the tool shows this before upload. Web lookups send queries to the server and public lookup services.
Make a scanned PDF searchable
A scanner often produces a PDF made of page images. OCR recognises letters in those images so that text can be searched and selected. A searchable result does not mean every recognised word is correct. Poor photocopies and handwriting need particular care.
Read the guide →Try a real example file
This document was created for demonstration and contains no customer or employee data. Download the input and actual tool output to compare them.
Example checked on:
Settings used in this run
- Language
- English
Checks on this example
- Input pages
- 1
- Output pages
- 1
- Recognized word
- Notebook
- Checked total
- 65.00
- Rendered pages
- 1
Only the example below was verified. Other files may produce different layouts or results; keep the original.
Related tools
Compress PDF
Choose image quality to reduce the size of a PDF file. Compare the output for screen viewing or printing and check that small text remains readable.
Merge PDF
Combine multiple PDFs into a single file. Arrange reports and attachments, join the PDFs in your browser and download the result without uploading the files.
Split PDF
Separate a multipage PDF into individual one-page PDF files. Process the document in your browser and download a ZIP without uploading the source.
PDF to Word
Turn a PDF into a Word document. Choose editable text, tables and images, or preserve page appearance by placing each page into Word as an image.
Word to PDF
Turn a Word document into a PDF file. Upload DOC or DOCX, then inspect fonts, page breaks and table alignment in the downloaded document.
PDF to JPG
Turn PDF pages into JPG images. Up to 30 pages and 12 megapixels per page are supported; a single page downloads as JPG, more as ZIP. Files are processed in this browser and never uploaded.
Continue with this PDF
Send the completed PDF to compression, page extraction, rotation, watermarking or numbering without selecting it again. Filled forms can also go to flattening. You start each step; modifying a document may affect digital signatures. Split-result ZIP files are not transferred.
Transfer happens between open tabs; we do not save the file in browser storage for this. This step does not start a new upload. Choosing server processing in the destination uploads the file again; its size limit applies.