OCR PDF: make a scanned PDF searchable
Choose a scanned PDF and the language on its pages. Each page is read with Tesseract OCR in this tab, and an invisible layer of text is laid over the page, so you can search, select and copy the words while the page looks exactly the same.
- Searchable, on your device
- Free, no sign-up
The OCR engine and language data (about 3 MB for English, 1.5 MB for Hindi) load only when you press Start, from this site.
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type or open is uploaded. Free to use, no account. More pdf tools
How to use it
- Choose the scanned PDF.
- Pick English, Hindi, or both, and a page range if you need one.
- Press Start OCR. Each page shows its progress, and Cancel stops at once.
- Keep the searchable PDF. The text the OCR found also appears below to copy.
How it works
A scan is a picture of a page: there are no letters in it for search or copy to find. This page draws each page at 300 DPI, Tesseract (the open-source OCR engine, compiled to WebAssembly) finds the words and where they sit, and the words are written back onto the original page as invisible text in the same place. The page itself is not redrawn or compressed, so it looks the same as before. Pages that already have text are skipped unless you untick the option.
OCR is good on clean, straight scans and weaker on photos taken at an angle, handwriting, very small print and unusual fonts, so check names, amounts and dates. Hindi uses Tesseract's Devanagari model; English and Hindi together is slower than one language. The engine and language data download from this site the first time you press Start, and nothing loads before that.
Private by design
Privacy
The PDF stays in this tab. The OCR runs on your device, and the page and its text are not uploaded or stored.
This page also shows Google ads, which can use cookies. Privacy and cookies explains how.
Questions
Is my scan uploaded to an OCR server?
No. Tesseract runs inside this browser tab, and the engine files come from this site. You can watch the network tab: the PDF itself never leaves the page.
Does it read Hindi?
Yes. Choose Hindi, or English and Hindi for a mixed page. The Hindi words are added to the PDF with a Devanagari font. Some PDF readers copy a word with the vowel sign ि in a different letter order, so for exact Hindi text use the box below the button, which always shows what the OCR read.
Will the pages look different?
No. The original page stays as it is, and the recognised text is added on top as an invisible layer.
How accurate is it?
Clean scans of printed text are usually read well. Blurry photos, handwriting and tiny print cause mistakes, so check anything important.
Can I stop it halfway?
Yes. Cancel stops the OCR within a second, and nothing is saved.