OCR PDF - Make Scanned PDF Searchable Online
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Zero upload · 300 DPI render · Tesseract OCR · Searchable PDF output
Run Tesseract OCR on any scanned PDF. Adds a text layer so you can select, copy, and search the content. Entirely in your browser.
Three steps. Fully searchable.
Upload your scanned PDF
Drop any scanned PDF: receipts, contracts, books, or forms. Works with any scan quality.
OCR runs in your browser
Tesseract OCR reads every page, detecting words, their positions, and confidence scores. No upload required.
Save your searchable PDF
Save a PDF with an invisible text layer. Looks like the original, but text is now selectable and searchable.
Who needs searchable PDFs?
OCR unlocks the content trapped inside scanned documents, making them useful for search, accessibility, and further processing.
Scanned contracts and agreements
Make signed contracts searchable so you can find specific clauses, dates, and names with Ctrl+F instead of reading every page.
Archiving physical documents
Digitised paper records become far more useful with OCR. Full-text search across your entire archive in seconds.
Accessibility for screen readers
Screen readers need actual text, not images. OCR creates a proper text layer so visually impaired users can read the document.
Scanned receipts and invoices
Extract amounts, dates, and vendor names from scanned receipts. Searchable invoices make expense reporting much faster.
Books and academic papers
Scanned textbooks and research papers become truly useful once OCR lets you search for terms and copy quotes directly.
Multi-language document processing
Support for 12 languages means OCR works accurately on documents in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Arabic, and more.
How OCR works under the hood.
Each page of your PDF is rendered as an image using PDF.js (Mozilla's open-source renderer). That image is then passed to Tesseract.js, which runs the OCR engine entirely in a browser Worker thread, detecting every word and its position on the page.
The recognised text is embedded as an invisible layer using pdf-lib, placed precisely over the original scan. The result looks identical to the input but the text is now fully selectable and searchable. Nothing is sent to any server at any point.
Questions answered.
What is OCR?
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
What is a searchable PDF?
What languages are supported?
Can I convert the result to Word?
How accurate is the OCR?
How long does OCR take?
Does OCR work on handwritten text?
More tools you might need.
Related Guides & Tutorials
How to Convert Multi-Page TIFF Fax Documents to Searchable PDF With OCR
Turn multi-page TIFF faxes into searchable PDFs: get every page into the PDF, fix squashed fax pages, keep files small, then add an OCR text layer.
Why Can't I Select or Copy Text From a PDF and How to Unlock It (Text Selection Fix)
Can't highlight or copy text in a PDF? Find out whether it is a scan, a copy restriction, text turned into outlines or a font without character data, and how to fix each one.
How to Convert Scanned PNG Receipts to Searchable PDF With OCR (Tax & Expense Guide)
Turn PNG and JPG receipt photos into one searchable PDF: combine the images, run OCR, then find any vendor, date or total with Ctrl+F. Free methods, no uploads.


