OCR PDF: Make Scans Searchable
Recognize the text in scanned PDFs so you can search, select and copy it. The pages keep their look.
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About OCR PDF
A scanned PDF is just pictures of pages: you cannot search it, select text or copy a sentence. OCR PDF reads the text with Tesseract, the open-source OCR engine, running inside your browser, and adds an invisible text layer on top of each page. The pages look exactly the same, but now you can search, select and copy. You can also save the recognized text as a .txt file. Eleven languages are available, and two can be combined.
How to OCR a scanned PDF
- Drop the scanned PDF into the box, or click it to choose it.
- Choose the language of the document (and a second one if it is mixed).
- Choose “Searchable PDF” or “Plain text”, and optionally limit the pages.
- Click “Recognize Text”, check the preview, then save the result.
Everything happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Very large files (over ~100 MB) can be slow on phones.
Frequently asked questions
Is my scan uploaded for OCR?
No. TrustPDF runs entirely in your web browser using JavaScript. Your scan is read and processed on your own device and is never sent to a server. The site's Content-Security-Policy does not allow the page to send anything to any other site, and you can check the open-source code on GitHub.
How accurate is it?
On a clean scan of printed text at 200 to 300 DPI, accuracy is usually above 98%. Faded copies, skewed pages, handwriting and unusual fonts lower it. Always check the preview before relying on the text.
Which languages are supported?
English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Slovenian and Croatian. Pick a second language for documents that mix two.
How long does it take?
Roughly 2 to 5 seconds per page on a laptop, longer on phones. The engine and language data (about 5 to 7 MB) load from this site the first time and are then cached by your browser.
Does the PDF look different afterwards?
No. The original pages are kept as they are; only an invisible text layer is added. The file grows by a few kilobytes per page.
