Quick answer: This OCR tool recognises the text in scanned PDFs and photos of documents in your browser, with the open-source Tesseract engine. You get a searchable PDF (the original pages with an invisible text layer) and/or a .txt file, in 19 languages, for PDFs up to 200 MB. Nothing is uploaded.
A scanned PDF is a picture of a page: you can't search it, select a line or copy a number. OCR reads the letters and adds the text back, so Ctrl+F, copy and paste all work, while the pages look exactly the same.
OCR PDF at a glance
| Price | Free, no sign-up, no watermark, no daily limit |
|---|---|
| Accepts | PDF · JPG · PNG · WebP |
| Largest file | 200 MB per file, several files at once |
| Where it runs | In your browser: files are never uploaded |
| Works on | Any modern browser on iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac and Linux |
| Send the result | Download it, or send it free with a link or by email (up to 20 GB) |
How to use the OCR PDF
- Choose or drop a scanned PDF, or photos of the pages.
- Pick the language of the document and the result: searchable PDF, text, or both.
- Press Recognise text and wait while each page is read (a few seconds per page).
- Download the searchable PDF or copy the text, or send it with a link.
What you get
- Searchable PDF: every page stays exactly as scanned, and an invisible layer of text sits on top of the words. Search with Ctrl+F, select a paragraph, copy a figure; screen readers can read it aloud.
- Text file: the recognised text, page by page, ready to paste into a document, a translation tool or an AI assistant.
Photos and screenshots (JPG, PNG, WebP) work too: each one becomes a page of a single searchable PDF, in the order you drag them into.
Languages
English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Indonesian, Russian, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese and Korean. English is built in; other languages download their recognition data once (a few MB) and your browser keeps it for next time.
For languages written in Latin letters you get the searchable PDF. For the others (Hindi, Arabic, Chinese and so on) the tool gives you the recognised text file; a PDF text layer in those scripts needs fonts this tool does not include yet.
Getting good results
- Scans at 300 dpi read best. Phone photos work if the page is flat, sharp and well lit.
- Pick the right language: accents and special letters are recognised much better.
- Tiny print (footnotes, receipts)? Choose Small print, which reads the page at a higher resolution.
- Handwriting is not recognised reliably; printed text is.
PDF made from Word or a website already contains text: use PDF to text, which is instant.
Private by design
The recognition runs in your browser with Tesseract, an open-source OCR engine, compiled to WebAssembly. Your PDF and photos never leave your device; the only download is the language data. That makes it suitable for contracts, statements and ID documents that should not go to an online converter. Expect a few seconds per page on a laptop, longer on a phone.
How this compares
| This tool | Online converters (e.g. iLovePDF, Smallpdf or Adobe Acrobat online) | Desktop apps (e.g. Adobe Acrobat Pro) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your file is uploaded | No | Yes, to their servers | No |
| Install or account | None | Account for some features | Install needed |
| Watermark or daily limits | None | Common on free plans | Depends on the app |
Plans of other services change; check their sites. More pdf tools.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a scanned PDF searchable?
Add the PDF, pick its language, keep Searchable PDF selected and press Recognise text. The result looks the same but you can search, select and copy the text.
Is the OCR free?
Yes, with no sign-up, no watermark and no page limit beyond the file size.
Are my files uploaded?
No. The text is recognised on your device; only the language data is downloaded.
Can it read handwriting?
Not reliably. It is made for printed and typed text.
Which languages are supported?
19 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese.
Why is my PDF the same size?
The page images are not changed, only an invisible text layer is added, so the file stays about the same size.
Need to send a big file?
Send files up to 20 GB with a download link or by email. Free, no account needed, original quality.
Send large files free