PDF OCR
Process your regular or scanned PDF documents anytime, anywhere, on any device—powered by intelligent algorithms.
Trusted for 10k+ file conversions.
Convert to:OCR searchable PDF (.pdf)
Drag and drop PDF files here
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Select File当前格式最大支持 80MB PDF 文件✓ 当前格式最大支持 80MB
OCR scanned PDFs online for free. Convert image text to searchable, copyable layers. Supports mixed languages and handwriting. No signup needed.
How your file is handled
OCR runs entirely on our processing nodes — we don't pass your PDF to any third-party OCR API. Uploads and downloads are protected by HTTPS, and both source and output are deleted within an hour.
When this tool fits best
- Search through a scanned contract archive
Make scanned contracts searchable so you can hit Cmd/Ctrl+F in Acrobat or Preview to find a clause instantly.
- Digitize an old paper or library scan
Add a text layer to library-scanned papers so reference managers can index, quote and excerpt them.
- Pull data out of receipts and ID photos
Convert receipt or card photos into searchable PDFs, then pull amounts, IDs or dates out using a text tool.
Features
- Mixed Latin and CJK recognition
Handles Latin scripts and Chinese mixed inline; the recognized text becomes selectable, copyable and searchable.
- Original layout preserved
We overlay an invisible text layer on the original page image — visually unchanged, but searchable.
- Handwriting handled when legible
Clean handwritten notes are recognized reasonably well so you can index meeting notes.
- Great front-end for other tools
After OCR you can run the file through Word, Excel, split or merge for much better downstream results.
- Per-page progress indicator
You can see current page / total pages while it processes, so long jobs are predictable.
- No third-party OCR involved
All OCR runs on our infrastructure; nothing is forwarded to external cloud OCR providers.
How to use
- 1Upload a scan or image-based PDF
Pick the PDF (≤ 500MB). Text-based PDFs work too and just get a refreshed text layer.
- 2Run page-by-page recognition
We perform layout analysis and recognize text per page, locating each character in the page coordinate system.
- 3Overlay the searchable text layer
An invisible text layer is overlaid on the original page image so the visual look is unchanged.
- 4Download a searchable PDF
Use Cmd/Ctrl+F to search; for editable text run the file through the Word converter next.
Limits and things to watch out for
- Low resolution and blurry scans— Pages under 200 DPI or photographed out of focus will see noticeably lower accuracy.
- Decorative or stylized fonts— Heavy decorative fonts and ornate handwriting can drop accuracy.
- Skew and moiré artifacts— Deskew the page and reduce moiré before OCR for best results.
- Limited tuning for minor languages— Today we are tuned strongly for Latin scripts and Chinese; minor languages may underperform — feedback welcome.
FAQ
- QIt still looks like a scan after OCR — is that right?
- Yes. We add an invisible text layer over the page image, so it looks identical but is now searchable and copyable.
- QRoughly how accurate is recognition?
- Clean printed scans usually exceed 95%; blurry, skewed and handwritten pages drop below that.
- QHow do I get an editable document?
- Run OCR first so the PDF is searchable, then run the file through PDF → Word for a real editable copy.
- QDo you call any third-party OCR API?
- No — all OCR runs locally on our infrastructure.
- QThere are typos in the recognition output — what now?
- After converting to Word you can do a global find-and-replace, or fix them inside a PDF editor.
- QHow many pages can I process at once?
- There is no hard page cap; the only constraint is the 500MB file-size limit. Split very large files first.
- QCan I OCR encrypted PDFs?
- Decrypt them first.
- QHow long are files kept?
- They are purged within an hour.
After OCR, follow up with a second conversion
Once a scanned PDF is searchable, downstream conversions perform far better. Run PDF → Word for editing, or PDF → Excel for tabular data.