Make a scanned PDF searchable
A scan is a picture of a document: you cannot search it, select a sentence or copy a paragraph. OCR adds an invisible text layer behind the image, so the pages look identical but the words become real text.
Converted on our servers, deleted right after
How to use
- 1
Choose the language of the document — OCR needs to know which alphabet it is reading.
- 2
Drop in the scanned PDF.
- 3
Download the searchable PDF and try Ctrl+F inside it.
FAQ
Does the document look different afterwards?
No. The scan is untouched; the recognised text sits invisibly behind it, which is why you can select words that appear to be part of the image.
What if some pages already have text?
They are left alone. Only the image-only pages are processed, so mixed documents are safe.
How accurate is it?
Clean 300 dpi scans of printed text come out nearly perfect. Handwriting is not supported, and a crooked phone photo of a page will disappoint.
Which languages are supported?
English, Russian, Ukrainian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Turkish. Pick the one that matches the document, not your interface.
Is my file uploaded?
Yes — OCR of a whole PDF is beyond what a browser can do. It runs on our servers and the file is deleted as soon as the result is ready.