Make a scanned PDF searchable
Read the text inside a scanned PDF and put it back into the file, so it can be searched and copied. There is no page limit.
Runs in your browser · nothing uploaded
Add your file. Nothing is uploaded — the work happens in this tab.
Drop a PDF here
or
PDF · up to 100 MB
You can also paste a file from your clipboard
Reading the text
Every page, no cap
Your processor is doing this, so there is no per-page cost for us to limit. Most free OCR stops at 50 pages because every page costs the site server time.
Languages in this document
- No published language matches “”. Ten are published here; the rest are not built into this site yet.
Pick as many as the page needs — there is no three-language limit here. Each extra language makes reading slower.
Language sizes load with the page. Nothing is downloaded until you start.
What you get
The pictures stay exactly as they are. The text is added underneath them, invisible but selectable, so the page looks identical and can now be searched.
A word the reader is not sure of is left out rather than guessed at, and stays in the picture. A page that is mostly unclear keeps no text at all and is named in the summary. A search that finds the wrong document is worse than one that finds nothing.
Add a file first. These settings are used when you start.
Runs on your device · nothing uploaded
How to make a scanned PDF searchable
- Drop the scan inDrop a scanned PDF onto the box above. There is no page cap and no size tier.
- Pick the languagesChoose the languages in the document. Each one is a separate download the first time you use it, and the size is stated before it starts.
- Read the pages and downloadSelect Make it searchable. Pages are read one at a time and the progress names the page it is on; stop whenever you like and keep what is done. The PDF looks identical, but the text is now selectable and searchable.
Questions
Is there a page limit?
No. Most free OCR tools stop at 50 pages or 15 MB because every page costs them server time. The reading here happens on your own processor, so a 400-page scan costs us nothing and is not capped. It will take longer, and the progress bar tells you honestly how long.
What if the PDF already has text in it?
The tool checks first and tells you. Running OCR over a PDF that already has a text layer replaces good text with worse text, and every other tool does it silently. If yours is already searchable you will be told, and you can stop.
How accurate is it?
Good on clean printed text, weaker on faint photocopies, unusual fonts and handwriting. Low-confidence regions are kept as the original image rather than replaced with a guess, because a wrong word in a searchable document is worse than no word.
Does the page still look the same?
Yes. The recognised text is added as an invisible layer behind the picture of the page, so the document looks exactly as it did and is now searchable.