Color theme

Turn scans into searchable PDFs.

Extract text from scanned or image PDFs with real OCR, free, right in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Drop your scanned PDFs here

or choose files from your device

Conversion happens in this tab

Add your scan

Drop in a scanned or image PDF, or try the free sample scan.

Run OCR

Pick the language and quality, then hit Run OCR. Each page is read right here.

Get both outputs

Download a searchable PDF (looks the same, text selectable) plus a plain text file.

Related Tools You Might Need

How to OCR a PDF Online Free: Step-by-Step Guide

Picture this: your degree is sitting in a drawer, scanned months ago as a set of lifeless pictures inside a PDF. A job portal asks you to paste your qualifications as text, or to upload a "searchable" file. You open the scan, try to select the text with your mouse — and nothing selects. Because to a computer, your scan isn't text at all. It's just a photo.

That's exactly what PDF OCR fixes. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is the trick of teaching a computer to read the words inside pictures. This tool renders every page of your scanned PDF, reads the text on it, and gives you back two things: a searchable PDF that looks identical to your scan but lets you select and copy the text, and a plain text file with everything it read. Free, no account, and your files never leave your browser.

The Steps (Dead Easy)

Add your scanned PDF. Drop it into the tool above, or click the box to choose it. Scanned documents, phone photos saved as PDF, old printed pages — anything where the "text" is really pictures.
Pick the language and quality. English is the default; choose English + Urdu or Urdu only if your pages are in Urdu. Higher scan quality (200 or 300 DPI) reads small print better but takes longer.
Hit Run OCR. The reading engine loads once (it downloads its model the first time — you need internet for that one step), then reads your pages one by one. You can watch each page's status.
Download both files. The searchable PDF and the .txt file appear below, ready to save.

What You Get: Two Files, Two Jobs

The searchable PDF looks pixel-for-pixel like your original scan. The difference is invisible: behind every picture there's a hidden layer of real text. Open it in any PDF reader and you can search with Ctrl+F, select words with your mouse, and copy paragraphs. Portals and offices that ask for "searchable PDFs" will accept it like any normal document.

The text file (.txt) is just the words, page by page. Paste it into Word, an email, a form, or keep it as your records. One honest note: the hidden text layer inside the PDF only supports Latin-script letters (English and friends). Urdu text is fully included in the .txt file, but inside the PDF itself it can't sit in the invisible layer — so for Urdu pages, the .txt is your main copy-paste source.

When PDF OCR Helps

Job applications. Degrees, experience letters and certificates scanned years ago suddenly need to be copy-pasteable. OCR them once and the text is yours forever.

Office paperwork. Invoices, receipts, contracts and printed reports become searchable. Finding "invoice 1042" in a 60-page scan takes two seconds instead of an afternoon.

Study material. Photocopied book chapters and old notes become text you can quote, translate or turn into flashcards.

Family and office records. Old registers, land papers and hand-typed letters get a digital, searchable copy — a small act of preservation that your future self will thank you for.

Good to Know (Honest Notes)

First run needs internet. The reading engine (Tesseract) downloads its language model the first time you press Run OCR. After that, reading happens entirely on your device — your PDF itself is never uploaded anywhere.

Big files take time. OCR is genuinely heavy work: a 50-page scan at high quality can take several minutes. This is normal for every OCR tool, free or paid. Keep the tab open and let it finish.

Quality in, quality out. Clean, straight scans read beautifully. Crooked photos, heavy shadows, blurry print or tiny fonts read badly — no tool can rescue a truly bad scan. If your phone took the picture, retake it flat and well-lit.

Handwriting is mostly out. Printed text: yes. Neat handwriting: sometimes, partially. Doctor's-prescription handwriting: no. Be honest with yourself about which one you have.

Urdu works, with limits. Printed Urdu in a clear font reads reasonably well; fancy calligraphy fonts and low-quality prints will have mistakes. Always proofread important Urdu text before sending it anywhere official.

Tables and layouts get flattened. OCR reads words, not design. A table becomes running text — the numbers survive, the grid doesn't. If you need the layout intact, that's a different job.

Common Questions

Is PDF OCR really free?

Yes. No account, no page limits per file, no watermark. Read as many pages as you need.

Do my files get uploaded anywhere?

No. Your PDF is rendered and read inside your own browser tab. The only thing downloaded is the reading model on first use — your documents never travel to a server.

What languages can it read?

English, Urdu, or both together. Pick before you press Run OCR. English accuracy on clean prints is very good; Urdu is solid on clear print but weaker on decorative fonts.

Why did a page come back with "no text found"?

Usually the page is blank, nearly blank, or so blurry/dark that the engine found no letter-like shapes. Check the page preview — if you can barely read it yourself, the engine can't either.

Does the searchable PDF look exactly like my scan?

Yes. Every page is your original page image. The text layer is invisible — it only shows up when you search or select text.

How long will a big PDF take?

Roughly: a 10-page scan at standard quality takes a minute or two on a normal laptop; 50 pages at best quality can take several minutes. Phones are slower than computers. It's worth it once — the result is permanent.

Can it read handwriting?

Not reliably. Printed and typewritten text is what OCR is built for. Handwritten notes will mostly come back as guesses — don't trust them for anything important.

What about password-protected PDFs?

The tool will refuse them politely. Open the file in your PDF reader, save a copy without the password, and use that copy.

My searchable PDF got bigger. Why?

Each page is re-saved as a full page image plus the text layer, so the file grows. If size matters, run it through the Compress PDF tool afterwards.

Can PDF OCR turn a scan into text or a Word file?

The main output is a searchable PDF — an invisible text layer that lets you select, copy and search the words. You also get the plain text of every page, which you can paste straight into Word or any editor. Printed English and Urdu work best; handwriting is much harder for any OCR, ours included.

That's the whole trick. Next time a scan sits there like a stubborn photograph, you'll turn it into real, searchable, copyable text — before your tea cools down.