OCR PDF (Make Searchable)
Add a searchable OCR text layer to a scanned PDF.
Click to upload or drag & drop
Select a scanned PDF file
How to use the OCR PDF (Make Searchable)
- 1Upload your scanned PDF
Drag and drop or click to select the scanned PDF.
- 2Choose a language
Leave it as English (eng) or enter another language code.
- 3Make Searchable
Click Make Searchable and our server OCRs every page.
- 4Download
The searchable PDF downloads automatically.
Make a scanned PDF searchable with OCR
A scanned PDF is just pictures of pages — you can't select or search the text. This OCR PDF tool renders each page, recognises the words with the Tesseract OCR engine, and adds an invisible text layer on top, so the PDF looks identical but is now fully selectable and searchable. It reuses Ghostscript, Tesseract and qpdf on our server.
When to use it
- Make a scanned contract or book searchable.
- Copy text out of a scanned document.
- Let readers Ctrl+F through a scanned PDF.
Private & secure
Your PDF is put through the Tesseract OCR engine on our server to add a searchable text layer. It is uploaded encrypted, processed in a private workspace, and deleted the moment the searchable PDF is returned — the document is never stored.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the PDF still look the same?
Yes. The original page images are kept exactly; OCR only adds an invisible text layer behind them, so nothing visible changes but the text becomes selectable and searchable.
Which languages are supported?
English works by default. Enter a code such as eng, or combine languages like eng+ben, as long as that language pack is installed on the server. Clear, straight scans give the best accuracy.
How long does it take?
OCR runs page by page, so a long document takes longer than a short one. Very large scans may take a minute or two.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
Yes. Optical character recognition runs through Tesseract on our server, not the browser, so the PDF is uploaded for processing. It is isolated for that request and erased once the searchable file comes back.
Is it free? Is there a watermark or size limit?
Yes — free to use, no sign-up, and no watermark. PDFs up to 100 MB each can be made searchable.