OCR PDF
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OCR PDF online: make scans searchable

Turn scanned PDFs into documents you can search, select and copy text from, while they look exactly the same.

  • Runs on our secure server
  • Deleted within 1 hour
  • Processed in London
  • Up to 25 MB per file
or drop files here

Up to 25 MB per file · 3 files at a time on your plan

How it works

  1. Add your scanned PDF

    Click Choose file or drag PDFs onto the page. On Free you can add up to 3 at once.

  2. Choose the languages

    Select the language or languages of the text. English is chosen by default, together with the language of this page when OCR supports it; add others if the document mixes languages.

  3. Run OCR

    Press Start. Each page is read and an invisible text layer is added behind the image. Tick PDF/A for a long-term archive copy.

Pro

Do more with Pro

  • No ads, anywhere
  • Files up to 200 MB
  • 50 files at once
  • Saved workflows
Try Pro free for 14 daysThen £7.99 a month. Cancel any time.

About OCR

OCR, short for optical character recognition, reads the letters in a picture of a page and turns them into real text. A scanned PDF is a set of images, so you cannot search it, copy from it or have it read aloud. After OCR, the page looks exactly the same, but an invisible layer of text sits behind the image, lined up with the words you see. You can then search, select, copy and paste. Choosing the right language matters: it tells the reader which letters and words to expect. Twenty-seven languages are available, including English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Swahili, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), and you can pick several. Pages that already contain text are skipped, so a mixed document is only read where needed, and those pages do not count towards your allowance. For the best results, scan at 300 dpi, straight and in good light. PDF/A produces a version designed for long-term archiving. To edit the text in Word or Excel, use Scan to Word or Excel instead.

Limits: files up to 25 MB with a free account, 200 MB on Pro and 500 MB on Business; up to 3 files per task on Free, 50 on Pro and 200 on Business. OCR pages a month: 20 with a free account (20 before you sign in), 500 on Pro and 1,000 per user on Business, shared across the workspace; paid plans can continue with credits.

Before you sign in, files can be up to 25 MB and you can run 10 server tasks a day. A free account raises this to 25 MB and 10 tasks a day.

Privacy: your file is uploaded over an encrypted connection to our UK servers, processed automatically with no person opening it, and deleted within 2 hours (1 hour on Free), or straight away with Delete now.

How to use the PDF tools: Step-by-step help with every tool, limits and your files.

OCR PDF: frequently asked questions

How do I know if my PDF needs OCR?

Try to select a word or search for it. If nothing is selected or found, the page is an image and needs OCR.

Which pages count towards my OCR allowance?

Only pages that are actually read. Pages that already have text are skipped and not counted.

Will OCR change how my document looks?

No. The text layer is invisible, so the pages look exactly as before.

Why are some words recognised wrongly?

Blurry, skewed or low-resolution scans and the wrong language setting cause most errors. Rescan at 300 dpi and check the language.

Related tools

All Optimise and OCR tools