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PDF OCR — Extract Text from a Scanned PDF (Free, In-Browser)

Free PDF OCR. Convert a scanned or image-only PDF into selectable, editable text — every page processed in your browser, nothing uploaded. Copy the text or download a .txt. 13 languages.

PDF OCR — Extract Text from a PDF

Turn a scanned or image-only PDF into selectable, copyable text — every page, in your browser.

Your file never leaves your device

The OCR runs entirely in your browser — your image or PDF is never uploaded. The only thing fetched online is a one-time language-model file, which the browser caches after the first run.

Drop a PDF (or image) here, or click to choose

PNG · JPG · WebP · PDF — read entirely in your browser

About this tool

Make a scanned PDF searchable

A scanned PDF is really just a stack of pictures — you can’t select or copy the text. This tool renders each page and runs OCR on it, giving you the text back as editable plain text you can copy or save. It handles multi-page documents and supports 13 languages. Everything happens in your browser: the PDF is never uploaded, and only a one-time language model is fetched (then cached). For a normal text PDF, our PDF-to-Text tool is faster — use this one when the PDF is scanned or image-based.

How to use the PDF OCR — Scanned PDF to Text

Takes about a minute. No signup, no download, your data stays in your browser.

  1. 1
    Open the tool. Scroll up to the PDF OCR — Scanned PDF to Text above — it loads instantly in your browser, no install needed.
  2. 2
    Enter your values. The fields come pre-filled with realistic defaults so you can see how it works — replace them with your own numbers.
  3. 3
    Read the result. The output updates instantly. Copy or share it — nothing is uploaded to a server, everything stays on your device.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about the PDF OCR — Scanned PDF to Text.

What’s the difference between this and PDF to Text?

PDF-to-Text copies text that’s already embedded in the PDF — instant, but it returns nothing for scanned/image PDFs. PDF OCR actually reads the pixels of each page, so it works on scans and photos of documents. It’s slower because it analyses every page as an image.

Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?

No. Each page is rendered and recognised locally in your browser. Your PDF never leaves your device — only a one-time language model is downloaded from a CDN and cached.

How long does it take?

Roughly a few seconds per page, depending on your device and the page complexity. A long document will take a while — a progress bar shows the current page and overall percentage.

Does it keep the original layout?

No. OCR extracts the text content, not the visual layout, tables or columns. You get clean text per page (separated by page markers), which you can reformat as needed.

My PDF is password-protected — will it work?

Remove the password first with our Unlock PDF tool, then run the OCR. Encrypted PDFs can’t be rendered for recognition.

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