Codrenix Toolbox logoCodrenix Toolboxby Codrenix

OCR Scanned PDF

Turn scanned, image-only PDFs into selectable text or a searchable PDF — OCR runs entirely in your browser.

All PDF tools

Quick answer

OCR a scanned PDF online free — extract selectable text from image-only pages and download it as plain text or a searchable PDF, in your browser. Built for offices digitizing paperwork and students working with scans. Recognition runs on your device; the file is never uploaded.

OCR takes real time (several seconds per page) and accuracy depends on scan quality. The progress bar below keeps you informed — the page stays responsive throughout.

Drag & drop a scanned PDF here

or click to browse — image-based PDFs work best

PDF files only — up to 50MB each

How to OCR a scanned PDF

  1. Upload a scanned PDF

    Drag and drop an image-only or scanned PDF onto the tool — image-based files work best.

  2. Run recognition

    Text recognition runs inside your browser on your device — there is no upload step.

  3. Download the text

    Save the result as a plain text (.txt) file or as a searchable PDF.

Key features

Scanned pages become text

Image-only pages are recognized so you can select, copy and search the content.

Two output options

Download the recognized text as a plain .txt file or as a searchable PDF.

Local recognition

No document leaves your device during recognition.

Supported formats

  • Input: scanned or image-only PDF (.pdf), one file up to 50 MB
  • Output: plain text (.txt) or searchable PDF (.pdf)

Privacy and security

OCR runs entirely in your browser. The scanned file is processed on your device and the results are downloaded from your browser — there is no upload step.

Limitations

  • Works best with clear printed text; handwriting and heavily degraded scans may not recognize reliably.
  • Accuracy is highest for common languages.
  • Very large scans take longer because recognition runs on your device.

Related Tools

All tools

Merge PDF

Combine multiple PDF files into one document in the order you want.

PDF ToolLive
Open Tool

Split PDF

Extract pages or split a PDF into separate files in a couple of clicks.

PDF ToolLive
Open Tool

Compress PDF

Reduce PDF file size while keeping quality — great for emailing.

PDF ToolLive
Open Tool

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to OCR my files here?

Yes. Rendering and OCR all happen locally in your browser — your PDF never leaves your device. The OCR engine downloads its language data once, but your documents are not uploaded anywhere.

Why does OCR take so long?

OCR reads each page as an image and recognizes every character, which takes real time (several seconds per page, more for dense scans). The progress bar shows exactly where it is up to.

How accurate is the extracted text?

Accuracy depends on scan quality. Clean 300 DPI scans of printed text usually come out very well; blurry, skewed or handwritten scans will have errors. Try higher-resolution scans for best results.

What's the difference between the TXT and searchable PDF outputs?

The .txt file contains just the recognized text. The searchable PDF keeps your original scanned pages but overlays the recognized words invisibly, so you can select, copy and search the text in any PDF viewer.

My PDF already has selectable text — do I need this?

Probably not. This tool is for image-only scans. If your PDF already has a text layer, you can copy text directly, though you can still run OCR if the existing layer is bad.