OCR PDF
Read text from scanned PDFs
Free forever — no sign-up, nothing uploaded. Files never leave your device.
OCR PDF
Read text from scanned PDFs
Drop your file here
or browse from your device
Browse filesdocument.pdf
1.2 MB
report.pdf
860 KB
100% private
Nothing is uploaded — everything runs in your browser.
Free forever
No account or payment required.
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Open the tool and start using it right away.
Local processing
Processing time depends on your input and device.
About this tool
Recognize printed text in scanned PDF pages with on-device Tesseract — nothing is uploaded, and language models load from this site.
PDF OCR recognizes text in scanned and image-based PDFs. Each page is rendered as an image and run through Tesseract (client-side), and the recognized text is delivered as a .txt file you can copy or download. It is the right first step for a document that has no selectable text at all — a scan, a photo, a fax.
OCR is not perfect: clarity, fonts and scan quality all matter, so skim the result before relying on it. Text-based PDFs already have a readable text layer and are better served by our PDF to Text tool, which is faster and nearly exact. The first use of each language downloads its model (~1.5–3 MB) into your browser from this site; models are cached afterward. Your file is never uploaded, and everything runs locally.
Key features
Everything you get with OCR PDF — no premium upsell.
Recognize text from scanned and image-based PDF pages into .txt
12 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean
Per-page progress, copy or download the result
Up to 100 MB and 200 pages
Model downloads from this site (cached after first use) — your file never leaves your browser
How to use OCR PDF
Follow the steps below to use the tool.
- 1
Open PDF
Choose a scanned or image-based PDF — one where you currently cannot select any text.
- 2
Pick the language
Choose the document's main language. The model downloads on first use (~1.5–3 MB) and is cached afterward.
- 3
OCR
Each page is rendered and recognized. Progress shows per page.
- 4
Copy or download
Skim the recognized text, then copy it or download the .txt file.
Still free, still private — your files never leave your device.
Launch OCR PDFFrequently asked questions
Quick answers before you launch the tool.
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