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How to OCR a PDF
- Add the scanned PDF. Drop the image-based PDF onto the tool or browse for it.
- Choose the language. Pick the language of the text so recognition matches the right character set.
- Recognize. Run OCR — the tool reads each page and builds an invisible text layer over the images.
- Download. Save the searchable PDF; the visible pages look identical but now contain selectable text.
A scan is just a picture of a page — you cannot search it, copy from it, or let a screen reader read it until it has a text layer. OCR (optical character recognition) reads the pixels, works out the characters, and writes that text behind the image so the page stays visually identical.
Recognition quality depends on the source: a clean 300 DPI scan reads far better than a crooked phone photo. If your pages are skewed, straighten them with Deskew first, and if the file is huge, the searchable copy is a good candidate for Compress afterward.
Once a document is searchable you can reliably find and act on its contents — which is also what makes Redact and De-identify effective, since they can locate the text you need to remove.
Frequently asked questions
Does OCR change how my document looks?
No. The original page images stay exactly as they were; recognition adds a hidden text layer underneath so the text becomes selectable and searchable.
Which languages are supported?
Common Latin-script languages work out of the box; pick the closest language to improve accuracy on accented or non-English text.
Why is recognition slower than other tools?
OCR is compute-heavy and runs entirely on your device rather than a server farm, so speed depends on your machine and the number of pages.
Will handwriting be recognized?
OCR is tuned for printed text. Handwriting and highly stylized fonts produce unreliable results.