Free OCR PDF — Make PDF Searchable

Turn a scanned English PDF into a searchable copy with Tesseract in this browser. Your file is not uploaded. Accuracy is below Adobe OCR — read the preview.

What this page is for

OCR PDF is a single files workstation. Add a text layer to a scan without sending the document to an OCR server. Make a scanned English PDF searchable in this browser with Tesseract, then download the local copy. Use it for one action, export the result, and read the visible limit before you rely on it. If the download, copy, or figure is wrong, keep the original and try a smaller input or a related tool rather than stretching this page into a task it does not claim. OpenToolSuite will not silently upload a file to “make it work,” and it will not dress a general draft up as certified legal, tax, or hiring advice.

How to use this tool

Drop a scanned English PDF on OCR PDF. The desk renders each page, runs Tesseract in this tab, places invisible text under a JPEG of the page, and shows a preview. A one-time English model may download from the Tesseract CDN — the PDF itself is not uploaded. Cap is eight pages.

Drop a scanned PDF under 15 MB and eight pages.
Wait for local recognition and read the text preview.
Download the searchable copy only after names and amounts look right.

How the result is made

pdf.js draws pages to canvas. tesseract.js recognises English words and bounding boxes. pdf-lib writes the words first, then the page image on top, which is the usual searchable-PDF sandwich. Helvetica cannot encode every glyph, so some marks are skipped. This is not Adobe, Google, or iLovePDF premium OCR.

Useful scenarios

Make a photographed rent agreement searchable before you extract a clause.
Add a text layer to a scanned marksheet so you can find a seat number.
Prepare a scan for Bank Statement PDF to Excel when net-banking only gave a photograph.

Questions

Does OCR PDF upload my scan?

No. Recognition runs in this browser. A Tesseract English model may download once from a CDN; that is the engine, not your PDF.

Will it read Hindi or handwriting?

Not in this version. English print is the supported case. Handwriting and tiny stamps will be wrong.

Is this as accurate as Adobe OCR?

No. It is free and local with a lower ceiling. Read the preview and keep the original scan.

Related tools

Use a related OpenToolSuite page for the next step instead of an upload converter.

Eight pages, English print, Tesseract quality. Not a filing-grade OCR service.