Scanned PDF to Text (OCR)
OCR an image-only PDF in your browser to recover its text, privately.
Private: OCR runs in your browser and your PDF is never uploaded.
Read text from a scanned PDF
Scanned and photographed PDFs are just images, so they have no text you can select or search. This tool renders each page and runs optical character recognition on it to recover the words, all inside your browser, then puts the result in an editable box to copy or save.
Nothing is uploaded, which keeps scanned contracts, records, and receipts private on your device. Online OCR services usually send your document to a server to process it.
Speed and accuracy
Each page is rendered at a readable resolution and then read, which takes a few seconds per page, so shorter documents finish faster. Straight, high-resolution scans give the best accuracy; always proofread the recovered text.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my PDF uploaded for OCR?
No. Each page is rendered and read in your browser with a local engine, so the file never leaves your device.
How is this different from the plain PDF to Text tool?
The plain tool reads an existing text layer. This one runs optical character recognition on the page image, which is what scanned or photographed PDFs need.
Why is it slow on long documents?
Every page is rendered and then read by the OCR engine, which takes a few seconds per page. Large scans can take a while, so start with shorter files.
How accurate is it?
Clear, straight, high-resolution scans read well. Faint, skewed, or handwritten scans produce more errors, so proofread the result.
Private, in-browser document and image utilities that never upload your files.