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PDF OCR — Text Recognition

Extract text from scanned PDFs using AI-powered OCR — convert image-based PDFs to searchable text.

100% Client-Side — files never leave your device

What is PDF OCR — Text Recognition?

PDF OCR is a free online optical character recognition tool that extracts text from scanned and image-based PDF documents. Upload a PDF, select your language (13 supported including English, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese), and the tool renders each page at high resolution and runs Tesseract.js WASM-based OCR to recognize text. Results include per-page confidence scores, and you can copy or download all extracted text. Everything runs in your browser — no files are uploaded to any server.

How to Use PDF OCR — Text Recognition

  1. 1

    Upload a scanned PDF

    Drop or click to upload a PDF that contains scanned images or photos of text.

  2. 2

    Select language

    Choose the primary language of the text in your document. This improves recognition accuracy.

  3. 3

    Run OCR

    Click the Run OCR button. Each page is rendered and processed — progress is shown in real-time.

  4. 4

    Review results

    Extracted text is shown per page with confidence scores. Green = high accuracy, yellow = moderate, red = low.

  5. 5

    Copy or download

    Copy all text to clipboard or download as a .txt file. Filter by specific pages if needed.

Features

  • 13 language support: English, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and more
  • Per-page confidence scoring with color indicators
  • High-resolution 2x rendering for better accuracy
  • Copy all text or download as .txt
  • Filter results by page number
  • Powered by Tesseract.js WASM (runs in browser)
  • Progress tracking with status messages
  • 100% client-side — files never uploaded
  • No signup, no limits, completely free
  • Works with scanned documents, photos, and image PDFs

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Frequently Asked Questions

How accurate is the OCR?+
Accuracy depends on image quality. Clear, high-resolution scans typically achieve 90%+ confidence. Blurry or low-contrast documents may score lower. The confidence percentage per page helps you assess quality.
Does it work with handwritten text?+
Tesseract OCR is optimized for printed text. Handwritten text may produce poor results depending on legibility. Clean handwriting in block letters works better than cursive.
Why is it slow on large PDFs?+
Each page is rendered at 2x resolution and processed through the OCR engine in your browser. A 10-page document typically takes 30-60 seconds depending on your device.
Are my files safe?+
Yes. Everything runs locally in your browser using WebAssembly. No files or text are sent to any server.
Can I OCR a regular (text) PDF?+
You can, but it is unnecessary. Text PDFs already have selectable text. Use our PDF Text Extractor instead for instant text extraction from normal PDFs.
What about multi-language documents?+
Select the primary language for best results. Mixed-language documents may have lower accuracy on the secondary language.
How much data does the OCR engine download?+
The Tesseract WASM engine and language data are downloaded on first use (2-5 MB depending on language). They are cached in your browser for subsequent uses.
Can I make the PDF searchable?+
This tool extracts text for reading and copying. To create a searchable PDF with an invisible text layer, you would need a specialized tool that embeds the OCR text back into the PDF.