OCR
PDF OCR
Extract text from scanned PDF pages locally
PDF InputUpload a scanned PDF to start
Ready0%
Best for scanned PDFs, receipts, forms, letters, and page images. For normal text PDFs, copying directly from your PDF reader may be faster.
Extracted Text0 words

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PDF OCR Online - Extract Text from Scanned PDFs

Run OCR on scanned PDF pages in your browser. Copy editable text or download TXT with no upload.

Updated May 6, 2026
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Features

Extract editable text from scanned PDFs, receipts, forms, letters, and page images.
Run OCR locally in the browser so files do not need to be uploaded.
Choose from multiple OCR languages for better recognition accuracy.
Process all pages or enter a range like 1-3, 5, 9 for faster focused extraction.
Use Fast, Balanced, or Sharp scan quality depending on document clarity.
See page-by-page progress while OCR runs through the selected pages.
Edit OCR output directly before copying or downloading.
Download extracted text as a clean TXT file named after the PDF.
Works without an account, email, watermark, or server queue.

About this tool

This free PDF OCR tool extracts editable text from scanned PDF files directly in your browser. It is built for documents where normal copy and paste does not work: scanned contracts, printed forms, invoices, receipts, letters, notes, worksheets, archive PDFs, and screenshots saved as PDF. Upload a PDF, choose the OCR language, select all pages or a range, pick a quality level, and click Run OCR.

Recognition runs page by page rather than all at once. Each selected page is first rendered by pdf.js onto an in-memory canvas at a scale tied to your quality choice: Fast uses a 1.5x render, Balanced uses 2x, and Sharp scan uses 3x, since higher pixel density gives the recognizer sharper character edges at the cost of more processing time. That canvas, not the raw PDF, is handed directly to Tesseract.js, a WebAssembly build of the Tesseract OCR engine that downloads its core runtime and the traineddata file for your chosen language, then performs layout analysis and character recognition entirely on-device. Only that engine and language file come from the network; the PDF's actual content is never sent anywhere.

While a page is processing, Tesseract reports incremental status such as initializing, loading language data, and recognizing text, which the tool maps to a page-level progress bar so long jobs do not look stalled. Each page's result includes both the recognized text, prefixed with a "--- Page N ---" marker so multi-page output stays readable, and a confidence score; the tool averages confidence across all processed pages and color-codes it so you can tell at a glance whether a scan was clean or likely to need manual correction. Because the sequential per-page loop can be interrupted, a Stop control lets you keep the text already recognized instead of losing the whole run.

This workflow is private by design and the recognized text is only ever copied or downloaded locally. For related PDF work, use PDF to Images when you need page images, PDF Splitter for selected pages, PDF Page Organizer to remove unwanted pages before OCR, and PDF Compressor if the scanned source is too large. If your source is already a photo or screenshot, use the Image to Text Converter instead.

How to Use

  1. 1
    Upload a scanned PDFDrag a PDF into the upload area or click Upload PDF. The file is read in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server.
  2. 2
    Choose language and pagesSelect the OCR language that matches the document. Leave Pages empty to scan everything, or enter a range such as 1-3, 5. For large documents, consider using PDF Splitter first.
  3. 3
    Pick OCR qualityBalanced works for most scans. Use Sharp scan for small text, fuzzy scans, or lower-resolution documents. Use Fast when you only need a quick rough extraction.
  4. 4
    Run OCR and review textClick Run OCR. The tool renders selected pages and extracts text page by page. Review the editable output, then copy it or download a TXT file.

Common Use Cases

Convert scanned PDF to text
Turn image-only PDF pages into editable text that can be copied into notes, emails, documents, CMS entries, spreadsheets, or research files.
Extract text from forms and receipts
Pull readable text from printed forms, receipts, invoices, bills, statements, or records without retyping every line manually.
Prepare content for editing
Use OCR output as a starting point for rewriting, proofreading, quoting, or converting old scanned material into a clean digital document.
OCR only the pages you need
Use page ranges when a long scanned PDF contains only a few important pages. For heavier cleanup, reorder or delete pages first with PDF Page Organizer.
Build a private PDF workflow
Split a large document with PDF Splitter, extract text here, then compress the source PDF with PDF Compressor for storage or sharing.
Handle image-based sources
If a file is already an image, screenshot, or photo instead of a PDF, send it through the Image to Text Converter for a simpler OCR path.

PDF OCR or Another PDF Tool?

What you haveBest next step
Scanned PDF or image-only PDFUse this PDF OCR tool to recognize text from page images and export editable TXT.
Normal selectable PDFTry selecting and copying text in your PDF reader first. OCR is mainly useful when the PDF has no real text layer.
PDF pages needed as imagesUse PDF to Images to export pages as PNG, JPEG, or WebP before editing or archiving them.
Large PDF with only a few useful pagesUse PDF Splitter or the page range field here so OCR only runs on the pages you need.
Scanned PDF is too largeUse PDF Compressor after OCR or before sharing the original scanned document.
Images, screenshots, or photosUse Image to Text Converter instead of wrapping the image inside a PDF first.

Tips for Better OCR Accuracy

Use the right language
OCR accuracy drops when the selected language does not match the document. Pick the main language of the scanned pages before running OCR.
Choose Sharp scan for small text
Sharp scan renders pages at a higher resolution before recognition. It is slower, but it helps with small fonts, low-resolution pages, and faint scans.
OCR fewer pages first
For long documents, test one or two pages first. If the output looks good, run the full range. If not, try a sharper setting or a cleaner source file.
Review names, totals, and IDs
OCR is a productivity aid, not a legal-grade transcription system. Always verify names, invoice totals, dates, serial numbers, and account IDs manually.
Private PDF OCR workflow

This tool is designed for user intent where privacy matters: contracts, receipts, statements, internal reports, handwritten notes, invoices, and archived scans. PDF rendering and OCR run inside your browser. The page does not need your PDF to be uploaded to a server.

Because processing happens on your device, very large scanned PDFs can be slow on older phones or low-memory browsers. Use the page range field, PDF Splitter, or PDF Page Organizer to keep the OCR job focused.

Useful PDF Workflow After OCR

  1. 1
    Clean up pages before OCRIf the PDF has blank pages, rotated pages, or irrelevant sections, fix it first with PDF Page Organizer. A cleaner source makes OCR faster and easier to review.
  2. 2
    Split heavy documents when neededFor a very large scanned PDF, use PDF Splitter to extract the useful section before OCR. Smaller files are easier for the browser to process.
  3. 3
    Extract text with OCRRun OCR here, copy the page-marked text, and paste it into your editor, notes, spreadsheet, CRM, knowledge base, or CMS.
  4. 4
    Finish the PDF workflowAfter extracting text, use PDF Compressor to reduce the scanned source, PDF Merger to combine files, or PDF Metadata Editor to clean document properties.

Frequently Asked Questions

PDF OCR uses optical character recognition to read text from scanned PDF pages, screenshots, receipts, forms, and image-based documents. Instead of only viewing a page image, OCR creates editable text that you can copy, search, quote, or save as a TXT file.

No. This PDF OCR tool renders PDF pages and runs OCR in your browser. The PDF is read from your device into browser memory, processed locally, and the extracted text stays on your device unless you copy or download it.

This version extracts editable text from scanned PDF pages and lets you copy or download it as a TXT file. It does not yet write an invisible OCR text layer back into the PDF. If you need page images first, use PDF to Images, then process images separately.

Yes. After uploading a PDF, enter a page range such as 1-3, 5, 9. This is useful for large scanned PDFs when you only need text from a few pages or want faster OCR.

OCR accuracy depends on scan quality, font clarity, skew, contrast, language choice, and image resolution. Use the Sharp scan quality option for blurry or low-resolution pages. Clean, high-contrast scans produce the best text.

The tool supports common OCR languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish through Tesseract OCR language data.

For large scanned documents, use a page range first so the browser processes only the pages you need. If the PDF is too large, reduce its size with PDF Compressor, split it with PDF Splitter, or reorganize pages with PDF Page Organizer before running OCR.