OCR PDF: make scanned PDFs searchable

Add a hidden text layer to scans and photos so you can search, select and copy the text, while every page looks the same.

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A scanned PDF looks like a document but behaves like a photo. Press Ctrl+F and nothing is found; try to copy a sentence and you select the whole page as a picture. Optical character recognition (OCR) fixes that by reading the letters in the image and turning them into real text.

The S-PDF OCR PDF tool uses the Tesseract 5 engine to recognise the text, then places it as an invisible layer exactly on top of the original page images. Nothing visible changes: signatures, stamps, logos and handwritten notes stay exactly where they were. But you can now search the document, select and copy text, and let screen readers and file search tools see what's inside.

How to OCR a PDF

  1. Upload a scan or image Add a scanned PDF, or a JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP or TIFF image of a document.
  2. Choose the document language Pick the language the text is written in. For mixed documents, select up to three languages, for example English and French.
  3. Keep or change the text option Skip pages that already contain text is on by default, so digital pages are left untouched and only scanned pages are processed.
  4. Run OCR and download Pages are processed in parallel and you can follow progress page by page. Download the result, named yourfile_ocr.pdf.

Why use S-PDF for OCR PDF

  • Pages look identicalThe recognised text is invisible, so the scan looks exactly as it did before.
  • 34 languagesFrom English and Arabic to Japanese and Hindi, with up to three languages in one document.
  • Images accepted tooPhotos and image scans in JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP or TIFF become a searchable PDF.
  • Digital pages skippedPages that already contain real text are left as they are by default.
  • Live progressPages are processed in parallel and you can watch the progress page by page.
  • Deleted after an hourYour scans are removed automatically one hour after your last action.

Supported languages

Choose from 34 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Romanian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Persian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, Korean, Hungarian and Bulgarian.

Always select the language the document is actually written in. OCR uses each language's alphabet and vocabulary to decide between similar-looking characters, so picking the wrong one produces more mistakes, especially with accents and non-Latin scripts. For a bilingual contract or a textbook with quotations, add the second (and third) language as well.

Tips for accurate text recognition

OCR can only read what it can see clearly. A few habits make a big difference:

  • Scan at 300 dpi. Lower resolutions blur small letters; much higher ones make files bigger without helping recognition.
  • Keep pages straight. Lay paper flat on the scanner glass, or shoot phone photos from directly above.
  • Aim for good contrast. Dark text on a clean, evenly lit page works best. Faint photocopies and shadows cause errors.
  • Expect limits with handwriting. Handwritten text is recognised poorly; OCR is designed for printed text.

Even with a perfect scan, check important details such as names, amounts and dates. OCR is very good at printed text, but no engine is flawless.

What to do after OCR

A searchable PDF is often all you need: you can find any word, copy quotes, and your computer's file search can index the contents. If you want to edit the text, convert the OCR'd file with PDF to Word; for scanned tables and statements, PDF to Excel gets the figures into a spreadsheet. Still need to digitise the paper? Scan to PDF turns phone photos into a PDF you can then run through OCR.

Frequently asked questions

Is OCR PDF free?

Yes. Free users can run 5 OCR tasks a day with up to 10 files, 50 MB per task and 100 pages per file, with no signup and no watermark. Pro ($5 a month or $50 a year) allows up to 1,000 pages per file, 50 files and 500 MB per task.

Will OCR change how my PDF looks?

No. The text layer is invisible and sits on top of the original page images, so the pages look exactly the same as before.

How can I tell whether my PDF needs OCR?

Open it and try to search for a word or select a line of text. If the search finds nothing or you can only select the whole page as an image, it is a scan and OCR will help.

Can I OCR a document with two languages?

Yes. Select up to three languages at once, for example English and Spanish, and the engine will consider all of them while reading the page.

Does OCR work on handwriting?

Only poorly. The engine is built for printed text, so handwritten notes are usually not recognised reliably.

Can I OCR a JPG or a photo?

Yes. JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP and TIFF images are accepted, and the result is a searchable PDF.

Can I edit the text after OCR?

The OCR PDF itself keeps the original look. To edit the wording, convert the searchable PDF with PDF to Word, or use PDF to Excel for tables.

Are my scanned documents kept private?

Files are sent over HTTPS, stored in a private folder that isn't web-accessible, never shared or used for anything else, and deleted automatically one hour after your last action. You can delete them immediately with Delete my files now.

Last updated by The S-PDF team.

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