CConvertora

PDF OCR

Recognise text in scanned PDFs so they become searchable.

Free

Drag & drop your file here

or

Choose File
PDF → PDF, TXTFREE UNLIMITED · up to 25 MB per file

About pdf ocr

To make a scanned PDF searchable, add it here and run OCR. Convertora recognises the words in each scanned page and adds an invisible text layer, so the PDF keeps its original appearance while its text becomes searchable, selectable and copyable. Pages that already contain text are left unchanged, and you can also download the recognised text as a .txt file. Everything runs in your browser; neither the PDF nor its text is uploaded.

How it works

  1. 1Choose one scanned PDF, up to 25 MB and 30 pages.
  2. 2Pick the pages you want if you don't need the whole document.
  3. 3Recognition runs page by page on your device; the engine downloads once and is then cached.
  4. 4Download the searchable PDF and the plain-text version.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make a scanned PDF searchable?
Choose your scanned PDF, select the pages you need, then start OCR. When recognition finishes, download the searchable PDF. Its pages look the same, but you can search, select and copy the recognised text.
What does OCR change in a scanned PDF?
A scan normally contains page images rather than searchable words. OCR identifies the words and adds an invisible text layer over those images without replacing the original page appearance.
Is my document uploaded anywhere?
No. The pages are rendered and recognised inside your browser. The only network requests are for the recognition engine and the English language data, which are served by Convertora and cached by your browser.
Does the PDF still look the same?
Yes. The original pages are copied exactly as they are, and the recognised words are added as an invisible layer on top. Nothing is re-compressed or flattened.
How many pages can I recognise?
Up to 5 pages per document on the free plan, and up to 30 pages on a paid plan. Recognition is slow, heavy work, so the ceiling keeps it reliable on phones and tablets too.
Which languages are supported?
English at the moment. More languages will be added once each one has been tested properly — we would rather support a few well than list many badly.
What about pages that already have text?
They are detected and left alone, so a document that mixes real text with scanned pages keeps its original quality and only the scanned pages are recognised.
Can I download the OCR text without the PDF?
Yes. Each completed job includes both the searchable PDF and a plain-text .txt file containing the recognised words.
How accurate is it?
Clean, straight scans at a normal resolution are usually recognised very well. Faint, skewed, handwritten or low-resolution pages will contain mistakes — check the text before relying on it.
Can I recognise a password-protected PDF?
No. An encrypted PDF is refused with a clear message. Remove the password in your PDF reader first, then try again.

Related tools

Helpful guides

This tool runs entirely in your browser — your file is never uploaded, and the result is discarded when you clear it or close the tab. Read more about privacy and security.