Make Scanned PDFs Searchable with Local OCR

About Searchable PDF OCR

Keep original pages and add an OCR text layer verified by re-reading. Recognize scanned PDFs or images locally, preserve searchable English and Chinese through Unicode text-only PDF layers, and verify extraction before export. The core workflow is designed to run in your current browser.

Make a scanned PDF searchable while keeping its page images

Open the scan and choose the pages and OCR language you need.
Run OCR and review the recognized words. If recognition is wrong, improve the scan or settings and rerun OCR before building the new PDF; the text preview is read-only.
Open the exported PDF in a viewer and search for a distinctive word or number from a processed page.

Test a search after export

If a scanned receipt contains “2048”, search for 2048 in the exported PDF and compare the highlighted position with the receipt image. A visible image alone does not prove that a searchable text layer was added correctly.

A text layer is for finding and selecting text, not removing private information. OCR can misread or misalign words, so verify important names and amounts. Use the redaction tool before sharing a document that contains sensitive regions.

Key capabilities

Keep visible source-PDF pages instead of rasterizing the document
Use Tesseract text-only PDFs for a Unicode text layer
Detect existing text and choose which pages need OCR
Re-open exports with PDF.js to verify extractable text

Useful for

Make scanned archives searchable
Copy text from scanned contracts, receipts, and documents
Create PDFs and sidecar text for local document indexing

Frequently asked questions

Is Searchable PDF OCR free to use online?

Yes. Searchable PDF OCR opens in a modern browser and does not require desktop software installation.

What is Searchable PDF OCR useful for?

Common use cases include Make scanned archives searchable; Copy text from scanned contracts, receipts, and documents.

Is my input or file uploaded?

The core processing workflow is designed to run locally in the browser. Key capabilities include Keep visible source-PDF pages instead of rasterizing the document, Use Tesseract text-only PDFs for a Unicode text layer, Detect existing text and choose which pages need OCR; account, comments, and anonymous analytics may still create normal site requests.

Searchable PDF OCR

Choose a scanned PDF or images