All PDF tools
FREE TOOL · NO UPLOAD · NO SIGNUP

OCR a Scanned PDF

Drop in a scanned PDF and read the text back out of it, right here. Each page is drawn and recognized entirely in your browser, your file is never uploaded, so it is safe for confidential drawings and NDA work. Get the recognized text as a plain .txt file, or build a searchable PDF with a selectable text layer over the scan. This works well on clear, straight scans of normal documents. It is slower on very large files and on faint or skewed pages, and it reads English by default.

Drop your scanned PDF here
or click to browse, read the text back out of the scan
Your file never leaves your browser. The OCR runs entirely on your device.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my PDF get uploaded for the OCR?
No. Every page is drawn to a canvas and recognized entirely in your browser, on your own device. Your PDF is never sent to a server, never stored, and never seen by us. That makes it safe for confidential construction drawings and NDA work, which is the whole point of doing the OCR in your browser instead of on someone's server.
What do I get back, a text file or a searchable PDF?
Both options are there. You can download the recognized text as a plain .txt file to copy or search, or build a searchable PDF that keeps your original scan as the picture and adds an invisible, selectable text layer on top so you can find and copy text in any PDF reader.
How good is the recognition, and what are the limits?
It does well on clear, straight scans of normal printed documents in English. It is slower on very large or high-resolution files because all the work happens on your own machine, and accuracy drops on faint, noisy, handwritten, or skewed pages. For dense title blocks and tiny CAD annotations, treat the output as a strong starting point to clean up.
Is it free, with no watermark?
Free, no signup, no email, and no watermark. A small thank-you tool from the team behind Ncored, the fast desktop PDF app for heavy AutoCAD, Revit, and ArchiCAD drawings.