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Make a scanned PDF searchable
Text recognition (OCR) runs in your browser and lays the recognised text invisibly over each scanned page, so it can be searched, selected and copied. The language data is fetched from this site the first time you use a language.
Recognising text is free for up to 10 pages at a time, in every language it reads. More pages at once is part of Pro. Pricing
How to do it
- Open your scanned PDF or photos.
- Open Tools and choose Recognise text in scans.
- Pick the language and press Recognise. Pages that already have text are left as they are.
You do not have to take our word for it
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Watch the network
The "Nothing is uploaded" button in the app opens a list of every other site the page has contacted since you opened it, and how often, taken from the browser's own record. Your browser's developer tools show every request, this site's own included.
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Pull the plug
Once the app has loaded, turn off your network and keep working. Text recognition, the document converter and the handwriting fonts work offline too after their first use.
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Redaction that removes
A page with something blacked out is saved as a picture of itself, so the text under the box is gone, and every redacted page is checked before the file is saved.
Questions
- Which languages can it read?
- English, German, French, Spanish and Hindi. Each one is fetched from this site the first time you use it, and kept for offline use.
- What happens to a recognised page?
- It stays exactly as it was, at its own sharpness, and the recognised text is laid invisibly over it, every word where it is drawn, so it can be searched, selected and copied.
- Will it redo pages that already have text?
- Not unless you ask. Leave pages that already have text is on at the start.
- Is it free?
- Recognising text is free for up to 10 pages at a time, in every language it reads. More pages at once is part of Pro.