OCR PDF
Make scanned PDFs searchable.
Output: Searchable PDF · Text
Free · No sign-up · Files deleted in 1 hour
How to OCR PDF
- Upload a scanned PDFDrag in any scanned document or image-based PDF.
- Choose language and outputSelect the document language for best accuracy, and whether you want a searchable PDF or plain text. Pages that already contain text are left exactly as they are.
- DownloadYour document is now searchable and copy-pasteable — processed securely and deleted automatically.
OCR PDF Online — Make Scanned PDFs Searchable, Free
OCR PDF turns a scanned or image-only document into one you can actually search and copy from — press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on Mac) afterward and it finds words the same way it would in any digital PDF. Tesseract, the open-source OCR engine, handles the text recognition underneath.
Pick a language — English, French, German, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese — for the best recognition accuracy, then choose your output: a searchable PDF that looks identical to the original with an invisible text layer added underneath, or plain text pulled straight out. A resolution setting from 150 to 600 dpi trades processing speed for accuracy on small or low-quality scans.
OCR is rarely the final destination — once a scan is searchable, translate it, convert the recognised text into an editable Word document with Dudle's PDF to Word tool, or just search and copy from it directly. You never need an account, and the scan you upload is wiped along with its searchable copy inside the hour. OCR is free to run, needs nothing installed, and accepts scans up to 50 MB.
- Tesseract OCR makes scanned or image-only PDFs searchable and copyable
- English, French, German, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese
- Output a searchable PDF (invisible text layer) or plain text
- Resolution from 150 to 600 dpi trades speed for accuracy
- No sign-up; your scan and the searchable copy clear after an hour
Frequently asked questions
What is OCR and how does it work on a PDF?
OCR (optical character recognition) analyses the pixels of a scanned or image-based page and recognises the characters in it, then adds that recognised text back onto the PDF so it can be searched, selected and copied like any digital document.
How do I run OCR on a PDF?
Upload the scanned PDF, pick a language and output format, and click to process — Dudle recognises the text with Tesseract OCR and hands back a searchable PDF or plain text, free with no sign-up.
How do I make a scanned PDF searchable?
Choose "Searchable PDF" as the output — the original scanned page images stay exactly as they look, but an invisible, selectable text layer is added underneath so Ctrl+F and copy-paste both work.
Can I OCR a PDF in a language other than English?
Yes — pick French, German, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese from the language menu before running OCR; matching the document's actual language gives noticeably better recognition accuracy than leaving it on English.
Can OCR PDF give me an editable Word document instead of a PDF?
Not directly — OCR PDF outputs a searchable PDF or plain text. For an editable DOCX, run the file through Dudle's PDF to Word converter instead, which OCRs scanned pages internally as part of the conversion.