?>
Free Online OCR PDF Tool

OCR PDF Online

Convert scanned and image-based PDF files into searchable, selectable and copyable PDFs with OCR. Choose your OCR language, process your document and download the searchable PDF.

Upload • Recognize Text • Create Searchable PDF • Download

Create Searchable PDF
Upload a scanned PDF and configure OCR before processing.
Secure
document.pdf
0 KB
Recognizes the selected language using Google Cloud Vision.
Higher DPI can improve recognition but takes longer.
Google Cloud Vision automatically analyzes document layout.
Preparing OCR...
Please keep this page open while your PDF is being processed.
Processing PDF... 0%
Cloud OCR service status: Setup required
OCR processing is currently unavailable
The page is ready, but one or more OCR processing dependencies still need to be configured on the server.
Google Vision OCR API key not configured PDF renderer ready Searchable PDF engine unavailable qpdf available
OCR completed successfully
Your PDF is now searchable and selectable.
Download OCR PDF

OCR PDF Preview

Your selected document and cloud OCR readiness status will appear here.
Your PDF preview
Choose a scanned PDF to prepare it for OCR.
document.pdf
0 KB
Ready for OCR
Cloud OCR setup required

Search Scanned PDFs

Find words and phrases inside scanned documents after OCR recognition.

Select & Copy Text

Recognized text is added as a searchable and selectable PDF text layer.

Download a New PDF

Download a separate OCR-processed PDF while keeping your source file unchanged.

OCR PDF Features

Turn scanned documents into searchable PDFs

OCR is useful when your PDF contains scanned pages or photographs of printed documents instead of real selectable text.

Searchable scanned PDF

Add a hidden OCR text layer so recognized words can be searched in compatible PDF viewers.

Selectable text

OCR can make printed text selectable and copyable without changing the visible scanned page.

Multiple OCR languages

English, Hindi and other supported OCR languages are processed through Google Cloud Vision.

Original file remains unchanged

OCR creates a separate processed PDF. Your uploaded source file is not overwritten.

What is OCR in a PDF?

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. A scanned PDF may look like a normal document but its pages can actually be images. Because there is no real text layer, searching, selecting and copying words may not work.

OCR analyzes the visible page image, recognizes characters and creates a searchable text layer. The visible scanned page can remain as the document image while the recognized text is positioned behind it for searching and selection.

When should you use OCR PDF?

  • Scanned office documents and forms
  • Old PDF documents created from paper records
  • Scanned invoices and receipts
  • Printed reports converted to image PDFs
  • Books, notes and educational documents
  • Documents that cannot currently be searched or copied

How to make a scanned PDF searchable

  1. Upload your scanned PDF using the OCR PDF tool above.
  2. Select the OCR language installed for your document.
  3. Choose the desired OCR quality and page-layout mode.
  4. Start OCR processing and wait for the searchable PDF to be generated.
  5. Download the new OCR PDF and test text search or text selection in your PDF viewer.

OCR accuracy

OCR accuracy depends on scan resolution, font quality, page orientation, contrast, handwriting, background noise, skew and the language model used. Clear printed documents generally provide better recognition than low-resolution, blurred or handwritten pages.

Tip: For most clean scanned documents, 200 DPI with automatic page layout is a good starting point. Use a higher DPI when the original scan is small or difficult to read.

OCR PDF Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about searchable scanned PDFs and OCR processing.

OCR PDF means adding recognized text to a scanned or image-based PDF so the document can be searched, selected and copied in compatible PDF viewers.

Yes. OCR recognizes printed characters and creates a searchable text layer over the scanned page.

Yes. English, Hindi and other supported languages can be selected for Google Cloud Vision OCR.

The workflow keeps the rendered scanned page as the visible page and adds a hidden text layer for search and selection.

The current InstaVibes OCR PDF page accepts files up to 50 MB and processes up to 100 pages per job.