You scan a pile of documents, open the PDF, try to search for a word... nothing. You can't select text, can't copy it, can't find anything. That's because scanned PDFs are just pictures of text — to your computer, they're no different than photos of cats.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) fixes this. It reads the text in your images and creates a layer of real, selectable, searchable text. Your PDF looks the same, but now it works like a real document.

What OCR Actually Does

When you run OCR on a scanned PDF:

  1. Image analysis: The software examines each page image
  2. Character recognition: It identifies letters, numbers, and symbols
  3. Text layer creation: Invisible, selectable text is placed over the original image
  4. Appearance preserved: The document looks exactly the same, but now you can search and select

When You Need OCR

Scanned Paper Documents

Contracts, receipts, old records, letters, handwritten notes — anything that started as paper and was scanned needs OCR to become searchable.

Phone Camera Scans

Scanned something with your phone's camera app? Those are images, not text. OCR converts them to proper searchable documents.

Faxed Documents

Fax to PDF services typically produce image-based PDFs. OCR makes them usable.

Old Archive PDFs

Legacy document systems sometimes stored pages as images. OCR brings them into the modern era.

Signed Documents

Someone printed, signed, and scanned a document back to you? That signature page is now an image. OCR restores the text.

How to Run OCR on a PDF

  1. Upload: Go to our OCR PDF tool and select your scanned document
  2. Select language: Choose the primary language of your document for better accuracy
  3. Process: Our OCR engine analyzes each page and extracts text
  4. Download: Get a searchable PDF — looks the same, works completely differently

After OCR: What's Possible

Once your PDF is searchable:

  • Find anything: Use Ctrl+F to search the entire document
  • Copy text: Select and copy passages for quoting or reference
  • Edit in Word: Convert to Word for full editing
  • Extract data: Convert to Excel for tabular data
  • Archive properly: Convert to PDF/A for long-term storage

Tips for Better OCR Results

Scan at Higher Resolution

300 DPI is the sweet spot for OCR. Lower resolution means fuzzier characters and more errors.

Straighten Skewed Pages

Crooked scans confuse OCR. Most scanning software has auto-deskew. Use it.

Clean Up the Source

Coffee stains, handwritten notes in margins, creased paper — all of these can interfere with text recognition.

Choose the Right Language

Our OCR supports multiple languages. Selecting the correct language significantly improves accuracy, especially for non-Latin alphabets.

OCR Limitations

OCR is powerful but not perfect:

  • Handwriting: Printed text works reliably. Most handwriting does not.
  • Decorative fonts: Unusual typography may be misread
  • Very small text: Tiny print in faded documents may not recognize well
  • Tables: Text is recognized, but table structure may need cleanup
  • Mixed languages: Documents mixing languages need careful handling

Combine OCR with Other Tools

Common Questions

Does OCR change how my document looks?

No. The original scanned image remains unchanged. OCR adds an invisible text layer on top.

Can OCR handle multiple pages?

Yes. All pages in your PDF are processed, regardless of document length.

What if there are recognition errors?

OCR isn't 100% perfect. For critical documents, review and correct any errors after conversion.

Does OCR work on photos?

Yes, as long as the text is reasonably clear. Convert images to PDF first, then run OCR.

Related Guides

Make your scans actually useful. Run OCR now — free.