How to make a scanned PDF searchable (free OCR)
A scanned PDF is really just a picture of a page — you can't select or search its words. OCR (optical character recognition) reads the text and adds an invisible, selectable layer on top, so the PDF becomes searchable while looking exactly the same.
Open the free Scan / OCR tool →Step by step
- Open the Scan / OCR tool and drop in your scanned PDF or the photos of your document.
- Choose the document language for the best accuracy (English, Arabic, Spanish, French, German or Chinese).
- Leave enhancement on to auto-straighten and clean the pages.
- Click ‘Scan & OCR’ and download your new searchable PDF — you can now select, copy and search the text.
Tips
- Add several phone photos at once — they're combined, straightened and OCR'd into a single searchable PDF.
- Pick the language that matches your document; the wrong language lowers accuracy.
- Once it's searchable, you can also run PDF to Text to pull the words into a plain .txt file.
FAQ
What does OCR do?
It recognises the text in a scan or photo and adds a hidden, selectable text layer, making the PDF searchable and copy-pasteable.
Is the OCR free?
Yes — free, no signup and no watermark, in six languages.
Are my files private?
Yes — files are processed then deleted right away.