PDF to Searchable PDF, Free (OCR)
Turn a scanned PDF into a searchable PDF, free: every word is read in your browser and laid invisibly over the page, so Ctrl+F, selecting and copying work — while the page looks exactly as it did. Nothing is uploaded.
OCR PDF
Fit meter
Settings appear once you add a PDF.
The model for it downloads once, then works offline.
Advanced 4
Bytes of your files sent anywhere: 0 B · nothing leaves this tab
Every request this page makes is listed as it happens. You’ll see our own code loading, and for some formats a codec engine, but never your file going out.
- Waiting for network activity…
Check it yourself: open your browser’s developer tools on the Network tab, or turn off Wi-Fi once the page has loaded. The tools keep working.
- 100% private Your PDFs never leave this device. Everything runs in your browser.
- No limits No file-size cap, no watermark, no sign-up and no daily quota. Free.
- Batch ready Add as many PDFs as you like; each one is handled and saved in one go.
How to convert a PDF to a searchable PDF free
-
Add your PDFs: Drop the scanned PDF and pick the language it’s written in.
-
Check the settings: Press Make searchable. Each page is drawn as a picture in your browser and read by Tesseract, word by word.
-
Save the result: Save the result: the same pages, now with invisible text under every word, so search, select and copy work in any PDF viewer.
Why it doesn’t upload
The PDFs that need OCR are usually scans of paper nobody wanted to retype: signed contracts, bank letters, medical records, old tax files. The text recognition runs in this browser tab after a one-time model download, so the pages are read here and never sent to an OCR service.
Check it in your browser’s Network tabWorth knowing
- Recognition is good on clean printed text and weaker on handwriting, faint copies, stamps and unusual fonts. Always check a figure that matters against the page.
- Pages scanned sideways or upside down read poorly. Turn them the right way up first (Rotate PDF does that), then OCR.
- Six Latin-script languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Indonesian. Other scripts — Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic — aren’t supported yet.
- The page picture is kept as it is; this adds a text layer, it doesn’t clean up or shrink the scan. The file grows a little.
- It runs on your device, so a 100-page scan takes several minutes, faster on a laptop than a phone. Keep the tab open until it finishes.
Under the hood
What happens to your file
Each page is drawn by pdf.js at 300 dpi and read by Tesseract’s LSTM engine, compiled to WebAssembly and run in a Web Worker, with the language model served from this site. Every word is then written back as invisible text (render mode 3) on its baseline, stretched to the word’s exact width, so search and selection line up with what you see. The page picture itself is not changed.
Reference: Tesseract OCR · ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0)
Why turn a PDF into a searchable PDF on your own device?
Scans are pictures of words: search finds nothing, you can’t copy a sentence, and screen readers have nothing to read. OCR reads the words and lays an invisible text layer over each page, so search, selection and copying work while the page looks exactly the same.
Most OCR services upload the scan to read it — and scans are contracts, medical records and old tax files. Here the text reader runs in your browser after a one-time model download, and the pages never leave your device.
Common reasons to make a scanned PDF searchable
-
Finding a figure in a scanned contract
Search for a clause or an amount instead of reading every page.
-
Copying text from a scan
Quote a paragraph without retyping it.
-
Archiving paper records
Make a scanned archive searchable for the years ahead.
-
Accessibility
Give screen readers real text to read aloud.
-
Before comparing or converting
Scans need text before they can be compared or converted to Word.
Tips for accurate OCR
- Pick the right language — English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German or Indonesian.
- Turn sideways pages upright first; recognition is much weaker on rotated text.
- Use Accurate (300 dpi) for small print, Faster (200 dpi) for large clean text.
- Check any number that matters against the page; handwriting and faint copies read less reliably.
- Comparing two scanned versions? OCR both, then use Compare PDFs.
Questions
How do I convert a PDF to a searchable PDF for free?
Drop it here, pick the language and press Make searchable. Every page is read in your browser and an invisible text layer is added under the words, so Ctrl+F, selecting and copying work — with no upload, account or watermark.
Is it safe to OCR a confidential document here?
Yes. The OCR engine and the language model download to your browser once, and the pages are read inside this tab. Nothing is sent anywhere — you can switch off Wi-Fi after the model loads and it still works.
Will the PDF look different after OCR?
No. The page picture stays exactly as it was; the recognized text sits invisibly underneath it, lined up with each word. It only shows when you search or select.
Why can’t I search my scanned PDF?
A scan is a picture of words, with no text in it for a search to find. OCR reads the picture and adds that text. Once this tool has run, search works in every viewer, from Chrome to Acrobat.
How accurate is the OCR?
On a clean, straight scan of printed text, nearly every word is right. Each result shows an average confidence score; low scores mean a faint, skewed or handwritten page, where you should check the text before relying on it.