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Make a scanned PDF searchable

Ethical Tube's free OCR PDF tool makes scanned PDFs searchable by recognizing the text on each page and adding it as an invisible layer, in your browser. The pages look exactly the same, but you can now search, select, and copy their text. English is built in and 12 more languages download on demand. Your PDF is never uploaded.

The first run downloads about 6 MB of OCR code and language data from Ethical Tube. Your browser keeps it for later.
Price
Free
Uploads
None, it runs on your device
Sign-up
Not needed
Languages
English plus 12 more
Output
Searchable PDF
First use
6 MB download, once

How it works

How to OCR a PDF

  1. Add your scanned PDF

    Drop a PDF onto the page or click to choose one.

  2. Pick the language

    Choose the language of the text. English is built in, and other languages download once.

  3. Download the searchable PDF

    Each page is recognized in turn, with progress shown. Then download the new PDF.

Good to know

What to expect

  • The original page images are kept, and the recognized text sits invisibly on top, so the PDF looks unchanged.
  • Clear, straight scans of printed text work best. Handwriting usually isn't recognized.
  • OCR takes a few seconds per page, so long documents take a while. Keep the tab open until it finishes.
  • Pages that already have text are recognized too, so it's best used on scans.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Is the OCR PDF tool free?

Yes. It's completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark, and no limit on how many files you process. It costs Ethical Tube nothing to run, because the work happens on your own device rather than on a server.

Are my files uploaded anywhere?

No. Everything happens inside your browser, so your files never leave your device. Once the page has loaded, the tool even works offline.

What is OCR?

OCR (optical character recognition) reads the letters in a picture of text and turns them into real text a computer can search and copy. This tool uses Tesseract, an open-source OCR engine, running in your browser.

How accurate is it?

On clear scans of printed documents, most words are recognized correctly. Blurry, tilted, or low-contrast scans, unusual fonts, and handwriting produce more mistakes.

Can I get the text as a Word document instead?

Yes. Use the PDF to Word converter, which offers OCR automatically when a PDF is a scan.

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