OCR PDF — Make PDF Searchable

PDF OCR transforms scanned documents and image-based PDFs into searchable, selectable, and copy-able text. Our optical character recognition technology reads the visual content of each page and embeds an invisible text layer that perfectly overlays the original image, preserving appearance while adding functionality.

The OCR process analyzes each page image, recognizing characters and words in over 100 languages. The recognized text is positioned precisely over the corresponding visual text in the PDF, creating a dual-layer document where the original scan remains visible while the text layer enables searching, copying, and accessibility features.

Archivists make historical document scans searchable for researchers. Legal teams convert scanned contracts and evidence into searchable discovery documents. Healthcare facilities create searchable patient records from scanned paper files. Librarians convert book scans into accessible digital archives. Businesses digitize paper records for searchable document management.

The output PDF looks identical to the original—the OCR layer is invisible during normal viewing. But when you search for text, highlight words, or copy content, the text layer responds. This approach preserves the authentic appearance of historical documents while adding modern digital functionality. Quality settings control the balance between recognition accuracy and processing speed.