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PDF OCR
Quickly convert your scanned, non-searchable PDFs into searchable and selectable text documents for free. Improve accessibility and usability without the need for manual transcription.
- Recognize text in a PDF on any device
- Browser-based OCR—no installation needed
- Trusted by 1.7 billion people since 2013
Best Online Tool for PDF OCR
Quickly create searchable PDFs with editable text using our OCR tool. Easily copy non-selectable text and find non-searchable text. It's easy to use for single-page PDFs, large documents, and multiple files.
From Static PDF Image to Searchable PDF Text
Our PDF OCR tool extracts text from PDFs that are essentially images, allowing you to search and select the text you need.
Enhancing Text Quality With OCR
Old or poor-quality PDF scans can be enhanced with OCR software. This software recognizes the scanned words and replaces them with clean, digitally rendered text for better visual quality.
Searchable + Selectable = Accessible
Screen readers can more easily read a PDF with OCR-recognized text, which makes the document more accessible to visually impaired users.
How To Do OCR on PDF for Free
- Import or drag & drop your file to our PDF OCR tool.
- Wait a few seconds while our OCR tech works its magic.
- Edit the PDF with our other tools if needed.
- Download or share your editable PDF file—done!
Make Any PDF Readable With OCR
OCR on Any Device
Smallpdf is cloud-based, so you can run OCR online via any browser and on any device— desktop, tablet, and mobile.
Turn PDF Images Into Selectable Text
You open a PDF, try to copy some text, and realize it’s one of those scanned PDF documents that can’t be copied. Until now. Get selectable text from any PDF in seconds.
Translate Scanned Documents
Our PDF OCR tool turns scanned files into useful text—and then it can translate it into multiple languages. So you can read in your native language, or translate into someone else’s.
Export PDF to Searchable Word Doc
Once you’ve used OCR to get readable text, you can save your file as a searchable PDF—or convert it to a Word document. We’ll do all the work for you.
Love PDFs for the First Time
No downloads, no signups. We’ve made it so easy to extract PDF pages, people may get tired of hearing you say ‘I love PDF.’
Data Compliance From Start to Finish
Smallpdf is GDPR compliant, so you can trust we’re transparent about how we store, collect, and process personal data.
FAQs About Our PDF OCR Tool
What Is OCR?
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technology that converts printed or handwritten text from documents or scanned images into editable and searchable digital text. This conversion simplifies text manipulation and sharing, and enhances accessibility for visually impaired individuals through screen readers.
Can I convert a PDF file into a Word doc I can edit using OCR?
Absolutely. The first thing to do is make sure you have a searchable, selectable PDF document. If your PDF text isn’t readable, that’s where the OCR technology comes in. After that, you can easily convert your searchable PDF to Microsoft Word for free with our online PDF to Word Converter.
Does OCR on PDF documents work for any language?
Smallpdf's online OCR tool can translate scanned documents into almost any language, making them both readable and searchable. This allows you to not only read PDFs in your native language but also automatically convert them into the languages of your target audience.
Can I use the Smallpdf OCR online tool for free?
Yes! All of our online PDF tools are free to use, though some limits apply. So you can run your PDFs through OCR, reduce document file sizes, convert between PDF and other file types like MS Office files, JPG, PNG, and GIF—and so much more. For OCR, just drop your docs into the box at the top of this page. Or check out our other free tools in the menu above.
Document Work Made Easy
Boost productivity in your business with unlimited access to all Smallpdf’s tools for taking the hassle out of document work. Do more, better, faster.