OCR PDF. For free.
Turn a scanned PDF into one you can search, select and copy. Tesseract adds an invisible text layer behind the scan. No watermark, no signup — and iLovePDF charges for OCR.
Searchable
Adds a real text layer
Private
No third-party APIs
Temporary
Deleted within an hour
How it works
- 01
Add your scanned PDF
Drop in a scanned or image-only PDF, or click to browse. It's uploaded privately over TLS.
- 02
We read the text
Tesseract OCR recognises the words on each page and adds them as an invisible text layer behind the image.
- 03
Download the searchable PDF
Now you can search, select and copy the text. Your upload and result are deleted within an hour.
More PDF tools: Merge · Split · Rotate · Compress · Page numbers · Watermark · Organize · Crop · Sign · Redact · Add text · N-up · Protect · Unlock · Repair · PDF/A · To images · Extract images.
Common questions
What does OCR do to my PDF?+
It looks at the picture of text on each scanned page, recognises the words, and adds them as an invisible text layer. The page still looks identical, but now you can search, select and copy the text.
How accurate is it?+
We use Tesseract, a strong open-source OCR engine. Accuracy is excellent on clean, straight scans and good printed text; messy handwriting, low-resolution scans or unusual fonts may have some mistakes. We don't claim 100% accuracy.
What if my PDF already has text?+
Pages that already contain real text are left untouched (we run with --skip-text), so it's safe to run on a mixed document and you won't get a doubled text layer.
Is my file private?+
Yes. It's uploaded over an encrypted connection, OCR'd on our own server with no third-party APIs, and the upload and result are deleted within one hour.
Is there a limit?+
No watermark, no signup, and generous file sizes — free to use.