PDFFree PDF Maker
Start free

OCR PDF

Recognize text from scanned PDF documents and make them searchable.

Extract text from scanned images with optical character recognition to create selectable PDFs.

PDF

Select Your PDF Document

Drag and drop your file here, or tap to browse

Accepted formats: PDF

🔒 Private & Secure: Processing happens client-side in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to any server.

More convert from pdf tools

PDF to Word

Convert PDF documents to editable Microsoft Word files.

PDF to PowerPoint

Convert PDF presentations into editable PPTX slides.

PDF to Excel

Extract tables and spreadsheet data from PDF to Excel.

PDF to JPG

Convert each page of a PDF document to a JPG image file.

Guide & Tutorial

How to OCR a PDF Online — Free OCR PDF Text Recognition Tool

Scanned PDFs and image-based documents contain text that you can't search, select, or copy. Free PDF Maker's OCR PDF tool uses Optical Character Recognition to extract text from scanned pages, making documents searchable and selectable — completely free.

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. 1

    Upload Your Scanned PDF

    Select your scanned or image-based PDF file.

  2. 2

    Run OCR Recognition

    Click the process button. Our tool applies OCR to every page, recognizing text from images.

  3. 3

    Download Searchable PDF

    Download the output PDF with a searchable text layer, and optionally copy the extracted text directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What languages does OCR support?

The browser-based OCR engine supports English and other Latin-script languages well.

Can OCR handle handwritten text?

OCR works best on printed text. Handwriting recognition accuracy varies and is not guaranteed.

Will the original scan be preserved?

Yes. The OCR tool adds a searchable text layer on top of the original scanned images.

Why Use Free PDF Maker?

  • Makes scanned PDFs searchable and selectable
  • Supports multi-page scanned documents
  • Extracts text you can copy directly from the results
  • Free with no page limits
  • 100% private browser-based processing

Ready to OCR PDF?

Make your scanned documents searchable and accessible. Free PDF Maker's OCR PDF tool extracts text from any scanned PDF online for free.

Use Tool Now
← Browse All Free PDF Tools

OCR PDF — Free PDF Maker: Make your scanned documents searchable and accessible. Free PDF Maker's OCR PDF tool extracts text from any scanned PDF online for free.