A scanned PDF is just pictures: you cannot search it, copy a line, or let a screen reader read it. This tool reads each page with tesseract OCR right inside your browser and lays invisible, selectable text exactly over the words. Your pages look the same as before, but Ctrl+F, copy and paste now work. English, Hindi, Punjabi and many more languages are supported.
loading toolHow to make a scanned PDF searchable
- Choose the scanned PDF.
- Pick the language of the text and the quality.
- Press Make searchable, wait while each page is read, then download.
Good to know
- Pages that already have real text are skipped, so mixed PDFs are fast.
- For just the text in a box to copy, use our Image to Text tool on a page picture.
Questions
Does the scan look different afterwards?
No. The original page pictures are kept untouched; only an invisible text layer is added on top.
How accurate is it?
Clean, straight, printed pages give very good results. Handwriting, faint photocopies and tiny print are harder. Choose the right language and the 300 dpi option for small print.
Why is the first run slow?
The text reader and the language data (a few MB) download once, then your browser keeps them. Each page then takes a few seconds on a phone.
Is my data private?
Yes. Everything happens inside your own browser: nothing you type or choose is uploaded to us or anyone else.
Is it free?
Completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many times you use it. Light ads keep the site running.
