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OCR PDF

Make a PDF searchable and copyable.

How it works:

  • Extract Text: Uses Tesseract OCR to recognize text from scanned images or PDFs.
  • Searchable Output: Creates a new PDF with an invisible text layer, making your document fully searchable while preserving the original appearance.
  • Character Filtering: Use whitelists to filter out unwanted characters and improve accuracy for specific document types (invoices, forms, etc.).
  • Multi-language Support: Select multiple languages for documents containing mixed language content.

Click to select PDF or drag and drop

Your files never leave your device.

About OCR PDF

OCR (optical character recognition) reads the text in scanned pages and adds an invisible, searchable text layer behind the image, so you can search, select and copy text.

How to use it

  1. Select your PDF, or drag it onto the drop area.
  2. Choose the document language(s).
  3. Run OCR and download the searchable PDF.

Your file stays on your device

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your file is read from your device, processed in memory, and saved back to your device — it is never uploaded to QPDF or anyone else. The first time you use it, your browser downloads the Tesseract OCR engine (software only, about 15 MB) from qpdf.ca and keeps it for offline use.

How QPDF keeps files private →

Good to know

  • English and French language data are included. The OCR engine and language data (about 15 MB) download the first time.
  • OCR is processor-intensive: long documents can take several minutes, and accuracy depends on scan quality.
  • Deskew crooked scans first for better results.

Related tools

All tools →
Deskew PDF Automatically straighten tilted scanned pages.
PDF to Text Extract text to a .txt file.
PDF to Word Convert PDFs to editable Word documents.
Compress PDF Reduce PDF file size while keeping text sharp and searchable.