Extract readable text from scanned PDFs or image-based PDFs using optical character recognition (Tesseract.js).
Digitising paper-scanned contracts, receipts, and forms to get editable text.
Upload your scanned PDF
Add a PDF whose pages are scans/images where the text is not selectable.
Start OCR extraction
Click Extract Text. Each page is rendered to canvas and read by Tesseract.js, with a progress bar showing status.
Download the text
When it finishes, download the recognised text as a .txt file.
A scanned PDF looks like a document but is really just a picture of one — you cannot select a sentence, search for a word, or copy a figure out of it, because there is no text layer underneath, only pixels. That makes scanned contracts, receipts, and old papers frustrating to work with. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) solves it by analysing the image of each page and reconstructing the actual text. This tool runs OCR on your scanned PDF and gives you the recognised text as a downloadable file you can copy, edit, and search. Remarkably, it does this entirely in your browser using Tesseract.js — each page is rendered and read locally — so even confidential scans never leave your device, unlike most OCR services that upload your files. Upload the PDF, watch the per-page progress, and download the text. Accuracy is high for clear printed text; handwriting and poor scans are harder.
Digitising paper
Turn scanned contracts, letters, and forms into searchable, editable text without retyping.
Receipts & invoices
Pull amounts and details out of scanned receipts for expenses and accounting.
Research & archives
Convert scanned papers and historical documents into readable, searchable text.
Accessibility
Extract text from an image-only PDF so it can be read by screen readers.
Search & reuse
Make an old scan searchable so you can find and quote from it later.
Very accurate for clear, high-contrast printed text. Handwriting, low-resolution scans, skewed pages, and decorative fonts produce more errors — straighten and use the best scan you have for the cleanest result.
No. OCR runs entirely in your browser with Tesseract.js, so even sensitive scans never leave your device.
Roughly 5–15 seconds per page depending on your device, so a 10-page scan takes about 1–2 minutes.
It extracts the text content; complex columns and tables are linearised into a reading flow rather than reproduced exactly.
English in the current version, via the default Tesseract.js language pack.
If the PDF already has selectable text, use PDF → Word to extract it directly — OCR is for image-only pages.
Rotate it upright first (try the Rotate PDF tool) and use the highest-resolution, most evenly lit scan available.
Yes — run OCR on as many PDFs as you need for free, with no sign-up or page limit.