How to OCR a PDF

  1. 1

    Upload your scanned PDF

    Upload a PDF that contains scanned pages with no selectable text.

  2. 2

    Choose output and quality

    Select the language, searchable PDF or text output, and standard or high accuracy.

  3. 3

    Download the result

    Download a layout-preserving searchable PDF or a plain-text file.

About OCR PDF tool

Scanned documents are PDF files that contain only images — there is no underlying text, so you cannot select, search, copy, or index any content. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) solves this by analysing each page image and generating a text layer that sits invisibly beneath the original image, making the document fully searchable and copy-pastable.

DocumentFlipper uses Tesseract, one of the most accurate open-source OCR engines available, with 13 installed language packs. Searchable PDF output preserves the scanned appearance and adds a positioned invisible text layer. Text output extracts recognised content into a simple .txt file.

Your file is processed on our secure server and deleted within two hours. OCR accuracy depends on scan quality — higher resolution scans produce better results.

Frequently asked questions

What is OCR?
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) analyses images of text and converts them into actual selectable, searchable text. It's used to make scanned documents and photos of text machine-readable.
Will OCR work on a PDF that already has text?
Yes, but it's unnecessary. OCR is designed for image-based PDFs (scanned documents). If you can already select text in your PDF, it doesn't need OCR.
How accurate is the OCR?
Accuracy depends on scan quality. A clear, high-DPI scan of a printed document typically achieves 95%+ accuracy. Handwritten text, low-quality scans, or unusual fonts will be less accurate.
What languages are supported?
We support 13 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Russian, and Dutch.
Is it free?
Yes — running OCR on your PDF is completely free with no sign-up required.