OCR PDF | Free Online PDF Text Recognition - Extract Text from Scanned PDFs

OCR PDF - Extract Text from Scanned PDFs

100% Client-Side | Tesseract.js OCR | English & 100+ Languages
Or drag and drop your file here

Initializing OCR engine...

Extracted Text

100% Private · Your files never leave your device · Tesseract.js OCR runs locally

OCR PDF: The Complete Guide to Text Recognition

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology converts scanned documents and images into searchable, editable text. Our free online OCR tool uses Tesseract.js, a powerful open-source OCR engine, to extract text from PDFs and images — all directly in your browser with no file uploads required.

Why Choose Our OCR Tool?
Unlike cloud-based OCR services that require uploading sensitive documents, our tool processes everything locally. Your scanned PDFs and images never leave your computer. Support for 100+ languages, including English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and more.
100%
Local Processing
100+
Languages
PDF/JPG/PNG
Formats
Free
Forever

How OCR Technology Works

OCR analyzes the shapes of characters in an image and matches them to letterforms. Our tool uses Tesseract.js, a JavaScript port of Google's Tesseract OCR engine. It processes each page of your PDF (or your image), identifies text regions, and converts them to machine-readable text you can copy, search, and edit.

Key Features

  • Absolute Privacy: No file uploads — everything processes locally.
  • 100+ Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and more.
  • PDF & Image Support: Process PDFs, JPGs, and PNGs.
  • Copy to Clipboard: Easily copy extracted text.
  • Progress Tracking: Real-time OCR progress indicator.
  • No Watermarks: Clean, unlimited text extraction.

Step-by-Step Usage Guide

1. Upload File: Click upload or drag your PDF/image into the zone.
2. Select Language: Choose the language of your document for better accuracy.
3. Run OCR: Click "Run OCR & Extract Text" to start recognition.
4. Wait: Processing time depends on file size and complexity.
5. Copy Text: Extract text appears — copy to clipboard for use.

Pro Tip: For best OCR accuracy, ensure your document has good contrast (dark text on light background) and resolution of at least 200 DPI. Handwritten text has lower accuracy than printed text.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my scanned document secure?

Absolutely! All OCR processing happens locally in your browser using Tesseract.js. Your files never leave your computer. No servers, no cloud storage.

What languages are supported?

Our tool supports over 100 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Arabic, Hindi, and many more.

How accurate is the OCR?

Accuracy depends on image quality. Clean, high-contrast printed text achieves 95%+ accuracy. Handwritten text or low-quality scans have lower accuracy. For best results, use clear, well-lit scans.

Does it work with multi-page PDFs?

For performance reasons, our tool processes the first page of your PDF. For full multi-page OCR, you may need to process pages individually or use desktop software.

Does this work on mobile devices?

Yes! The tool works on smartphones and tablets. However, OCR processing is intensive — newer devices perform better.

Our Commitment to Quality
We provide a free, private, and powerful OCR solution. No registration, no watermarks, no hidden fees. Your documents stay yours.