Is my file uploaded to a server?

No. The OCR engine (WASM) runs entirely inside your browser and the file is never uploaded.

How long does it take?

The first run downloads the OCR engine and language data (a few MB), which takes a bit of time; after that it's cached in your browser and runs faster. Recognition itself can take a few seconds to under a minute depending on page count and resolution.

How do I get the recognized text?

Results appear per page — copy them or save them out.

Can it read handwriting?

It is built for printed text. Handwriting recognition is much less reliable.

🔎 PDF OCR

Recognize text in scanned or image-based PDFs and extract it as text.

Drop your PDF file here

Click or drag a file

🔒 Uploaded files are never sent to a server — processed entirely in your browser

Preparing…

How to run PDF OCR

Select a scanned or image-based PDF file.
Pick a recognition language and click Start OCR.
Once done, copy the text or download it with Save TXT.

How the OCR works

Item	Details
Recognition language	Korean+English / Korean / English — match the document language
Process	Each page is rendered to an image and recognized in your browser (tesseract)
Accuracy tip	Sharper scans and straight alignment improve accuracy

💡 When you want to turn a scan back into real text

A scanned or photographed PDF may look like it has text, but it's really just an image — you can't copy or search it. OCR (optical character recognition) reads the characters in that image and turns them into real, copyable, searchable, translatable text.

🔎 For scans only: recognizes text in image-based PDFs that have no underlying text data.
🌐 Korean & English: picking just the language actually used improves accuracy.
🔒 Browser-only processing: files are never uploaded — recognition happens entirely in your browser.

📌 Where is PDF OCR useful?

Reusing scanned documents — pull editable, searchable text out of a scanned paper document.
Organizing photographed pages — copy what you need from a PDF built from camera photos.
Pasting into a translator — extract text from an image-only foreign-language document to translate it.
Digitizing old print material — turn old scanned printouts into searchable text.

✨ Tips for better accuracy

Low-resolution or blurry scans lead to more recognition errors — use the sharpest source you can.
Selecting a language that isn't actually in the document can hurt accuracy — match it to the real content.
More pages or higher resolution take longer to process. The first run also takes extra time to download the OCR engine.

🔒 How is this different from the regular "PDF to Text" tool?

PDF to Text reads text that's already embedded in the PDF, which works great for PDFs made in a word processor but not for scanned or photographed PDFs. PDF OCR does the opposite: it analyzes an image with no text data and recognizes new characters from it — built specifically for scans and photos.

📖 Guide: How to Run OCR on a Scanned PDF →

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the regular PDF to Text tool?: PDF to Text reads text data that's already stored in the PDF. OCR instead analyzes scanned or image-based PDFs that have no text data, recognizing characters the way a person would read a photo.
Is my file uploaded to a server?: No. The OCR engine (WASM) runs entirely inside your browser and the file is never uploaded.
How long does it take?: The first run downloads the OCR engine and language data (a few MB), which takes a bit of time; after that it's cached in your browser and runs faster. Recognition itself can take a few seconds to under a minute depending on page count and resolution.
How do I get the recognized text?: Results appear per page — copy them or save them out.
Can it read handwriting?: It is built for printed text. Handwriting recognition is much less reliable.