All PDF tools

OCR — Recognize Text in PDF Online Free

Make your scanned PDF searchable: add a text layer on top of the scan. Supports Russian and English. Powered by Tesseract 5 — no external APIs.

Drop a PDF here or choose a file

    How it works

    Three steps — and you're done

    The entire process takes under a minute. No software to install, no account needed.

    1

    Upload your scanned PDF

    Drop a PDF or click "choose a file." The tool works with scanned pages where text exists only as an image.

    2

    Select the language

    Choose the primary language of your document: Russian, English, or both. This directly affects recognition accuracy.

    3

    Download the searchable PDF

    The output PDF looks identical to the original but contains recognized text — fully searchable and ready to copy.

    Why us

    Secure, fast, and free

    The principles we apply to every tool we build.

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    Files deleted immediately

    Documents are removed from our server as soon as you download the result. We store nothing.

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    No external APIs

    Processing happens on our server — we do not send your files to OpenAI, Google, or Amazon.

    No sign-up required

    No account, email, or password needed. Upload a file and get your result instantly.

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    Works on any device

    Fully optimized for phones and tablets — runs entirely in the browser.

    FAQ

    Frequently asked questions

    Answers on security, supported formats, and limitations.

    What is OCR and why do I need it?
    OCR (Optical Character Recognition) identifies text within images. After processing, a scanned PDF becomes a "text PDF": you can select, copy, and search the content.
    Which languages are supported?
    Russian and English. For documents with mixed-language content, select "Russian + English" for best accuracy.
    Why does the recognized text contain errors?
    OCR accuracy depends on scan quality. For better results, improve your scan first using our "Enhance PDF" tool before running recognition.
    Can I recognize text from a photo?
    The tool accepts PDF files only. If you have a photo, convert it to PDF first using our "Photo to PDF" tool.
    Does the document look the same after OCR?
    Yes. OCR adds an invisible text layer on top of the original page images — the document looks identical visually.