Read this before you start
The first run downloads the language model (a few MB) from the Tesseract CDN — after that, recognition happens locally on your device, but it does need that one-time connection. Speed: a page takes a few seconds on a computer and longer on a phone; a 40-page scan is a coffee break, not a click. Accuracy: clean 300-dpi scans in good light read at 95%+ for printed English; crooked, blurry or handwritten pages will have errors — always proofread names, dates and numbers. Tables come out as plain lines of text, not as a spreadsheet. If the document has only a few relevant pages, "First page only" lets you test quality before committing to the whole file.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my document uploaded for OCR?
No. Rendering and recognition both run in your browser. The only download is the OCR engine and language model themselves.
Which languages are supported?
English, English+Urdu, Urdu, Arabic, German, French and Spanish. Right-to-left scripts (Urdu, Arabic) work, but mixed-direction documents are the hardest case for any OCR — check the output carefully.
Can it read handwriting?
Tesseract is built for printed text. Neat handwriting may partially read; cursive generally will not. We would rather tell you than sell you a surprise.
I need the PDF itself to become searchable.
Use our Make PDF Searchable tool — same OCR, but it saves a PDF with a hidden text layer.
Related Tools
Merge PDF — Combine multiple PDFs into one file — in order, free, no upload.
Split PDF — Split a PDF by page ranges, extract pages, or save every page separately.
Organize PDF — Reorder, rotate and delete PDF pages visually — drag and drop.
Rotate PDF — Rotate PDF pages 90°, 180° or 270° — all pages or a chosen range.
Compress PDF — Reduce PDF file size — lossless structure mode or strong image mode.
Image to PDF — Convert JPG and PNG images to a PDF — one image per page, in your order.
PDF to Image — Convert PDF pages to JPG or PNG images — up to 216 DPI.
PDF to Text — Extract all text from a PDF into an editable .txt file.
Text to PDF — Turn plain text into a clean, paginated A4 PDF document.
Word to PDF — Convert Word (.docx) documents to PDF — free, in your browser.
Excel to PDF — Convert Excel sheets (.xlsx, .xls, .csv) to PDF — in your browser.
Add Page Numbers to PDF — Stamp page numbers on a PDF — "Page 1 of 10", any position.
Watermark PDF — Add a text watermark — CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, your brand — to every page.
PDF Metadata Editor — View and edit a PDF's title, author, subject and keywords.
Unlock PDF — Remove a PDF's permission restrictions — printing/copying locks — free.
Resize PDF — Change PDF page size to A4, Letter, Legal or A5 — for clean printing.
PDF Viewer — Open and read PDFs in your browser — with zoom and full-text search.
PDF Editor — Edit PDFs free in your browser — add text, images, highlights and signatures.
Highlight PDF — Highlight text in a PDF with colored markers — free, no upload.
Add Image to PDF — Insert an image, logo or stamp into a PDF — place and resize it freely.
Sign PDF — Sign a PDF online — draw, type or upload your signature, free.
Make PDF Searchable — Add a hidden OCR text layer to a scanned PDF so Ctrl+F and copy-paste work.
PDF Form Filler — Fill in real PDF forms — text fields, checkboxes, dropdowns — and save.
Extract Images from PDF — Pull the original embedded photos and graphics out of a PDF.