TheFileConvert
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OCR PDF

Turn scanned PDFs into searchable PDFs directly in your browser.

Processed securely in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.

Drop your files here

or click to choose a scanned PDF

Processed on your device

How it works

  1. 1Upload a scanned or image-only PDF — nothing is sent to a server.
  2. 2We check which pages already have text and flag the ones that don't.
  3. 3Choose a language and recognize the scanned pages you want.
  4. 4Download a searchable PDF, or extract the recognized text.

Why use TheFileConvert

  • Runs entirely in your browser using Tesseract.js, an open-source OCR engine.
  • Makes old scans and photographed documents searchable and copyable.
  • Skips pages that already have real text, so you only wait for what actually needs OCR.

Good to know

This tool recognizes text on scanned or image-only PDF pages using Tesseract.js, a local, open-source (Apache-2.0) OCR engine — nothing is uploaded. It works best for correcting or extracting individual words, values, and short text; complex formatting, tables, and handwriting may not be recognized accurately. See the tool status page for verified languages.

Frequently asked questions

Does my document get uploaded anywhere?+

No. The PDF, the rendered page images, and the recognized text all stay on your device. Your browser does download the OCR engine and language model the first time you use this tool (a few megabytes, served from thefileconvert.com, not a third party) — never your document.

How accurate is the OCR?+

It works well on clean, typed, well-scanned pages in a supported language. Accuracy drops on low-resolution scans, poor contrast, unusual fonts, and handwriting. Numbers, dates, and currency are usually recognized reliably on clean scans — always double-check anything important.

Can I edit the recognized text in place on the scan?+

Not yet — this V1 focuses on making scanned PDFs searchable and extracting their text. In-place correction of individual recognized words on the page is planned for a future PDF editor.

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