PDF OCR
Extract text from PDFs in your browser. If a text layer already exists, we use it; if the PDF is scanned images, we OCR each page with Tesseract.js.
Drop a file here
PDF stays in your browser — text layer first, OCR when scanned
How to use this tool
Drop a PDF
Choose a digital or scanned PDF.
Extract text
We prefer the text layer; otherwise we OCR pages.
Copy or download
Copy text, download TXT, or download Word.
Smart path, not blind OCR
Many PDFs already contain selectable text. Blindly OCR-ing every page wastes time and can degrade quality. PDF OCR checks for a text layer first.
Scanned PDFs
When pages are images, each page is rendered and recognized locally. Large files take longer — keep work in one tab.
Related tools
Need a Word file from a scan? Use OCR PDF to Word. Need Ctrl+F on the same PDF? Use Searchable PDF. For born-digital PDFs with text, regular PDF → Word may be enough.
Frequently Asked Questions
More on quality loss: conversion quality guides · compression guides
Will you always OCR every page?
No. If extractable text is present, we return that first. You still get OCR when the PDF is image-based.
Is the PDF uploaded?
No. Parsing and OCR run in your browser.
Ready to convert more formats?
Browse converters or jump back to the tool above.