Make a scanned PDF searchable with OCR
Turn scans and photos of documents into PDFs you can search, select, copy and convert. Text recognition (OCR) reads the words on each page and adds them to the PDF, while the scan looks exactly the same.
Free plan with no time limit. Pro free for 7 days, no card needed.
How to OCR a PDF
Open the scan
Choose a scanned PDF from your library or upload it, and open Make a scan searchable.
Choose the language
Pick the document's language, or up to three if it mixes languages, for the most accurate result.
Search, copy and edit
Recognition runs in the background. The searchable PDF is saved as a new version, and the original scan stays as it was.
What OCR gives you
Searchable scans
Find any word in a scan, from the document or from the search bar across all your documents.
8 languages
English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Russian, up to three at once.
Copy, edit and convert
Select and copy text, edit it, or convert the scan to Word or Excel once its text is recognized.
The scan looks the same
The recognized text is added invisibly behind the picture of each page; nothing about how it looks changes.
Private recognition
Text recognition runs on PDFZyro's own servers. Your scans aren't sent to an outside OCR service.
Private by design
Encrypted and private
Every file is encrypted before it's stored, and only you and the people you share with can open it.
Your original stays safe
Every change is saved as a new version. The original is never changed, and you can restore it at any time.
No watermarks
Files you save never get a watermark, on any plan, including the free one.
Works in your browser
Nothing to install. Use it on Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebooks, iPhone, iPad and Android.
Questions and answers
What does OCR mean?
OCR stands for optical character recognition: software that reads the letters in a picture of text, such as a scan or photo, and turns them into real text a computer can search and copy.
Which languages does PDFZyro's OCR support?
English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Russian. Choose up to three for documents that mix languages.
Will OCR change how my scan looks?
No. The recognized text is added behind the page image. The searchable version is saved as a new version, and the original scan is kept.
Can I convert a scanned PDF to Word?
Yes. Make it searchable with OCR first, then use PDF to Word to get an editable document.
Is OCR PDF free?
Yes. The Free plan includes 3 edit, convert, compress or OCR tasks a day, with files up to 50 MB, and never adds a watermark. Pro removes the daily limit and is free to try for 7 days, with no card needed.
Related tools
Find the words in every scan
Create a free account in under a minute. No card needed, and no watermarks on anything you save.
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