Make PDF Searchable: free online tool
Scanned PDFs are just pictures of text, so you cannot search or copy from them. This tool recognises the text and adds it as an invisible layer behind each page, so the PDF looks the same but becomes searchable and selectable.
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How to use Make PDF Searchable
- Open the OCR tool and choose your scanned PDF.
- Pick the document languages.
- Download the searchable PDF and use Ctrl+F in any PDF reader.
What you can do
- Original page images stay exactly as they were
- Text becomes searchable, selectable and indexable
- Works page by page on your device
Runs 100% in your browser · No upload · No sign-up · No limits
Privacy and where your file is processed
OCR runs on your device. The OCR engine and language files are downloaded once from a public CDN; your PDF is never uploaded.
Free usage limits
Free to use. In your browser: no account, no file-size limit and no usage limit. Advanced AI mode (our private GPU server): free account with 150 credits a month (1 credit per page for OCR and PDF to Word), files up to 50 MB and 100 pages. There is no paid tier.
Frequently asked questions
Will the PDF look different?
No. The recognised text is invisible and sits behind the original page image.
Does it work for Arabic or Chinese?
The text is recognised and available as plain text. The hidden text layer currently supports Latin, Cyrillic and Greek scripts.