OCR a scanned PDF
Recognize the words locked inside a scanned page so you can search the document and select and copy its text — all on your device. Free, no login, and nothing is uploaded.
- Free, no login
- On-device OCR — nothing is uploaded
- Search and copy the recognized words
How to OCR a PDF
- 1
Open your scan
Drop the scanned PDF into BrowsePDF — it stays in your browser, not on a server.
- 2
Run OCR
BrowsePDF reads the text in the page images using on-device recognition.
- 3
Search and copy
Find words in the document and select and copy the recognized text right away.
Turn a picture of text into words
Read the words inside a scan
A scanned page is really just an image — your browser sees pixels, not letters, which is why you can't search it or select a single word. OCR looks at those page images and recognizes the characters, so the document becomes something you can actually search through and copy from inside BrowsePDF.
- Recognizes text in scanned and photographed pages
- Search the document for a word or number
- Select and copy the recognized text
- Runs on your device, no upload
Recognition happens on your device
Think of OCR-ing a scanned tax form or an old signed letter. BrowsePDF runs the recognition right in your browser using on-device OCR, so those page images and the text pulled from them never touch a server. Private paperwork stays on your machine while it's being read.
Need an editable file? Add PDF to Word
OCR makes the words searchable and selectable inside BrowsePDF. To carry that recognized text into a document you can rewrite, pair this with PDF to Word — it reconstructs editable content from the text. How well it reads depends on how clear the scan is; crisp, straight scans recognize best.
Why OCR here
Reads scans
Recognizes text in scanned and photographed pages.
Search and select
Find words and copy them from inside BrowsePDF.
Nothing uploaded
OCR runs on your device, not on a server.
Free, no login
No account and no watermark on anything.
Your file never leaves your browser
This tool runs entirely in this tab. Your PDF is read from your device's memory, worked on locally, and handed straight back — it's never uploaded to a server, never stored, and never logged.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Works even offline once loaded
- Safe for sensitive files
Related tools
OCR PDF questions
Is my scan uploaded to be recognized?
No. OCR runs on your device, in your browser, using on-device recognition. The page images and the recognized text are never uploaded to a server.
Is it free?
Yes, OCR is free with no login, and BrowsePDF adds no watermark to anything you work on.
Do I get a searchable PDF file to download?
OCR makes the text searchable and selectable inside BrowsePDF so you can find and copy the words. To take the recognized text into an editable file, pair it with PDF to Word.
Why did some words come out wrong?
Recognition quality depends on the scan. Clear, straight, high-contrast pages read best, while faint, skewed, or handwritten pages are harder and can produce mistakes.
Can it read handwriting or other languages?
OCR is built for printed text and works most reliably on clean typed pages. Handwriting and unusual fonts are far less dependable.
About OCR for scanned PDFs
When you scan or photograph a document, you get a picture of the page — it looks like text but the computer only sees an image, so you can't search it, select a line, or copy a number out of it. OCR (optical character recognition) closes that gap by reading the shapes in the image and working out which characters they are, turning a flat scan into something you can actually query and pull words from.
Scanned documents are often the sensitive kind — signed forms, statements, ID paperwork, archived letters — which is exactly why they shouldn't be shipped off to an online service to be read. BrowsePDF runs the recognition on your device so nothing is uploaded, makes the words searchable and selectable right there, and hands off cleanly to PDF to Word when you need the recognized text in a file you can edit.
Every PDF tool in one place
Convert, edit, sign, organize, and secure — all free, all in your browser.