Local OCR for scanned PDFs
Make a scanned PDF searchable without uploading it
Run OCR in your browser and add an invisible searchable text layer to scanned pages. The page images stay visually the same, and the PDF content is not uploaded.
- Adds text behind scanned page images.
- Keeps the page appearance intact.
- OCR runs locally in your browser after the model is available.
What searchable PDF means
A scanned PDF is often just page images inside a PDF wrapper. You can look at it, but you cannot search, copy, or feed the text to another tool.
OCR adds a hidden text layer behind those page images. The document still looks like the scan, but a PDF reader can find words, select text, and pass content to accessibility or extraction tools.
When OCR works best
Clean, straight, high-contrast printed text works best. Low-resolution phone photos, skewed pages, handwriting, stamps, and noisy backgrounds are harder. If accuracy matters, check the output before relying on it.
Private scan workflow
Scanned PDFs often contain IDs, bills, contracts, medical forms, and signed records. Local OCR lets you add searchability without handing the original scan to a third-party conversion server.
How to use this workflow
- 01.Drop the scanned PDFUse a scan, phone-captured PDF, or image-only document.
- 02.Let OCR read the pagesThe browser recognizes words and places an invisible text layer at the matching positions.
- 03.Download and test searchOpen the result in a PDF reader and use Ctrl+F or Command+F to confirm the text is searchable.