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Make Scanned PDFs Searchable with Local OCR

Run optical character recognition (OCR) on scanned PDFs in your browser worker to add an invisible selectable text layer without uploading files.

Up to 50 MB per file (10 files per batch) on the Free plan. You can also paste a file from your clipboard.

About OCR PDF & Edge Cases

Make scanned, image-only PDFs searchable and selectable in your browser using Tesseract WebAssembly OCR across English, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, French, and German. OCR PDF runs Tesseract.js v7 LSTM neural recognition inside a local Web Worker with self-hosted traineddata models and overlays an invisible selectable text layer at exact word bounding boxes.

  • The visible scanned page image remains completely unchanged while an invisible text layer (opacity 0) is aligned over recognized words so Ctrl+F search and copy-paste work naturally.
  • Free plan processes up to 5 OCR pages per job; 24-Hour Day Pass and Pro unlock up to 1,000 OCR pages per document.

How OCR PDF Works

  1. 1

    Step 1

    Select your scanned PDF in the OCR PDF workbench above.

  2. 2

    Step 2

    Choose the document language (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, French, or German).

  3. 3

    Step 3

    Run OCR to generate a searchable PDF with selectable text and a downloadable plain-text transcript.

Plan Limits for OCR PDF

Rendered directly from our active plan configuration. No hidden caps before your first download.

Compare Plans
LimitFree ($0)Day Pass ($4.99) / Pro ($4.00 / month)
Maximum file size50 MB500 MB
Maximum files per batch10 files200 files
Processing locationOn your deviceOn your device

Frequently Asked Questions

Are my scanned documents uploaded to a cloud OCR API?
No. Both the Tesseract WebAssembly engine and language models run locally inside your browser, so sensitive scans never leave your device.
Does OCR PDF upload my files to a server?
No. OCR PDF is a local browser tool. Your file bytes stay on your device, and you can verify zero file uploads in your browser Network tab.
What are the file size and batch limits for OCR PDF?
On the Free plan, you can queue up to 10 files per batch and up to 50 MB per file. The 24-Hour Day Pass and Pro plans support up to 200 files per batch and 500 MB per file.

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