OCR PDF Online — Make Scanned PDFs Searchable
Run OCR on PDF files online with a self-hosted processor. Recognize English, Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese and create searchable PDFs.
Accepted formats: PDF
Files are sent only to your self-hosted PDF processor and removed from temporary application storage after processing.
About this tool
This online PDF OCR tool recognizes text in scanned pages and adds a searchable text layer to the PDF. You can select English, Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese, choose how pages with existing text are handled, and enable deskewing.
How to use
- Choose the scanned or image-based PDF.
- Select the document language, OCR mode and whether skewed pages should be straightened.
- Start recognition, download the result and test search and text selection on several pages.
Features
- Supports English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese recognition.
- Offers skip-existing-text, force-OCR and keep-existing-text modes.
- Can deskew scanned pages before recognition.
Common use cases
- Make scanned contracts or reports searchable.
- Add selectable text to archived paper documents.
- Prepare a scan for document search or later text extraction.
Common issues and tips
- Low resolution, blur, handwriting and complex layouts reduce recognition accuracy.
- Selecting the wrong language can produce incorrect characters and words.
Privacy
The selected PDF is sent to the Tools12345 self-hosted OCR processor and is not kept as permanent user storage.
Frequently asked questions
Does OCR change the visible PDF pages?
The goal is to preserve the page appearance while adding recognized text, although deskewing and OCR processing can alter page rendering details.
Which OCR language should I choose?
Choose the main language printed in the document: English, Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese.
Will OCR recognize handwriting perfectly?
No. Results vary, and handwriting, low-quality scans, unusual fonts and multi-column layouts require careful review.