OCR PDF to Text
Turn scanned PDFs into plain text with OCR.
Run OCR on a scanned PDF and download the recognized text as a .txt file. Each page is rendered, read with the in-browser OCR engine, and the words are exported with empty-page detection. For a searchable PDF instead, use OCR PDF.
Your files are processed locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to a server, ever.
Tip
Drop your file here or click to browse. Everything is processed on this device — nothing is uploaded.
Quick answers
- What does this tool do?
- Turn scanned PDFs into plain text with OCR. Run OCR on a scanned PDF and download the recognized text as a .txt file. Each page is rendered, read with the in-browser OCR engine, and the words are exported with empty-page detection.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free and unlimited, with no account required and no watermark on the result.
- What files are supported?
- PDF files, up to 100 MB each.
- Where is my file processed?
- Entirely in your browser. Your file never leaves your device — nothing is uploaded to a server.
- What are the limitations?
- 105+ languages (selectable, one or more per run). Handwriting and very noisy scans are recognized less reliably than clean print.
- What happens if processing fails?
- You get a clear message explaining what went wrong and how to fix it (try another file, check the format, or start over). Your original file is never touched.
How to OCR PDF to Text
- Upload a scanned PDF.
- Pick one or more languages (English is preloaded).
- Click "Process" — OCR runs page by page with progress.
- Download the .txt file.
Frequently asked questions
Common problems and fixes
- Extracted text is gibberish
Why: the pages are scans — the file has no text layer, so there is nothing real to extract.
Fix: run the OCR PDF tool first, then extract the newly searchable text.
- Table rows merge into one line
Why: detection is position-based, and dense or merged-cell layouts confuse simple row grouping.
Fix: crop the page to the table region first, then extract — or export as XLSX and fix merges in your spreadsheet app.
- Images come out lower quality than the PDF
Why: extraction saves each embedded image at the resolution it was stored at — some PDFs are created with downsampled images.
Fix: check the source quality first; extraction cannot invent resolution that was never embedded.
Who uses OCR PDF to Text?
- Analysts and accountants — pulling tables out of statements and reports straight into a spreadsheet.
- Writers and designers — reusing figures, charts and logos from existing documents.
- Search and AI pipelines — getting plain text out of PDFs for indexing or language-model input.