What is OCR?

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It's a technology that analyzes images of text (like scanned documents or photos) and converts them into actual, editable text.

When you scan a document, the result is essentially a picture. You can see the text, but you can't select it, search for words, or copy content. OCR solves this problem by "reading" the image and extracting the text.

Think of OCR like this: It's teaching a computer to read the same way humans do - by looking at shapes of letters and recognizing words.

When Do You Need OCR?

Scanned documents: Paper documents converted to PDF via scanner
Photos of text: Pictures of signs, documents, or book pages
Image-based PDFs: PDFs where text is actually an image
Old documents: Digitized archives and historical papers
Faxed documents: Received faxes saved as images

How to Use OCR on PDFs

1Upload Your Scanned PDF

Go to our OCR tool and upload your scanned document.

2OCR Processing

Our OCR engine analyzes the document and recognizes all text in the images.

3Download Results

Get your searchable PDF or extracted text file ready for editing.

Extract Text from Scanned PDFs

Powerful OCR technology. Get searchable, editable documents.

Try OCR Now

Benefits of OCR

Searchable Text

Find words and phrases instantly with Ctrl+F

Copy & Paste

Select and copy text to use elsewhere

Edit Content

Make changes to the extracted text

Accessibility

Screen readers can read the text

Tips for Better OCR Results

1. Use High-Quality Scans

The better the image quality, the more accurate the OCR. Scan at 300 DPI or higher for best results. Avoid blurry or low-resolution images.

2. Ensure Good Contrast

Black text on white background works best. Poor contrast (gray text, colored backgrounds) can reduce accuracy.

3. Straighten the Document

Skewed or rotated text is harder to recognize. Use our Rotate tool to straighten pages first.

4. Check for Handwriting

OCR works best on printed text. Handwritten content is much harder to recognize and may require specialized handwriting recognition.

Common OCR Use Cases

Digitizing Paper Archives

Organizations with paper records can scan and OCR documents to create searchable digital archives. This makes finding specific documents much faster.

Processing Receipts and Invoices

Extract data from receipts and invoices for expense tracking and accounting without manual data entry.

Converting Books and Articles

Transform scanned book pages or articles into editable text for research, translation, or accessibility purposes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How accurate is OCR?

Modern OCR is very accurate for clear, printed text - typically 95-99% accuracy. Quality depends on image resolution, text clarity, and font types.

Can OCR read any language?

Our OCR supports multiple languages. Most Latin-alphabet languages work excellently. Support for other scripts varies.

What about handwritten text?

Standard OCR is optimized for printed text. Handwriting recognition is a separate technology and generally less accurate.

Will OCR preserve the document layout?

Our tool can create a searchable PDF that preserves the original appearance while adding an invisible text layer for searching.

Ready to Extract Text?

Transform your scanned documents into searchable, editable files.

Start OCR Now