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Private by design · 100% on-device

Searchable OCR PDF

Extract text from scans and images inside your PDF. Add an invisible, selectable text layer entirely on-device using client-side WASM - no uploads, no sign-up.

Drop a PDF to OCR

Add a selectable text layer to scanned or image-based PDF files.

  • No uploads
  • No sign-up
  • No watermark
  • Works offline

How it works

How to run OCR on PDF pages

Three quick steps, all in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.

  1. 01

    Add your PDF

    Drop a scanned PDF into the box above. It loads straight into your browser - nothing is uploaded.

  2. 02

    Run text recognition

    Choose your document language and click Start OCR. The tesseract.js engine extracts characters from the page imagery.

  3. 03

    Download searchable PDF

    Save your OCR-processed PDF instantly. The file contains a searchable, selectable text layer over the scans.

Features

Everything the PDF OCR tool does

One focused tool for making scanned documents interactive - without a subscription or a single upload.

Make Text Selectable

Copy and paste quotes, tables, and sections directly from previously locked scanned pages.

Multiple Languages

Supports English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese character recognition models.

Private by design

OCR is executed entirely in your browser's memory. Your sensitive files are never uploaded to external servers.

Works offline

Once language files are downloaded, the tool works 100% offline, keeping data processing on-device.

Privacy

Your PDF never leaves your device

Unlike cloud editors that send your files to remote servers for text parsing, PDFNEO processes character recognition locally on your hardware.

Start OCR now

PDFNEO

  • Processes OCR locally in your browser's memory
  • No file is ever uploaded to a server
  • No account, email, or sign-up required
  • No watermark and unlimited use

Typical cloud tools

  • Upload every document to a remote server
  • Often require an account to save searchable files
  • May add watermarks or daily limits
  • Leave copies of your files in the cloud

Use cases

When to use OCR on PDFs

Adding a text layer makes documents searchable, accessible, and ready for copy-pasting.

  • Convert scanned paper receipts or invoices into searchable records
  • Make historic documents, books, or photocopies searchable
  • Copy text segments from scanned screenshots in PDF reports
  • Prepare non-searchable PDFs for desktop indexing and fast retrieval
  • OCR academic papers and references for citation pasting
  • Enable text search in legal briefs that were scanned

Keep going

Other PDF tools you might need

Keep working privately. Every PDFNEO tool runs in your browser with no uploads.

PDF to Text

Pull the selectable text out of a PDF into plain text you can copy or save.

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Compress PDF

Re-encode page imagery to trim megabytes while keeping pages readable.

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Flatten PDF

Merge interactive form fields and their values into static page content.

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Organize PDF

Drag to reorder PDF pages, rotate or delete them, and select several at once, then rebuild.

Open tool

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Everything about client-side PDF OCR with PDFNEO.

How do I OCR a PDF for free?
Drop your PDF above, choose the language, and click Start OCR. PDFNEO adds a searchable text layer on-device. You can then download the resulting PDF for free.
How does the OCR layer work?
The tool scans page pixels to identify words, computes their font bounds, and draws invisible text overlay markers on top of the image layer. This keeps the document looking identical while making the text copyable and searchable.
Where do the language training files come from?
Tesseract.js fetches the language files dynamically from a secure public CDN on the first run. The browser caches these files so they can be reused offline on subsequent OCR tasks.
Will the original formatting or graphics change?
No. The original page elements (scans, margins, graphics) are completely untouched. The OCR text layer is overlaid invisibly on top of the original stream.
Can I use this tool on my phone?
Yes. The OCR engine works on smartphones and tablets, although processing speed depends on your mobile device's CPU and memory.

Ready to OCR your PDF?

Drop in a file and make it searchable in seconds. No account, no upload, no watermark.

Start OCR PDF