OCR PDF Online – Make Scanned PDFs Searchable Free

Turn scanned PDFs into searchable, selectable documents. OCR in 16 languages adds an invisible text layer while keeping your pages looking exactly the same.

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Free online OCR

Make every scanned page searchable

A scanned PDF is just pictures of text — you can’t search it, select it or copy from it. iHeartPDF OCR PDF recognises the words on every page and adds an invisible text layer behind them.

Your pages look exactly the same, but now you can press Ctrl+F, highlight sentences and copy text. Choose up to three document languages from 16, and let the tool fix upside-down pages and straighten crooked scans.

100% freeNo sign-upNo watermarkWorks on any device

How to OCR a PDF in 3 easy steps

1

Upload your scanned PDF

Drag and drop your file into the box above or click Choose Files.

2

Choose languages & options

Select the languages in the document and whether to fix orientation, straighten pages or redo existing text.

3

Run OCR & download

Click Run OCR and download your searchable PDF.

Why OCR PDFs with iHeartPDF?

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16 languages

English, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Russian, most European languages and more.

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Auto orientation

Upside-down and sideways pages are detected and turned the right way.

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Looks unchanged

The original page images are kept; the text layer is invisible.

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Private & secure

Files travel over an encrypted connection and are automatically deleted from our servers within 2 hours.

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Free with no watermark

No account, no trial limits and no watermark added to your files. Use it as often as you like.

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Works on any device

Use it on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone or Android — in any modern browser, with nothing to install.

Perfect for

  • Making scanned contracts and records searchable
  • Copying text out of scanned books and articles
  • Preparing scans for PDF to Word or PDF to Excel
  • Building searchable document archives
  • Improving accessibility for screen readers

Pro tips

  1. Pick every language that appears in the document for the best accuracy (up to three).
  2. Clean, straight scans at 200–300 dpi give the best recognition.
  3. Next, try PDF to Word or PDF to Excel to edit the recognised text.

Frequently asked questions

Upload your PDF, choose the document languages and click Run OCR. Download the result and search it with Ctrl+F.

No. The page images stay the same; an invisible text layer is added underneath.

By default those pages are skipped. You can also choose to redo OCR or rasterise and OCR everything.

16 languages including English, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

Yes. Files are transferred over a secure, encrypted connection and automatically deleted from our servers within 2 hours. We never share or keep your documents.

Absolutely. iHeartPDF works in any modern browser on iPhone, Android, tablets, Windows, Mac and Linux — no app or software installation needed.

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Ready to make your scans searchable?

Scroll up, drop in your scanned PDF and get searchable text in moments.

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