# PDF OCR > Turn a scanned PDF into searchable, selectable text with OCR — English, Hindi, Bengali and more. Runs in your browser, so documents are never uploaded. - URL: https://farvixo.com/tools/pdf/pdf-ocr - Category: PDF Tools (https://farvixo.com/tools/pdf) - Price: Free - Last reviewed: 7 August 2026 - Publisher: Farvixo Technologies ## What is PDF OCR? PDF OCR is a free browser-based PDF tool from Farvixo that lets you make scanned PDFs searchable with OCR. It runs entirely on your own device using WebAssembly, so the document is never uploaded to a server. There is no sign-up, no watermark on the output and no cap on how many documents you process. ## Specifications | Property | Value | | --- | --- | | Tool | PDF OCR — PDF Tools | | Purpose | Make scanned PDFs searchable with OCR | | Input | A single file (PDF) | | Output | PDF file (plus the chosen export format where the tool converts) | | Processing | In your browser — files are never uploaded to a server | | Price | Free, unlimited, no account required | | Limitations | Bounded by your device's memory and CPU rather than a server quota; very large files may be slow on older hardware | ## How to use PDF OCR 1. **Add your PDF** — Drag your PDF into PDF OCR or click to browse. The file stays on your device — nothing is uploaded to a server. 2. **Set up the document** — Reorder, select page ranges and pick the output settings you need. PDF OCR shows a live preview so you can check the result before committing to it. 3. **Save the finished PDF** — Download the new PDF straight away. No watermark, no page limit and no sign-up — run PDF OCR as often as you need. ## Use cases - Preparing a document for an email attachment or an upload form with a size limit - Students and office workers who need one PDF change without buying a desktop editor - Handling contracts, invoices or ID documents that should not be uploaded to a third-party server - Cleaning up a scanned document before archiving or sharing it ## Tips - Check the page count and orientation in the preview before you download — reordering afterwards means starting over. - If a PDF refuses to open, it is usually password-protected; remove the password first, then re-run this tool. - Very large PDFs are limited by your device memory, not by an upload cap. Splitting a 500-page file into parts is faster than processing it whole. ## Common problems - **The PDF will not load** — The file is encrypted or was produced by a non-standard writer. Open it in a PDF reader, print it back to PDF, and try again. - **Text comes out garbled or as boxes** — The PDF has no embedded font or no text layer at all. A scanned page needs OCR first — use PDF OCR, then re-run this tool. - **The browser tab becomes unresponsive** — The document is larger than the available memory. Close other tabs, or split the PDF and process it in sections. ## FAQ ### What does OCR do to a PDF? A scanned PDF is a picture of a page — it contains no text, which is why you cannot select or search it. OCR recognises the shapes as characters and adds a real text layer behind the image, so the document looks identical but becomes searchable, selectable and convertible. ### How do I know whether my PDF needs OCR? Open it and try to select a line of text. If words highlight, it already has a text layer and OCR is unnecessary. If your cursor draws a rectangle and selects nothing, it is a scan and needs OCR first. ### Which languages are supported? English, Hindi (Devanagari), Bengali, Tamil, Spanish, French, German and several others. Choose the correct language before running it — accuracy drops sharply when the engine is looking for the wrong alphabet. ### How accurate is the OCR? Very high on clean, straight, reasonably high-resolution scans of ordinary printed type. Accuracy falls on faint photocopies, unusual fonts, tight tables and pages photographed at an angle. Always proofread numbers — a misread digit looks entirely plausible. ### Can it read handwriting? Partially, and unreliably. OCR is trained principally on printed type. Neat block capitals are sometimes recognised; ordinary cursive generally is not. Treat any handwritten result as a draft to check rather than an extraction to trust. ### Are my scanned documents uploaded anywhere? No. Recognition runs inside your browser using WebAssembly. This matters here more than almost anywhere else on the site, because the documents people scan are contracts, certificates and identity papers. ### What do I do after running OCR? You get a searchable PDF that looks exactly like the original. From there you can convert it to Word or Excel, copy text out of it, or simply keep it as an archive that can actually be searched. ## Related tools - [PDF Converter](https://farvixo.com/tools/pdf/pdf-converter): Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Images and more — or convert any file to PDF - [Merge PDF](https://farvixo.com/tools/pdf/merge-pdf): Merge multiple PDF files into one document — AI organize, optimize & premium merge modes - [PDF Compressor](https://farvixo.com/tools/pdf/compress-pdf): AI-powered PDF compression — smart modes, batch queue, quality reports & 100% private - [PDF to Word](https://farvixo.com/tools/pdf/pdf-to-word): Convert PDF to editable Word with AI layout repair, OCR, tables & Indic script support — 100% private - [PDF to Excel](https://farvixo.com/tools/pdf/pdf-to-excel): Convert PDF tables into editable Excel spreadsheets — dates, numbers and currency stay editable - [Image to PDF](https://farvixo.com/tools/pdf/image-to-pdf): AI-powered image to PDF — batch upload, organize, optimize & professional PDF output --- > Machine-readable index: [llms.txt](https://farvixo.com/llms.txt) · full corpus: [llms-full.txt](https://farvixo.com/llms-full.txt) · agent skill: [skill.md](https://farvixo.com/skill.md). 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