OCR PDF: How to Extract Text from Scanned Documents in 2026

What is OCR and Why Do You Need It?

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is technology that converts images of text into actual, editable text. When you scan a document, it becomes a picture - OCR turns that picture back into real text.

When You Need OCR:

Scanned contracts - Make them searchable and editable

Old documents - Digitize paper archives

Photos of text - Extract text from photos or screenshots

Non-selectable PDFs - Some PDFs have text as images

How to OCR a PDF for Free

Using ExactPDF's OCR Tool

Our OCR tool runs entirely in your browser using Tesseract.js - no uploads required:

Go to OCR PDF Tool

Upload your scanned PDF

Select language (supports 100+ languages)

Click "Extract Text"

Copy text or download as searchable PDF

Key Benefits:

🔒 100% local processing - your documents stay private

🌐 Works offline after loading

🗣️ Supports multiple languages including Hindi, Chinese, Japanese

💰 Completely free, no limits

OCR Accuracy: What Affects It?

Factors That Improve Accuracy:

Factor	Good	Bad
Image quality	Clear, high DPI scan	Blurry or low resolution
Text contrast	Black text on white	Gray text or colored backgrounds
Font type	Standard fonts	Handwriting or decorative fonts
Document angle	Straight	Skewed or rotated

Tips for Best Results:

Scan at 300 DPI minimum - Higher resolution = better recognition

Use black and white mode - Remove color noise

Flatten the document - No folded or curved pages

Check lighting - Even illumination, no shadows

Real-World OCR Use Cases

For Students & Researchers

Convert scanned book pages to searchable text

Digitize handwritten notes (with good accuracy for neat writing)

Search through hundreds of scanned papers instantly

For Businesses

Process invoices and receipts automatically

Digitize old paper contracts

Create searchable document archives

Extract data from forms

For Legal & Healthcare

Make medical records searchable

Digitize case files

Compliance with document accessibility requirements

OCR for Different Languages

Our OCR tool supports 100+ languages:

Major Languages:

English, Spanish, French, German

Hindi (हिन्दी), Chinese (中文), Japanese (日本語)

Arabic (العربية), Korean (한국어)

Russian (Русский), Portuguese

How to Use:

Upload your document

Select the correct language

For multi-language documents, select the primary language

OCR vs. PDF to Word: What's the Difference?

Feature	OCR PDF	PDF to Word
Input	Scanned/image PDFs	Text-based PDFs
Output	Selectable text or searchable PDF	Editable Word document
When to use	Document is a scanned image	Document already has text layers

Pro Tip: If your PDF to Word conversion produces blank pages or image-only content, you need OCR first!

Free vs. Paid OCR Tools

Free Tools (Like ExactPDF)

✅ No cost

✅ Local processing (private)

✅ No file limits

⚠️ May be slower for large documents

Paid Tools (Adobe, ABBYY)

✅ Faster processing

✅ Batch processing

✅ Advanced formatting preservation

❌ Monthly subscription ($$$)

❌ Files uploaded to cloud

Common OCR Questions

Can OCR read handwriting?

Limited. OCR works best with printed text. Handwriting recognition requires specialized tools and varies by neatness.

What about multi-column documents?

Our OCR handles layouts intelligently, but very complex layouts may need manual review.

Is OCR 100% accurate?

No OCR is perfect. Always proofread important documents after OCR.

Can I OCR password-protected PDFs?

Unlock the PDF first using our Unlock PDF tool, then run OCR.

Start Extracting Text Now

Ready to make your scanned documents searchable?

Try OCR PDF Tool →

Free. Private. No signup required.