Turn a scanned PDF into text
Drop a scanned PDF and get the text of every page in one file. It runs on your own device, so the document is never uploaded.
- Free, no sign-up
- Runs in your browser. Your files never leave your device.
- Updated
Pick an image on the left.
How do I turn a scanned PDF into text?
Drop the PDF above and check the language. The Tesseract engine draws each page at about 300 dpi and reads it in your browser. Download one .txt or Markdown file for the whole document, or a .zip with a file per page. The PDF is never uploaded.
- Drop the PDF. Up to 500 pages and 200 MB.
- Choose the language. Add every language the pages use, and only those.
- Download. Download all offers one text file, one Markdown file or a .zip.
Does my PDF need OCR at all?
Try selecting a line of text in a PDF viewer. If you can, the PDF already has text, and PDF to Text gets it out exactly and much faster. If you cannot, the pages are pictures, and this tool is the one to use.
How do I get better results from a scan?
- Scan at 300 dpi or more, with the page flat.
- Turn on Even out shadows for photographed pages.
- For pages with several columns, set the page layout to One column of text. Read each column on its own if the order comes out wrong.
Questions
What is a scanned PDF?
One whose pages are pictures of paper, so you cannot select or search the text. OCR (text recognition) reads those pictures and turns them back into text.
Is the PDF uploaded?
No. Your browser draws and reads the pages one by one, and the file never leaves your device.
How long does a long PDF take?
About 1–3 seconds a page on a recent laptop, with several pages read at once. Phones read one page at a time and take longer. You can watch each page’s progress and stop at any point.
What if the PDF already has text?
Then you do not need OCR. PDF to Text pulls the real text out exactly, in a fraction of the time. This page tells you when it notices a text layer.
Can it make a searchable PDF?
Not yet. It gives you the text as plain text or Markdown: one file for the whole PDF, or a .zip with a file per page group.
What about password-protected PDFs?
Open the PDF with its password, save a copy without one, and add that copy. The tool cannot open locked files.
More free tools
- Image to Text (OCR) Copy the text from photos, scans and screenshots. 100+ languages.
- Screenshot to Text Paste a screenshot and copy the text in it.
- Background Remover Remove the background from any photo. The AI runs on your device.
- Image Compressor Shrink JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIF images, one or hundreds at a time.
- Merge PDF Join PDFs into one file. Reorder and rotate pages in your browser.
Send it to your notebook in one click.
Kortex sends web pages, highlights, posts, YouTube videos and AI chats into the Gemini Notebook you pick. Bulk import also takes your open tabs, CSV files and RSS feeds (lists of a site’s new posts).
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