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SEARCHABLE SCANS, WITHOUT THE CLOUD DETOUR.

Turn a scanned PDF into a searchable PDF.

Recognize text in image-only pages, keep the original scan visible and add a searchable text layer locally. Choose exactly which pages and languages to process before OCR starts.

  1. 1. Choose
  2. 2. Prepare
  3. 3. Process
  4. 4. Review & export
Choose a scanned PDFDrop a file here or browse. Files stay on this device — nothing is uploaded to run this tool.

OCR PDF runs locally in this browser tab. Known limits: Recognition is never perfect; the visible scan is kept and a text layer is added behind it

What this tool does and does not change

  • Preserved where the source file allows it: vectors, links, annotations, forms.
  • Recognition is never perfect; the visible scan is kept and a text layer is added behind it

Questions about OCR PDF / Make PDF Searchable

What does OCR do to a PDF?
OCR recognizes characters that currently exist only inside page images. In searchable-PDF mode, PDF Atelier keeps the visible scan and adds a machine-readable text layer so you can search, select and copy recognized text.
How can I tell if my PDF needs OCR?
Try selecting a sentence. If the page behaves like one large image and no words can be selected or searched, it probably needs OCR. PDF Atelier should also detect pages with little or no usable text and recommend OCR only for those pages.
Can I OCR only certain pages?
Yes. You should be able to choose all pages, a range such as 15-38, or specific pages. This is particularly important for long documents because OCR is much more CPU- and memory-intensive than normal text search.
Does OCR change how my scanned document looks?
Searchable PDF mode should preserve the scan as the visible page and add an invisible text layer. The appearance should therefore remain essentially the same. A future reconstruction mode would be a different feature and should never be implied by default.
Which language should I choose for OCR?
Choose the language or languages actually used in the document. Correct language data improves recognition of words, punctuation and character shapes. Mixed-language documents may require more than one model and will usually take longer to process.
Why does OCR sometimes recognize words incorrectly?
Blur, low resolution, skew, compression artifacts, handwriting, decorative fonts, tables and faint printing can all reduce accuracy. PDF Atelier should show confidence information where practical and allow suspicious results to be reviewed rather than presenting OCR as error-free.
Can OCR make a PDF accessible to screen readers?
A correct text layer can improve text access, but accessibility involves more than OCR. Reading order, headings, alternative text, tables and document structure may still be missing. PDF Atelier should not claim that OCR alone creates a fully accessible tagged PDF.
Are scanned pages uploaded for OCR?
When the OCR tool is marked Local, recognition runs in browser workers on the device. The application may download OCR language assets, but document pages, recognized text and filenames must not be sent to a remote OCR service without a separate explicit opt-in flow.

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