PDF OCR – Extract Text From Image PDFs

Turn scanned or photo-based pages into editable text. Upload a PDF, run OCR, review the result, and download a plain-text file. Processing uses Tesseract.js locally in your browser—nothing is sent to our servers for recognition.

PDF OCR

Extract text from scanned or image-based PDFs in your browser

Drop a PDF here

Text-based PDFs already have copyable text—OCR helps with scans and photos. Up to 50 pages per run.

Why use PDF OCR?

Unlock text from scans and photos

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Browser-based

OCR runs on your device—private by default.

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Plain text out

Get a .txt you can paste into Word, email, or code.

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Page markers

Output is labeled by page so you can match the source.

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English model

Optimized for English text; best on clear scans.

Related tools

PDF to JPGCompress PDFMerge PDF

What PDF OCR does

Many “PDF” files are really images—each page is a picture of text. OCR (optical character recognition) finds letters and words in those images so you can search, copy, and edit.

Pixlean PDF OCR renders each page in your browser and runs the open-source Tesseract engine. You get a text file, not a searchable PDF layer—export that text wherever you need it.

Guide & FAQs

Key features

  • Tesseract.js OCR
  • Up to 50 pages per run
  • Edit text before download
  • Free; no signup

How to use

  1. Upload a PDF.
  2. Click Run OCR (first run may download the language model).
  3. Review or edit the text.
  4. Download as .txt from the editor or the download step.

Why choose this tool

When a PDF is only images, search and copy do not work. OCR recovers text for editing and quoting. For native text PDFs, your reader’s copy may be faster.

Use cases

  • Archives. Digitize typed or printed pages from scans.
  • Students. Quote from a scanned textbook page without retyping.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is OCR?
It depends on scan quality, fonts, and language. Clear, high-contrast pages work best.
Is there a page limit?
Yes—up to 50 pages per run to keep the browser responsive.

Run OCR above. For images instead of PDF, try our image tools. To get PDF pages as pictures, use PDF to JPG.

You can also use these Pixlean tools

For related tasks, try these free online image tools: