PDF OCR: recognise the text of a scan
Choose a scanned PDF and the language of the text: it will be recognised on your computer and you can download a searchable PDF. Your document never leaves your browser.
Select PDF file
or drag and drop your document here
How to use it
A scanned PDF is just an image of each page. OCR (optical character recognition) reads that image and adds the text invisibly on top: the PDF looks the same but can now be searched and copied. Recognition runs in your browser and can take a few seconds per page; the first time, the chosen language is loaded from this very site.
Choose the scanned PDF.
Set the language of the text and press Recognise text.
Download the searchable PDF, in Word (.docx) or the text as .txt.
Why use JapalTools?
Your files never leave your device
Everything happens in your browser. Documents are never uploaded to any server, so you can use it with payslips, contracts or ID documents.
Free, no sign-up and no watermarks
You don't need an account or to leave your email, and nothing is added to the result.
Works on any device
Computer, tablet or phone, with an up-to-date browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari). Nothing to install.
Frequently asked questions
With sharp scans of printed text it is good; with blurry photos, handwriting or a wrongly chosen language, worse. Pick the right language and scan at good resolution. Review the text before relying on it, especially figures.
Recognition runs on your own processor and each page can take several seconds. By default pages that already have text are skipped (copied as they are); untick the box to recognise those too. Recognised pages are saved as an image plus invisible text.
No. The document is processed in your own browser and is not sent to JapalTools or anyone else. When you close the page, no copy remains outside your device.