Extract text from scanned PDFs into an editable Word document, or generate a searchable PDF with selectable text.
Extract text from scanned PDFs into an editable Word document using built-in OCR. Works best on clean, printed text.
Is this tool really free?
Yes. Every tool on this site is free, with no account or sign-up required.
Are my files uploaded to your servers?
No. All processing happens in your browser, so your files never leave your device.
Will the layout be preserved?
No. The Word file contains plain recognized text; layout and formatting are not preserved.
This tool uses OCR, which reads the words in a scanned page image and turns them into real text. It works on scanned PDFs and on images such as PNG and JPG, and it can also produce a searchable PDF that keeps the original look while adding a selectable text layer. Recognition runs entirely in your browser, so your document is never uploaded. The limit is 30 pages per file.
Clean, straight, printed text with good contrast works best. Pick the language that matches most of the document before you start. Seven recognition languages are supported: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean. Handwriting, faint print, and heavily decorated fonts are much harder for OCR and will need more cleanup.
Turn on paragraph merging if your document wraps sentences across lines, so the Word file reads as flowing paragraphs instead of one line per row. The high definition option improves accuracy on small print but takes longer. Expect to fix tables and unusual layouts by hand. No OCR is perfect, so read through the result once, especially names, numbers, and dates.
Will my formatting survive?
Paragraphs and headings usually come through well. Complex tables, multi-column layouts, and footnotes may need manual cleanup in Word.
Is my document uploaded anywhere?
No. Recognition runs in your browser with Tesseract.js, and the file never leaves your device.
How long does a long document take?
It depends on your device and the page count. Short documents take seconds. A full 30 page scan can take a few minutes, so keep the tab open until it finishes.
Step by step: How to Convert a PDF to Word.