About The Make PDF Searchable

Make PDF Searchable adds an invisible OCR text layer to scanned PDF pages so the output can be searched, copied, and indexed while keeping the original page image visible.

The OCR and PDF generation run in your browser after the required libraries load. Accuracy depends on scan quality, language, and page layout.

How to Make PDFs Searchable Online

1. Choose the scanned PDF file.
2. Open more options to set OCR language, render scale, or page range.
3. Build the searchable PDF and wait while pages are rendered and read.
4. Download the output and test search/copy on a few pages.

Choosing Options Correctly

Render scale:
Higher scale can improve OCR detail but takes longer and uses more memory. Lower it for large PDFs if processing struggles.

Page range:
Use ranges like 1-3,5 to process only the pages you need or to split a large job into smaller runs.

Common Use Cases

• Making scanned forms, letters, receipts, or archives searchable.
• Preparing research or legal documents for easier lookup.
• Adding copyable text to image-based PDFs without changing the visible page image.

Quick FAQ

Is my original PDF changed?
No. The searchable version is generated as a new PDF.

Are my PDF pages uploaded?
No. OCR and PDF generation are designed to run in the browser.

Will OCR be perfect?
No. Search accuracy depends on scan quality, language, rotation, contrast, and page noise.

What should I check before archiving?
Open the output, search for known words, and confirm page order and visual quality before discarding any source file.