Wondershare PDF OCR Converter

Convert Scanned Files to Editable
and Searchable PDFs

Accurately recognize text on images or scanned PDFs and edit scanned files in one click.

OCR PDF Now

Fast, reliable, and powerful
OCR engine in the industry.

High quality and
accuracy.

Recognize 20+
languages.

What is OCR?

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is a widespread technology that allows optical recognition of text inside images, such as scanned documents and photos.

With its built-in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, PDFelement features a useful OCR converter that can recognize text from PDF documents. It preserves and reproduces document layout and formatting elements - headers, footers, graphics, footnotes, page numbering, and captions.

One-Click to turn PDF scans editable and
searchable in HD quality.

Edit text in scanned PDF documents.

The OCR feature makes editing scanned PDF and image-based PDF as easy as editing a Word document. Newly added text can sync with the existing fonts in your scanned PDF and image.

OCR PDF Now

Edit text in scanned PDF documents.

Convert images to editable Microsoft Office format.

Convert scanned PDF and image-based PDF to various formats with editable, selectable, and searchable content, such as Microsoft Office formats, Pages, or a plain text document (TXT file).

OCR PDF Now

Convert images to editable Microsoft Office format.c

Extract data from scanned PDF.

Manual data input becomes a thing of the past. PDFelement enables you to extract data in selected areas from scanned PDF and image-based PDF or extract data from form fields in PDF after performing OCR.

OCR PDF Now

Extract data from scanned PDF.

OCR PDF files in bulk.

Convert multiple scanned PDF or image-based PDF files to editable and searchable PDF files without hassles. Solve your problem of massive document processing.

OCR PDF Now

OCR PDF files in bulk.

Select and OCR an area of a PDF.

To OCR a specific section of a PDF document based on its position or content, convert the page to an image, specify the region of interest (ROI), and then initiate the OCR engine.

OCR PDF Now

Select and OCR an area of a PDF.

Secure, Compliant, and Professional PDF Software - Award-Winning.

PDFelement has won G2 Best Software Awards 2024 - Top 50 Office Products, received ISO 27001 - Information Security Management certification, and is a recognized member of the PDF Association.

Best Free OCR Software for Windows/Mac/iOS:

Windows

Free Download

Mac

Free Download

iOS

Android

A smart OCR reader for everyone.

IT Service

Use OCR PDF feature to convert PDF scans to searchable files, to save as Office editable formats in order to manage and categorize different kinds of collected data.

-- Preston, Programmer

Creative Service

Batch convert downloaded web pages with OCR to make them searchable and extract data.

-- Edna, Artist

Education

Read academic journals, many of which are pictures, use PDFelement OCR function to highlight sentences and search keywords in articles to improve research efficiency.

-- Marty, Researcher

How to convert scanned PDF to editable PDF?

Step 1. Open scanned PDF file

Open your scanned PDF file in PDFelement.

Step 2. Perform OCR

A message will pop up under the top toolbar to remind you to perform OCR in the scanned PDF file. Click the “Perform OCR” button.

Step 3. Edit scanned PDF file

Once OCR is complete, you can click the page area and start to edit.

OCR PDF Now

FAQs about OCR PDF.

How to make PDF searchable?

It’s quick and easy to convert a PDF file into searchable and editable text using Wondershare PDFelement. Follow these steps:

Step 1. Install and run the original version of PDFelement on your Windows or macOS computer.

Step 2. Next, tap OCR PDF to browse and upload your PDF file. You’ll see a pop-up window where you’ll set the Scan Option as “Scan to searchable text in image.” You can also select the Page Range and Language Recognition before clicking Apply.

Step 3. PDFelement will scan and analyze your PDF document. Now, edit your PDF with more text, image overlays, website links, signatures, feedback, and more.

Is there any free OCR software?

Many OCR programs can be installed online. However, most of these OCR services are not free. So, if you’re looking for a free OCR service, install Wondershare PDFelement and OCR all your PDF files, including scanned images. PDFelement is amazingly simple, as you don’t need special OCR skills to scan and edit your OCR file. Give it a try!

How do I convert scanned PDF to Word?

Wondershare PDFelement lets you convert scanned PDF to an editable Word file. Here are the steps:

Step 1. Run PDFelement and then click OCR PDF to upload PDF and OCR it.

Step 2. After scanning and editing your PDF file, click the Convert button at the top menu bar. You’ll see multiple output options, including Word, Excel, Text, PPT, and more. In this case, choose Word.

Step 3. Name your file, choose a destination path, and convert it to PDF. It’s that easy!

How do I OCR a PDF without Adobe?

To perform OCR on a PDF file without Adobe on Windows and Mac, you can use a desktop PDF editor like PDFelement, which can scan a PDF file and make it editable and searchable. Or you can use an online OCR tool to OCR scanned PDF without downloading software.

What is the difference between a scanned and native PDF?

A scanned PDF is a digital image of a physical document, meaning its text and graphics are not directly selectable or searchable. Optical character recognition (OCR) software is needed to make the text usable. In contrast, a native PDF is created digitally from electronic sources like word processors, ensuring the text is fully searchable, selectable, and editable. This inherent difference makes native PDFs more functional for text manipulation and typically results in smaller file sizes than scanned PDFs.

How do I know if a PDF is OCR?

You can perform a few simple checks to determine if a PDF is OCR-processed. First, try selecting the text with your cursor; if you can highlight individual words or characters, the PDF likely has been OCR-processed. Next, attempt to search for specific words within the document using the search function (often Ctrl+F or Command+F); if you can find and navigate to specific terms, this indicates the text is searchable. Additionally, in PDF viewer software like Adobe Acrobat or PDFelement, you can check the document properties under **File > Properties** and look for any mention of OCR or text recognition having been applied. If the text is not selectable or searchable, the document is likely just an image and has not undergone OCR processing.

Can we edit OCR PDF?

Yes, you can edit an OCR-processed PDF. Once a PDF has undergone Optical Character Recognition (OCR), the text is converted from image format to editable text. To edit such a PDF with PDFelement, you open the software, load the OCR-processed PDF, click on the "Edit" tab, and select the text to modify, typing your changes directly into the document. Additionally, online tools like HiPDF or Smallpdf also offer editing capabilities. You upload the OCR-processed PDF to these platforms, use the "Edit" function, and click on text areas to make necessary modifications. These tools enable you to edit the text and adjust images, formatting, and other elements within the OCR-processed PDF.