How to extract text from a scanned PDF or image

Why you cannot copy text from a scan

A scanner or camera records what the page looks like, not what it says. The result is an image, so there are no characters to select or search. OCR software looks at the shapes in the image and works out which letters they are.

Extract the text, step by step

1. Open the OCR tool and upload your scanned PDF or a photo of the page.
2. If the page is crooked or has a border, open it and use Adjust crop and Rotate first. Straight, tight pages read better.
3. Under More options, choose Extract text. The first time, the text engine has to load, so give it a moment.
4. Read the result in the Extracted text panel. It is editable: fix any mistakes, and use the search box to find a word.
5. Choose Copy text and paste it wherever you need it.

What makes OCR more accurate

• A sharp, well-lit photo. Blur and shadows cause most errors.
• A straight page. Text on a tilt or a curve, such as a book spine, reads poorly.
• High contrast. Try Black & White or Auto enhancement in the page editor before you extract.
• Standard printed fonts. Handwriting, very small print and decorative fonts are much less reliable.

Limits to know about

• PDFScanner's free OCR reads English only, and up to 30 pages in one run.
• It runs in your browser, so a large batch on an older phone can be slow. Extract fewer pages at a time if it struggles.
• The text is shown for you to copy. It is not added to the PDF as a hidden layer, so the PDF itself is not made searchable.

Always check the important parts

OCR makes small mistakes: a zero read as the letter O, a one read as a lowercase L. Check names, amounts, dates and reference numbers against the original before you rely on them.

If you want an editable document instead

If you need the whole document in Word rather than just its text, convert the PDF to Word. Scanned pages are read with the same English text recognition.