Drag & drop or click to select your scanned PDF file. Max 50MB per file.
Step 2
Configure Settings
Select language, OCR type (Force OCR, Skip Text, etc.), render type, and output type (PDF or PDF/A).
Step 3
Run OCR & Download
Click Run OCR, wait for server processing, then download your searchable PDF.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is OCR?
Optical Character Recognition makes scanned PDFs searchable and selectable by recognizing text in images.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
Yes. OCR processing requires server-side conversion via Stirling PDF. Your file is handled securely and not stored after processing.
What languages are supported?
Supports 38 languages including English, Hindi, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, and more.
What OCR types are available?
Five OCR types: Force OCR (process all pages), Skip All Text, Skip Text and Meta, Only OCR, and Skip OCR. You can also choose hOCR render type and output as PDF or PDF/A.
How long does OCR take?
Processing time depends on file size and complexity. Typically 5-30 seconds per page.
Can I OCR password-protected PDFs?
You'll need to unlock the PDF first using our Unlock PDF tool.