Make PDF searchable
Updated Files never leave your device
Make a scanned or photographed PDF searchable with Ctrl+F, selectable and copy-able — without changing how it looks. The text layer is created by OCR right in your browser.
How to make a scanned PDF searchable
- Choose the scanned PDF.
- Pick the document's language(s).
- Leave “Make a searchable PDF” on and click Run OCR.
- Download the -searchable.pdf file and open it — press Ctrl+F (⌘F) to search.
How a searchable PDF works
A searchable scan has two layers: the original page image you see, and invisible text drawn exactly on top of it. Every recognized word is placed at the position, size and width of the word in the image (using Tesseract's word boxes and baselines), in PDF text render mode 3 — “neither fill nor stroke”. Viewers don't paint that text, but they index it, so search highlights, selection and copy land on the right words.
Check that it worked
- Open the downloaded file in any PDF viewer (Acrobat, Preview, Chrome, Edge).
- Press Ctrl+F / ⌘F and search for a word you can see on a page.
- Drag to select a line of text — the highlight should cover the printed words.
Which scan quality to choose
| Setting | Best for | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Fast (200 DPI) | Clean office scans, 11 pt text or larger | ≈2× faster |
| Accurate (300 DPI) | Small print, footnotes, faxes, phone scans | Recommended default |
Tesseract reads best when letters are 20–30 pixels tall. A 10 pt font is about 42 px tall at 300 DPI (10 ÷ 72 × 300) but only 28 px at 200 DPI — which is why small print needs the Accurate setting.
Limitations
- Text is stored with a standard font encoding (Latin-1/WinAnsi). Letters outside it, such as ő or ł, are stored without the accent; what you see on the page is unaffected.
- Password-protected PDFs need to be unlocked first.
- Upside-down or sideways scans OCR poorly — rotate them first.
Private by design
PDF Fox renders your pages with pdf.js and recognizes text with Tesseract, both running in your browser. Your document is never uploaded; the only download is the open-source language model for the languages you select, which your browser caches.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. Pages are rendered and recognized inside your browser (pdf.js + Tesseract in WebAssembly). The only download is the OCR language model, once per language; your document never leaves your device.
How long does it take?
Roughly 3–10 seconds per page on a laptop at 300 DPI, longer on phones. Use the page range to OCR only the pages you need, or Fast (200 DPI) for clean, large print.
Why can't I search my scanned PDF?
A scanner saves each page as a picture. There are no characters in the file to search until OCR recognizes them and adds a text layer.
Does it change the file size?
Only a little. The page images are reused as-is and invisible text adds a few kilobytes per page.
Will my PDF become searchable in Google Drive or Windows search?
Yes — desktop search, Google Drive, Dropbox and document management systems index the text layer like any other PDF text.
Your business here? Sponsor this tool from $9/week. See placements