Image to Searchable PDF — Add an OCR Text Layer to Scans

A regular image PDF is a flat picture wrapped in a .pdf container — you cannot select, copy or search the text in it. A searchable PDF has an invisible OCR text layer aligned behind every visible character, so Ctrl+F finds words, Copy works, and screen readers can read the page aloud while the visual appearance stays identical.

The OCR engine reads every word and stores its text and bounding box behind the original image at the exact pixel coordinates. Visually the page looks identical to the original scan, but Adobe Acrobat, Preview, Chrome and every modern PDF viewer can now select, search and copy the text as if it were native digital text.

Yes. The text layer is standard PDF (no proprietary extension), so Adobe Acrobat (Reader and Pro), macOS Preview, Chrome's built-in PDF viewer, Firefox, Edge, and mobile readers like Files app, Drive and Dropbox all index and search it. Ctrl+F or Cmd+F finds words, even in long scanned reports.

Chinese, Arabic and Hindi are all in the Document language picker, but each build reads one language. Pick the main language printed on the pages; for a mixed-script document such as a bilingual menu or an international contract, choose the dominant language and check the text of the other script.

The text layer adds a little to the PDF size, which is a small price for full-text search across your document archive. If size matters for email, run the result through PDF Compress to trim large embedded images further.

Uploads are processed in a temporary working folder and removed under our Security policy. If you explicitly create a share link, anyone with that link can access the result without automatic expiration while Pixoate provides the sharing service. Review the Security policy and your organisation's requirements before processing sensitive documents.

This tool reads image files (JPG, PNG, TIFF, scans and photos) and returns a searchable PDF. If you already have a multi-page scanned PDF, first split it into page images with the PDF to Images tool, then drop those images here to get one searchable, OCR'd PDF back.

Upload JPG, PNG, WEBP, GIF, TIFF or BMP — phone photos, flatbed scans and screenshots all work. The OCR engine reads the text and wraps it in an invisible layer behind the picture, so the result is a normal searchable PDF that opens in any viewer.

No. The searchable PDF builder has no engine setting: a searchable PDF needs an invisible text layer positioned word-by-word over each scan, and the tool uses one built-in reader to make it. The only recognition setting is the Document language.

Open the Document language picker and choose the language printed on the pages (English by default) — this is the single most important setting for OCR accuracy, since character recognition is language-specific. Changing it clears the previous result, so press Make searchable PDF again to rebuild the PDF with a fresh text layer.

Set the Document language picker to the contract's primary language. Each build reads one language, so if key sections in a second language still aren't matching when you search, build the pages again with the second language selected and compare the two results.

No. Changing the language clears the previous result and nothing runs until you press Make searchable PDF again. This is deliberate: reading the pages is a metered step, so the tool does not re-scan in the background every time you touch the picker.

If Ctrl+F finds nothing, the PDF is almost certainly a scan — the pages are pictures with no text underneath. Run the file through this searchable PDF converter: OCR reads every page and adds an invisible text layer, so search, highlighting and copy-paste start working in any viewer. The visible pages stay pixel-for-pixel the same.

You don't need Acrobat or installed software. Upload the scans and the tool builds one searchable PDF. The finished file is a document export, so use Premium or credits to download it. The output opens in any PDF viewer.

Almost always one of three things. The file is over the 20 MB free upload limit — Premium takes 50 MB and Pro 120 MB. The format is not one this tool accepts, so check the list shown on the upload panel. Or the file is not really the format its name says: renaming a file does not change what is inside it, and that is the reason a valid-looking PDF gets refused.

A PDF stores where every character sits on the page, not the paragraphs and styles a word processor works in, so converting means rebuilding that structure by inference. Complex columns, tables and text wrapped around images are where it drifts. If the appearance matters more than editability, choose the visual mode; if you need to type into it, choose the editable mode and expect to fix the odd heading.

Searchable PDF supports free standard use within the published processing allowances. Free downloads are clean — no watermark. No signup is required for standard tool use. Photo effects and AI edits have a web-size limit on Free, with the original-resolution result available through Premium or one credit. Crop, resize, rotate, compress and convert stay full size. Published processing allowances and file limits still apply.

No — Searchable PDF runs in the browser on desktop and phone. There is nothing to install, no trial to start, and no license to buy before you can see whether it does what you need. Try it on the file you are actually stuck with rather than a sample.

It takes two steps, because this maker accepts image files, not PDF documents. To convert PDF to searchable PDF, render its pages as JPG with PDF to Images, upload the images here in page order and select Make searchable PDF. The new PDF has a text layer, and the original file is not changed.

A searchable image is a picture of a page, such as a scan or photo, that also carries recognized text behind it. The page looks the same, but you can search for words, select them and copy them. This tool creates that kind of file as a PDF from your JPG, PNG or HEIC images.

A JPG to scanned PDF conversion places the picture on a page so it looks like a scanned document, which a normal PDF from Image to PDF does. This maker goes one step further and adds hidden recognized text, so the page can also be searched and copied.

This maker does not take PDF files, and it builds a searchable PDF rather than a text file. Render the PDF pages as images and upload them to get a searchable PDF, or use PDF to Text when you need the words as plain text.

A searchable PDF keeps the picture and hides the text behind it, so the words are not edited in place. To get the words as editable text, use Image to Text, or Image to Word with its text option. Check the recognized text before you rely on it.

A page that text recognition cannot read is kept in the PDF as an image-only page, and the tool tells you how many pages were affected. Retake or rescan that page with sharper focus and even light, replace it in the list and build the PDF again.

A searchable PDF is a document export. Premium or credits cover the export once the pages are images. A normal PDF built from the same images does not use that export step.

Each document has a page limit, and each image can be up to 8 MB. The tool shows the limit and your page count if you go over it. For a longer document, build it in parts and join the PDFs with Merge PDF.