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MyPDF4U

OCR PDF — Make Scans Searchable

Recognise text inside scanned documents.

OCR PDF workspace

or drag and drop files here

Supported: PDF documents

Files are processed securely in your browser and are never uploaded to our servers.

Your documents are processed securely inside this browser tab. Nothing is uploaded, stored or shared — read more on our security page.

How to use OCR PDF

  1. 1

    Upload the scanned PDF.

  2. 2

    Pick the language of the document.

  3. 3

    Run OCR and download the searchable PDF.

Why use MyPDF4U?

No account, no installation and no queue. Every tool opens straight onto the upload area, so the task you came for is the first thing on the page. Supported tools run inside your browser, which means your files stay on your device and results appear as soon as your computer finishes the work.

Key features

Searchable output

Recognised words are placed invisibly over the original page image.

Scans stay private

Recognition runs in your browser, not on our servers.

Seven languages

English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch.

Frequently asked questions

How long does OCR take?

Roughly a few seconds per page, plus a one-off download of the language data. Long documents take a while because all the work happens on your own device.

How accurate is it?

Clean scans at 300 DPI are usually recognised very accurately. Photos of pages, low contrast and handwriting are much less reliable.

Can I then convert it to Word?

Yes — run OCR first, then use PDF to Word on the searchable file.

Good to know

OCR turns a picture of text into real characters, which makes a scan searchable and copyable. Quality depends heavily on scan resolution — 300 DPI is the usual sweet spot.