About OCR PDF
A scanned page is a picture, so you can’t search it or copy its words. OCR (optical character recognition) reads the text in each page image and adds an invisible text layer on top, keeping the page looking exactly as scanned.
Recognition uses the open-source Tesseract engine. Choose the document language for the best results. OCR PDF is part of GlobTool Pro.
Getting the best recognition
- Scan at 300 dpi in grayscale or colour rather than low-resolution photos.
- Make sure pages are straight and the right way up; rotate sideways pages first with Rotate PDF.
- Choose the language the document is written in.
After OCR
Use your PDF reader’s search to find words, or select and copy text. To get the text alone in a file, run the result through PDF to Text.
How to use it
- 1Choose or drop a scanned PDF
- 2Pick the document language
- 3Run OCR, then download the searchable PDF
Questions
How accurate is it?
Clean, straight scans at 300 dpi usually recognise very well. Handwriting, low-resolution photos and unusual fonts give more mistakes.
Does the page change?
No. The scanned image stays as it is; an invisible text layer is added behind it.
Which languages are supported?
English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
Why is it a Pro tool?
OCR takes far more processing time than other tools. It is available with GlobTool Pro.