Guide

Make a searchable PDF from paper, in your browser

A searchable PDF looks exactly like the scanned page, but you can find a word in it, select a sentence and copy it. OpenDocScan makes a searchable PDF from paper: you photograph the pages with your phone or laptop camera, and text recognition (OCR) running in the browser tab adds the words behind each page image. It is free, it reads English, and nothing is uploaded. It works from paper or from photos of paper; it cannot open a PDF file you already have.

What a searchable PDF is

A photo of a page saved as a PDF is still a picture. Your computer sees pixels, so Find comes up empty and you cannot copy a line out of it. A searchable PDF carries two things on every page: the image, which is what you see, and an invisible layer of the recognised words, laid over the places where they are printed. The viewer shows the image and searches the layer, so the page keeps its look and gains text you can search, select and copy.

Making that layer is the job of OCR. In most tools the page is sent to a server to be read. Here the recognition engine and its English model run on your own device, inside the tab, so a searchable PDF of a contract or a bank letter never passes through anyone else's computer.

How to make a searchable PDF from paper, step by step

1. Open the scanner. Go to opendocscan.com on your phone or laptop and allow the browser to use the camera.
2. Photograph the page. Tap Scan and hold the camera over the sheet. If you already have photos of the pages, choose Import images instead.
3. Check the corners. Drag any corner that missed the edge of the paper. A straight, evenly lit page is read more accurately than a skewed one.
4. Clean it up. Choose Photo, Enhance or B&W and rotate the page if needed, so the text reads the right way up.
5. Add the other pages. Tap Add page for each further sheet; there is no page limit, and pages can be reordered or dropped before export.
6. Export with OCR on. Leave Recognise text (OCR) ticked, pick a page size and image quality, then Save & export and Save PDF, or Share it to another app where your browser supports sharing.
7. Check it. Open the file and press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac) to find a word from the page. If it is highlighted, you have a searchable PDF.

The recognition engine and its English model come from opendocscan.com itself, not from a third party, and the browser keeps them after the first load. From then on a searchable PDF can be made with no connection at all.

What the text recognition can and cannot do

• It reads English. The model it runs is an English one, so a searchable PDF comes from English text, and the layer carries Latin script only.
• Chinese, Japanese and Korean pages get no text layer. They still scan and export cleanly as images, and the scanner names the pages it could not read instead of filling the file with guesses.
• Words it is unsure of are left out. On a faint or blurry page it keeps the words it read with confidence. If too little can be trusted, the page gets no layer and you are told, so you can retake it.
• It makes new PDFs; it does not convert old ones. The file picker takes images only. A PDF you already have cannot be opened here and turned into a searchable PDF.

Already have a PDF that is not searchable?

OpenDocScan cannot help with the file itself, because it does not open PDFs. If you still have the paper, scanning it again is often quicker than it sounds: a few pages take a minute, and the result is a searchable PDF that has also been straightened and cleaned up. If you have the pages as photos or screenshots, use Import images and they are read the same way as a fresh scan.

Search inside your scans, not just the PDF

The recognised words that go into each searchable PDF are also kept with the document in the app, so the search box above your scans finds an old receipt or letter by a word printed on it. Like the documents themselves, that index lives in this browser's storage on your device and is not synced anywhere.

OpenDocScan is a free document scanner that runs in the browser, and the searchable PDF is what it produces every time OCR is on. For the scanning side in more detail, from a single receipt to a multi-page contract, see the guide to scan to PDF in your browser.

Questions

Can OpenDocScan make an existing PDF searchable?

No. It makes a searchable PDF from paper, by scanning with the camera, or from photos you import. It cannot open a PDF file, so a PDF you already have stays as it is. If you still have the paper, scan it again; if you have the pages as images, choose Import images.

Which languages can it read?

English. A page in Chinese, Japanese or Korean is still scanned and exported, but gets no searchable text, and the scanner tells you which pages those are. Text in other languages may be read only in part, or not at all.

Is it free to make a searchable PDF here?

Yes. Every feature is free, including the text recognition, with no page limit, no watermark, no trial and no account.

Are my pages uploaded for the text recognition?

No. The recognition engine and its English model are served from opendocscan.com and run in the browser tab on your device. Once they have loaded, scanning, recognising and exporting make no network requests, and it keeps working offline.

How do I check that my PDF is searchable?

Open it in any PDF viewer and use Find (Ctrl+F, or Cmd+F on a Mac) to look for a word printed on the page, or try to select a line of text. If the word is found and highlighted, the text layer is there.

Ready to make a searchable PDF?

Open the scanner, photograph the first page, and leave text recognition on when you export. It is free, and the pages stay on your device.