How to Extract Text from a Scanned PDF (OCR)

Convert an unsearchable, scanned PDF into selectable text using our advanced, browser-based Optical Character Recognition engine.

The Problem with Scanned PDFs

When you scan a physical document using a traditional scanner, the resulting PDF is essentially just a photograph of the paper. You cannot select, copy, or search for text within it. This makes editing or quoting from the document impossible without retyping it manually.

Tuko's PDF OCR Solution

We use a WebAssembly port of the powerful Tesseract OCR engine. It runs locally in your browser.

  • Step 1: Upload the scanned PDF.
  • Step 2: Tuko generates thumbnails for every page. Select the pages containing the text you need.
  • Step 3: Choose the language of the document (e.g., English or Malay) to improve accuracy.
  • Step 4: Click Extract. The text is parsed locally and presented in an easy-to-copy text box.

Ready to try it?

Use our free OCR tool to get your task done instantly and securely.

Open OCR Tool