What Is OCR?
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is technology that converts images of text into machine-readable text. When you scan a paper document, the resulting PDF contains an image — not text. OCR analyzes the image and identifies characters, producing searchable, selectable text.
Preparing Documents for OCR
OCR accuracy depends heavily on scan quality:
- Resolution: Scan at 300 DPI minimum. 600 DPI for small text.
- Contrast: Black text on white background gives best results
- Alignment: Straight pages process faster and more accurately
- Noise: Remove specks, stains, and fold marks if possible
Step-by-Step OCR Process
- Upload your scanned PDF to our PDF to Text tool
- AI automatically detects text regions
- OCR engine processes each region with language-specific models
- Download the extracted text or searchable PDF
Tips for Better Results
Multi-column layouts can confuse OCR engines. If possible, crop each column separately. For handwritten text, our AI-powered OCR handles most cursive styles, but neat handwriting gives significantly better results. For non-English documents, our PDF Translator can OCR and translate simultaneously.