The Best Way to OCR PDF for FREE — Search, Copy & Edit Text
Need to extract text from a scanned PDF, but nothing happens when you try to highlight it? In this quick tutorial, you’ll learn how to use PDFFly OCR PDF online — upload your scanned PDF, choose the output format, and download a searchable file in just a few seconds.
👉 OCR your PDF now: https://pdffly.com/pdf-ocr
In this video, we show what happens when a PDF looks like a regular document, but the text cannot be selected, copied, or found with Ctrl+F. This usually means the file is image-based — the page looks like text, but your computer reads it as a picture. To make the text selectable and searchable, you need OCR.
Step-by-step guide: go to PDFFly, open the “Convert PDF” menu, and select “OCR to PDF” / “PDF OCR.” A new page will open where you can upload your scanned PDF file. Drag and drop your PDF into the upload area or click “Upload PDF.” After uploading, choose the format you want to download: Word document, Searchable PDF, or Plain text. Then click “Download,” and PDFFly will automatically start text recognition.
What you’ll learn in this video:
00:00 Scanned PDF problem
00:04 Trying to highlight text
00:07 Ctrl+F cannot find words
00:10 Why the PDF behaves like an image
00:16 Go to the PDFFly website
00:20 View available PDF tools
00:23 Open the Convert PDF menu
00:29 Select OCR to PDF
00:33 Upload your PDF file
00:36 Choose the download format
00:38 Click Download
00:40 Automatic OCR processing starts
00:43 Get results in seconds, no registration or payment shown
Why use OCR for a scanned PDF:
Scanned PDFs often look like normal documents, but the text inside them may not be real digital text. That means you cannot search, select, copy, or edit it. OCR, or Optical Character Recognition, detects the text inside scanned pages and turns it into usable digital content. After OCR, your PDF can become searchable, selectable, and easier to work with.
Available download options:
Word document — useful when you want to edit and format the extracted text
Searchable PDF — keeps the PDF format while allowing you to search and select text
Plain text — best when you only need the text content without formatting
Common use cases:
Make a scanned contract searchable
Extract text from a scanned agreement
Copy text from a document that behaves like an image
Use Ctrl+F inside scanned PDFs
Turn paper scans into usable digital documents
Prepare invoices, forms, reports, and letters for editing
Convert scanned PDFs into Word or plain text
Save time instead of manually retyping text from a scan
Why use PDFFly:
Online OCR tool for scanned PDFs
Works directly in your browser
Supports PDF files up to 100 MB
Lets you choose between Word document, Searchable PDF, and Plain text
Automatically starts text recognition after upload
Helps make scanned documents searchable, selectable, and easier to edit
No software installation needed
Helpful link:
🔗 OCR PDF Tool: https://pdffly.com/pdf-ocr
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