OCR PDF Locally
Create a searchable copy of scanned PDF pages in the browser, with clear limits for accuracy, page count, and large scans.
Local processing boundary
OCR files and models may download from PrivateLocalPDF. Your document bytes are not sent to an OCR server.
Free basics do not require an account and exported PDFs are not watermarked. Larger local packets and batch workflows may require the one-time Local License and still depend on browser limits.
How it works locally
- Open a PDF, PNG, or JPG in the Packet Builder workspace.
- Choose all active pages or selected pages, then start English OCR explicitly.
- Download the searchable PDF and optional plain text sidecar after local processing finishes.
Good for
- Scanned forms
- Receipt packets
- Searchable copies
- Image-only PDF pages
Limits to know
- First-release OCR is English printed text with a 10-page per-run local limit.
- OCR can be slow or inaccurate on large, faint, handwritten, skewed, or complex scans.
- Pages with selectable text are skipped by default to avoid duplicate hidden text unless Force OCR is enabled.