How to convert a scanned PDF to a searchable PDF
A scan looks like a document but is really a picture. OCR gives it a text layer you can search.
Updated July 5, 2026
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When you scan a document, each page is stored as an image — there’s no text inside, so you can’t select, copy, or search it, and it won’t show up in full-text search or archives. OCR (optical character recognition) reads the image and produces the actual text.
Keep the look, add the text
Pditor’s searchable-PDF mode doesn’t replace your scan with reflowed text — it keeps the original page images and adds an invisible text layer aligned underneath. The document looks byte-for-byte the same to a reader, but now every word is selectable and searchable. That’s exactly what records systems and courts expect from an archived scan.
Better accuracy on bad scans
Faint photocopies, skewed pages, and some handwriting defeat plain OCR. Pditor re-runs low-confidence pages through an AI vision model that reads what standard OCR misses, so the text layer is more complete.
Need plain text instead?
If you want the raw text (not a searchable PDF) — to paste into a document or feed to another tool — choose the text output instead. Your file auto-deletes within an hour either way.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a searchable PDF?
- A searchable PDF keeps the original page image but adds an invisible OCR text layer aligned to it. The page looks the same, but you can select, copy, and search the text — unlike a plain scan.
- How do I make a scanned PDF searchable?
- Run it through OCR in searchable-PDF mode. Pditor recognizes the text and adds an invisible layer under the page images, so the document looks identical and becomes fully searchable.
- Will it change how my scan looks?
- No. The visible page images are preserved exactly; the text layer sits invisibly behind them.
- What about poor-quality scans or handwriting?
- Low-confidence pages fall back to an AI vision pass that reads text standard OCR misses, improving accuracy on faint scans and some handwriting.