How to OCR a scanned PDF privately, on your device
A scanned PDF is really just images — you can't search or copy its text. OCR fixes that by adding a text layer. But uploading a sensitive scan to a cloud OCR service isn't ideal. Here's how to OCR a PDF entirely on your own device.
- Open an on-device OCR tool. Open the free OCR PDF tool on taimurtools.com. Recognition runs in your browser, so the scan is never uploaded.
- Add your scanned PDF. Select the scanned PDF. It stays on your device throughout.
- Run OCR. The tool recognises text on each page locally and adds an invisible, selectable text layer.
- Download the searchable PDF. Download the result. You can now search, select, and copy text from what used to be a flat image.
Open OCR PDF ↗Free, no signup — runs in your browser.
FAQ
Does OCR change how my PDF looks?
No. It adds an invisible text layer behind the existing page image, so the document looks identical but becomes searchable.
Is my scan uploaded for OCR?
Not with an on-device tool. TaimurTools runs OCR in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.