To turn an image or scanned PDF into text, drop your file in below, choose its language and click Extract text — the OCR runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, and you get editable text to copy or download.
Convert JPG, PNG and scanned PDFs into real, selectable text. Recognition happens locally on your device — your files never leave your computer.
or click to choose a file
JPG, PNG or PDF — add several if you like🔒 Files never leave your device
Drop in a JPG, PNG or scanned PDF — it stays on your device.
Choose the language of the text so OCR reads it accurately.
Click Extract text, then copy it or save it as a .txt file.
A photo of a receipt, a scanned contract, a screenshot of a paragraph — to your computer these are just images. The words inside them aren't text you can select or search; they're pixels. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) looks at those pixels and works out the letters, turning the picture back into real, editable text.
PDFNest runs a full OCR engine (Tesseract, compiled to WebAssembly) inside your browser. That's unusual — most OCR sites upload your document to a server. Here, your file is read locally, so even an ID, a bank statement or a confidential contract never leaves your device.
Already have a PDF that contains real (selectable) text? You don't need OCR — the faster PDF to Text tool extracts it directly. Use this OCR tool when the PDF is a scan and copy-paste gives you nothing.
Add a JPG or PNG above, choose the language and click Extract text. OCR runs in your browser — copy the result or download it as a .txt file. Nothing is uploaded.
Yes — the tool OCRs each page of a scanned PDF and turns it into editable text.
No. It runs entirely in your browser with WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device.
English plus Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. Pick the one that matches your document.
OCR reads pixels, so quality matters. Sharp, straight, high-contrast scans are most accurate; blurry photos and handwriting are harder.