Turn a scanned document into one whose text can be searched and copied. PalPDF reads the words in the picture and adds them to the file as real text, keeping the scan itself as the visible page.
How to OCR a Scanned PDF
Open the scan — Drop in the scanned PDF.
Run recognition — The text is recognised in your browser. Large documents take a little while.
Download — The saved PDF looks the same but its text can now be selected and searched.
When this comes in useful
Searching a scanned contract for a clause
Copying an address out of a scanned letter instead of retyping it
Making an archive of scanned records findable
Questions
How do I turn a scanned PDF into text?
Run it through OCR here. The recognised words are added behind the scanned image, so the page looks unchanged but you can select, search and copy the text.
Is the scan sent to a server for recognition?
No. Recognition runs inside your browser, which is why the first run takes a moment to load the language data.