OCR tools: turn images, PDFs and business cards into text you can copy

Got a screenshot, a scanned PDF or a business card whose text you can't copy? Pick a tool, drop your file in, and copy, edit or download the text in seconds. It all runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Free · No sign-up · No login · No install · No watermark

Tools in this category

Image to Text (OCR)Extract text from an imagePDF to Text (OCR)Read text from PDFs, scanned or notBatch OCRRecognize many images in a queueTable OCRImage of a table to CSV or ExcelBusiness Card ReaderRead a card into contact fieldsTaiwan E-Invoice QR ScannerRead Taiwan e-invoice QR codes

OCR tools: turn images, PDFs and business cards into text you can copy

These tools use the open-source Tesseract engine running inside your browser. Your files are never uploaded, and the recognition data for each language is loaded from this site only the first time you use it (a few MB), then cached by your browser.

OCR is approximate. Clear, straight, printed text works best; blur, glare, handwriting and tiny text are often wrong, and mixing several languages is slower and easier to get wrong. Always proofread the result. Handwriting recognition and translation are not offered because they cannot be done reliably on your device.

Frequently asked questions

Is online OCR free?

Yes. Every OCR tool here is free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no usage limit.

How do I copy text from a scanned PDF?

Use PDF to Text: drop the PDF in, pages with real text are read directly, scanned pages are recognized with OCR one by one, and you can copy the result or download a .txt.

Is it safe to run contracts or ID cards through it?

Your file is never uploaded: recognition runs inside your own browser. OCR can still make mistakes, so always check the result.

Which languages can it read?

Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and English. You choose the language in the picture; the site language can be different.

What if the result is wrong?

Use a sharper, straighter, well-lit picture, check that you picked the language in the image, and fix the text in the result box. Handwriting is not read reliably, so there is no handwriting tool.