Private Basic OCR Tool
Basic OCR PDF Online
Extract text from scanned PDF files directly in your browser. This is a basic OCR workflow built for privacy, with no server uploads.
Basic OCR notice
This feature is intentionally basic and optimized for clean typed scans. Files stay on your device. OCR is powered by open-source on-device engines: Tesseract.js in this web tool, with Google ML Kit style on-device OCR workflows supported in compatible environments.
Basic OCR information
This is a basic OCR feature optimized for clear printed text. Processing stays on your device. The web tool uses open-source Tesseract.js, and follows the same on-device OCR approach used by Google ML Kit style local workflows.
What this tool does
The Basic OCR PDF tool converts text from scanned or image-based PDF pages into selectable text. You can then export results as plain text or Word format for editing and search.
Who should use it
- Students converting scanned notes to editable text.
- Teams digitizing printed reports and invoices.
- Freelancers who need searchable text from document scans.
Step-by-step usage (Upload -> Process -> Download)
- Upload your scanned PDF (up to 25 MB) and choose the document language.
- Process with OCR and wait for each page to complete in your browser.
- Download extracted text as .txt or .docx.
Output quality + clear limitations
- Best results come from clear scans around 300 DPI or higher.
- Handwriting and heavily stylized fonts may produce errors.
- Complex tables and multi-column layouts may not keep exact visual structure.
- Large files can take longer depending on your device CPU and memory.
Privacy explanation (client-side processing)
PDFHarbor processes OCR locally in your browser. Your PDF content stays on your device and is not sent to a file-processing backend. This web feature uses open-source Tesseract.js for on-device OCR, and follows the same privacy-first approach as Google ML Kit style local OCR flows.
FAQ
Does PDFHarbor upload my PDF file for OCR?
No. OCR runs in your browser on your device. PDFHarbor does not upload your PDF content to a processing server.
What output formats are available after OCR?
You can download extracted text as .txt or .docx from the OCR results panel.
Can this OCR tool read handwriting?
Not reliably. The tool works best on clear typed text. Handwriting, low contrast scans, and decorative fonts can reduce accuracy.
Is there a file size limit?
The current upload limit is 25 MB per PDF in this tool interface.
Can I use Basic OCR offline?
Yes, after the page assets and selected language data are loaded in your browser cache, you can process files without uploading them.
Explore related tools
Continue your workflow with other private tools on PDFHarbor.