How to extract text from a scanned PDF with OCR
A scanned PDF can contain pictures of pages instead of selectable text. OCR analyses those page images and produces editable text, but the result always needs proofreading.
Open Scan PDF to Text →Choose the correct language
PDFDesk supports printed English, Hindi, or mixed English and Hindi. Select the language that matches the document so the recognition engine uses the right character patterns.
The first run may take longer while the browser downloads the OCR engine and language resources.
Select a manageable page range
Enter a range such as 1-3,5. PDFDesk supports up to 20 selected pages in one OCR task.
Process a small sample first when the scan is long. This makes it easier to check whether the image quality and language choice are suitable.
Improve recognition quality
Upright pages, sharp text, good contrast and minimal shadows give better results. Handwriting, faint photocopies, tables and decorative fonts are harder to recognize.
If pages are sideways, rotate the PDF before OCR. If the scan is cluttered, crop only for visibility; cropping is not secure redaction.
Proofread the output
The result is a plain text file, not a searchable PDF and not a layout-preserving Word document. Compare names, dates, account numbers and Hindi matras with the scan before using the text.