OCR PDF Online
Make a scanned PDF searchable online in your browser. Recognize English and Simplified Chinese text with an embedded OCR engine and download a searchable PDF without uploading your file.
What this tool does
NexKit PDF Tools helps you make a scanned or image-only PDF searchable before filing, sharing, or archiving it. An embedded OCR engine recognizes text on each page and adds it back as an invisible layer, so the page still looks exactly like the original scan, but the text can now be selected, copied, and searched.
The original page images are never replaced or re-compressed - only an invisible text layer is added on top, so visual quality is preserved.
How to OCR a PDF
Open the OCR PDF page and choose a PDF. Once the browser reads the page count, choose English, Simplified Chinese, or both, then run the tool. Recognition runs one page at a time locally in your browser, and a progress indicator shows which page is being processed.
When processing finishes, download the searchable PDF and confirm you can select and search the recognized text in a PDF viewer.
Accuracy and limits
This MVP accepts PDF files up to 25MB and up to 30 pages, since OCR is more processing-intensive per page than other browser-side PDF tools. Recognition accuracy depends on scan quality, resolution, and clarity - clean, high-resolution scans produce the best results.
Only English and Simplified Chinese are supported in this first version. Password-protected PDFs and damaged PDFs are rejected with a clear error.
Privacy and file handling
Supported PDFs are processed locally in your browser, including OCR recognition itself. The selected PDF, its rendered page images, and the searchable PDF are not uploaded to NexKit servers for this workflow.
Review the downloaded result before relying on it, especially for documents where exact text accuracy matters. Keep the original PDF until you have confirmed the searchable output meets your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this change how my PDF looks?
No. The original page images are kept as-is. Only an invisible, searchable text layer is added on top, so the page still looks like the original scan.
Which languages are supported?
This first version supports English and Simplified Chinese. You can select one or both before running OCR.
Are my PDF files uploaded?
No. Supported PDFs, including OCR recognition itself, are processed locally in your browser. The file is not uploaded to NexKit servers by this tool.
Does it support password-protected PDFs?
No. Password-protected and encrypted PDFs are rejected with a clear error in this MVP.
How many pages can I OCR at once?
This MVP supports PDFs with up to 30 pages and files up to 25MB, since OCR takes more processing per page than other tools.
Will the recognized text be 100% accurate?
Not always. Accuracy depends on scan quality, resolution, and clarity. Review the searchable PDF before relying on it for anything where exact text matters.