How to Extract Text from a Scanned PDF or Image (OCR, Free)

You open a PDF and try to select a line, but nothing happens. Or you have a photo of a printed page and you want to type it into an email. Retyping a full page by hand is slow, and one wrong number can cause a real problem.

The fix is OCR: the tool reads the page like a person would and gives you the text, ready to copy.

Why can't you copy text from some PDFs?

A PDF made on a computer holds real text. A PDF made by a scanner or a phone camera holds only a picture of the page. To your phone it looks like a photo, so there are no letters to select. OCR turns that picture back into text.

When do you need to extract text?

• You need to copy a paragraph from a scanned document
• You want to reuse the text from a printed form, letter or notice
• A photo of a notice board or a page has details you want to save
• You need to search for a word inside a scanned file

How to extract text step by step

1. Open the Extract Text tool. Use the button at the top of this page to open Pdfyra Workspace.
2. Add your file. Tap Select PDF or image, or drop the file in. You can also pick it from Google Drive or Dropbox.
3. Choose the language of the document. Pick the language the text is written in, such as English. This helps Pdfyra read it correctly.
4. Tap Extract text. Pdfyra reads the file and shows the text in a box.
5. Check the text. Read it once and fix any small mistakes.
6. Copy or save. Tap Copy text, or tap Download .txt to save it as a text file.

Tips for better results

Pick the right language. If the document is in Hindi, choose Hindi, not English. The wrong language gives wrong letters.

Use a sharp, straight photo. Good light and a flat page make the text much more accurate.

Check numbers carefully. Dates, amounts and ID numbers are the most important things to double-check.

Page sideways? Straighten it first. Here is how to rotate PDF pages.

Dark edges in the scan? Clean them with how to crop a PDF.

Need a searchable PDF instead of plain text? Try the OCR PDF tool.

Starting from paper? See how to scan documents to PDF.

Long file? Take out only the pages you need first. Here is how to extract pages from a PDF.

Ready to try it?

Open the tool, add your scanned PDF or photo and get the text in a few taps.