11 Best Free Scanned PDF to Searchable PDF Converter Websites

Here is a list of best free scanned PDF to searchable PDF websites. A scanned PDF file contains information in the form of images, which means it doesn’t carry text information. On the other hand, searchable PDF files contain an added text layer along with an image layer. Due to the presence of a text layer, users can easily search for words and phrases using PDF editing software and websites. If you also want to convert scanned PDF files to searchable PDFs, check out these websites.

Through some of these websites, you can also perform batch PDF conversions. To recognize the text present in a scanned PDF file, these websites use OCR or Optical Character Recognition technology. Due to the use of OCR, you need to manually specify the exact language present in input scanned PDF documents. Although, some websites can automatically detect language present in a scanned PDF document. The process to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF is quite simple on all these websites. Still, to help novice users, I have included the necessary conversion steps in the description of each website.

These websites also come with simple modification features like Deskey (to straighten up scanned PDF pages), Rotate (to rotate PDF pages), Clean Pages, and more. Besides this, a good set of additional features to perform tasks like remove background, merge PDFs, compress PDF, split PDF, etc., are also present. Go through the list to know more about these websites.

My Favorite Scanned PDF to Searchable PDF Website:

PDF 24 Tools PDF OCR is my favorite website because it can process multiple PDF files at a time. It also comes with tools to merge, split, compress, and password-protect PDF documents.

You can also check out lists of best free Convert PDF to Scanned PDF, Speech To Text Converter, and CDR To PDF Converter websites.

PDF 24 Tools PDF OCR

PDF 24 Tools PDF OCR is a free scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. Using this website, you can convert one or more scanned PDF to searchable PDF documents at a time. Unlike most other similar websites, it also lets you add metadata to PDF like document title, keyword, subject, author name, etc. A few handy editing tools like rotate pages, deskew pages (it corrects pages which were scanned at skewed angles), remove background (it detects and remove the noisy background), clean pages (to remove unwanted artifacts from PDF), etc. Now, check out the below steps to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using this website.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using PDF 24 Tools PDF OCR:

Open this website and press the Choose Files button to load one or more scanned PDF files.
After that, you can add metadata and make some changes to loaded PDF files using metadata and editing tools.
Next, press the Start OCR button to initiate the processing and conversion process.
Lastly, press the Download button to get the output searchable PDF file.

Additional Features:

Merge: Use it to merge two or more output searchable PDF documents.
Split: It lets you split a PDF document into two or more PDF documents.
Compress: With its help, you can easily reduce the size of a PDF document.
Protect: It is another useful feature through which you can add password protection to a PDF document.

Final Thoughts:

It is one of the best free scanned PDF to searchable PDF website as it supports batch conversion and comes with editing tools.

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PDF2GO Make PDF Searchable

PDF2GO Make PDF Searchable is a free scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. It also lets you batch convert multiple scanned PDF files to searchable PDF files at a time. On this website, you can load scanned PDF documents from both the local storage and online storage source like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. By default, this website can automatically detect the scanned PDF language. Although you can still manually specify the PDF language if you want. Now, follow the below steps to convert scanned PDF to searchable documents.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using PDF2Go Make PDF Searchable:

Launch this website and click on the Choose File button to load one or more scanned PDF files from local or online sources.
After that, go to Settings to manually specify the scanned PDF document if you want.
Now, Press the Start button to initiate the conversion process.
After the completion of the conversion process, you can download the output searchable PDF files.

Additional Features:

Merge PDF: Using it, you can merge or join two or more PDF documents.
Compress PDF: Using it, you can reduce the size of a PDF document.
Protect PDF: With its help, you can password protect PDF documents.

Final Thoughts:

It is another good scanned PDF to searchable PDF website through which you can also batch convert multiple scanned PDF files to searchable PDFs at a time.

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AvePDF

AvePDF is another free scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. With this website, you can convert one scanned PDF to a searchable PDF at a time. To do that, it uses the OCR method that recognizes the text of a scanned PDF and converts it to a searchable PDF file. Apart from PDF files, it can also scan images and documents of various formats that you can later save in searchable PDF format. On this website, you can also directly fetch documents and PDF files from Dropbox and Google Drive online storage services. Now, check out the below steps to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using this website.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using AvePDF:

Open this website and click on the Choose File button to load a scanned PDF file.
After that, specify the language present in the PDF document using the Language menu.
Now, hit the Start OCR button to initiate the text recognition process.
Lastly, press the Download button to download the searchable PDF.

Additional Features:

Hyper-Compress PDF: This feature compresses the output PDF file to reduce its size.
Protect PDF: With the help of this feature, you can add a password protection layer over a PDF document.
Redact PDF: Using it, you can hide certain words and lines from a PDF document.
PDF to Text: Use it to convert a PDF document to a TXT file.

Final Thoughts:

It is another good scanned PDF to searchable PDF website that anyone can use with ease.

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SandwichPDF.com

SandwichPDF.com is another good scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. This website can convert scanned documents of English, German, Spanish, and French languages to searchable PDF documents. Although at a time, you can only convert one PDF document with this website. Apart from scanned PDF, you can also convert JPEG, BMP, PNG, etc., images carrying text to searchable PDF documents. Another good feature is its enter a URL feature that lets you fetch PDF documents and images from different online sources. Now, follow the below steps.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using SandwichPDF.com:

Open this website and click on the Choose File option to load a scanned PDF document.
After that, select the language from four available ones that are present in the input PDF document.
Lastly, press the Start button to initiate the conversion process.

Additional Feature:

Enhanced scan quality: This feature enhances the quality of PDF documents by performing actions like straightening the rotated pages, removing dark edges, and more.

Final Thoughts:

It is another good scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website that anyone can use without much hassle.

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Sejda OCR-PDF

Sejda OCR-PDF is yet another scanned PDF to searchable PDF website. As its name implies, it uses OCR to scan and understand the text preset in a scanned PDF that you can save in searchable PDF and text file formats. Plus, it supports scanned PDF documents in multiple languages. It also comes with a language recognition feature that automatically recognizes text present in a scanned PDF document. Another good thing about this website is its page wise language feature that let you manually specify the language present on each page of a PDF document. Now, follow the below steps to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using this website.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using Sejda OCR-PDF:

Go to this website and click on the Upload PDF file button to load a scanned PDF document.
Now, let this software automatically detect the language of the input PDF file or manually specify the language present on each page of the input PDF.
Next, select Searchable PDF as the output format and press the Recognize text on all pages button to initiate the text recognition process.
Lastly, press the Download button to download the output Searchable PDF file.

Additional Features:

Edit: After the conversion process, you get this tool that lets you manually edit the text of a searchable PDF document.
Merge: Use it to join to merge multiple pages of the output PDF file into one.
Compress: Using it, you can reduce the size of the output PDF document.
Crop: It is another handy feature that you can use to crop the outer edges of the output PDF document.

Limitations:

In this free version of Sejda OCR-PDF, you cannot convert PDF documents of more than 10 pages and 50 MB size. To remove all the limitations, you need to purchase its Pro version.

Final Thoughts:

It is another capable scanned PDF to searchable PDF website that offers all the essential features to perform the scanned to searchable PDF conversion.

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ONLINE2PDF.com

ONLINE2PDF.com is yet another scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. Through this website, you can also make some changes to input scanned PDF documents before the conversion such as reorder pages, rotate pages, split pages, etc. Besides this, it also comes with batch conversion capability to convert multiple files at a time. Now, follow the below steps to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using this website.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using ONLINE2PDF.com:

Launch this website and press the Browse button to load one or more scanned PDF files.
Now, you can reorder, split, and rotate pages using available tools.
Next, select the Searchable PDF format from the Convert to menu.
Now, specify the language present in the input PDF documents in the with character recognition in menu.
In the end, press the Convert button to initiate the conversion.

Additional Features:

Merge Files: Use it to merge or join two or more input PDF files.
Compression: This feature compresses the PDF documents to reduce their size.
View: With its help, you can view the content of loaded PDF files.
Protection: It is a simple tool to add password protection to PDF documents.

Final Thoughts:

It is another capable scanned PDF to a searchable PDF document that also offers some PDF adjustment tools.

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pdfconvertonline.com

pdfconvertonline.com is another free scanned PDF to searchable PDF conversion website. Like other similar websites, it also uses OCR or optical character recognition methods to recognize text. Plus, it is capable of recognizing multiple languages like French, German, English, Italian, Russian, Danish, and more. Now, follow the below steps to convert a scanned PDF to a searchable PDF using this website.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using pdfconvertonline.com:

Launch this website and click on the Choose File button to load a scanned PDF document.
After that, specify the language that the input PDF document contains from the Languages menu.
In the end, press the Convert Now! button to initiate the conversion process.

Additional Features:

Compress: Use it to quickly reduce the size of a PDF document.
Split: It lets you divide a PDF document into multiple parts.

Final Thoughts:

It is a straightforward scanned PDF to searchable PDF conversion website that comes with simple conversion steps.

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Searchable PDFs

Searchable PDFs is another free scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. Through this website, you can convert one scanned PDF document of up to 5 MB size to searchable PDF. Besides this, it doesn’t offer any other features. If you need an easy to use website to convert small scanned PDF documents to searchable PDF converter then it is for you. Now, follow the below steps.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using Searchable PDFs:

Go to this website and enter your email address. Although, you can choose not to enter email as it is completely optional.
Next, drag and drop a scanned PDF file to Drop file here field.
Lastly, press the Upload button to initiate the conversion process. As soon as the conversion process gets completed you will get the output PDF file.

Limitation:

This website can only convert scanned PDF files of up to 5 MB to searchable PDF documents.

Final Thoughts:

It is one of the simplest scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter websites that you can use to convert small PDF files.

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DeftPDF

DeftPDF is another free scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. Through this website, you can also convert searchable PDF to TXT document. To convert multiple scanned PDF files at a time, it comes with the batch conversion feature. I also like its ability to support multiple languages and the ability to automatically detect the language present in scanned PDF documents. Although, you can also manually specify the language present on each page of input scanned PDF documents. Now, follow the below steps to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF through this website.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using DeftPDF:

Launch this website and click on the Upload PDF File to load one or more scanned PDF documents.
After that, specify the language of input PDF documents.
Next, select the Searchable PDF option from the Output formats menu.
Now, press the Recognize Text On All Pages button to start the conversion process.
In the end, press the Download button to get the output searchable PDF files.

Final Thoughts:

It is a simple and effective scanned PDF to searchable PDF website that anyone can use without much hassle to convert multiple scanned PDF documents to searchable PDF documents.

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Online-Convert.com

Online-Convert.com is a free scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. Through this website, you can also perform batch scanned PDF to searchable PDF conversions. Apart from PDF documents, you can also input images of various formats in it to extract text from them and save the text in the form of a searchable PDF document format. Now, check out the below steps.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using Online-Convert.com:

Visit this website and press the Choose Files button to load one or more scanned PDF files.
Next, specify the source language in the Source Language field.
In the end, press the Start Conversion button to initiate the conversion process.

Additional Features:

Use OCR: Use this feature, to extract text from input image files.
Deskew: It is a handy tool that automatically aligns all the pages of a scanned PDF document before starting the conversion process.

Final Thoughts:

It is another easy to use scanned PDF to searchable PDF website that that also allows batch scanned to searchable PDF conversions.

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freepdfonline.com

freepdfonline.com is the next free scanned PDF to searchable PDF converter website. Through this software, you can convert PDF documents carrying English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish languages to searchable PDFs. Plus, it is quite simple to use. Now, check out the below steps to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF with the help of this website.

How to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF using freepdfonline.com:

Go to this website and click on the Choose File option to load a scanned PDF document.
Next, specify the language that the input PDF file carries from the Select a language menu.
Lastly, hit the Start button to convert scanned PDF to searchable PDF.