How to Search in a Scanned PDF for Free

In this article, 4 free and effective methods are introduced:

1. Google Chrome (Free): The Chrome web browser has an inbuilt OCR feature for you to search text in scanned PDFs.

2. iPhone Notes (Free & inbuilt): iPhone and iPad have an inbuilt OCR scanner to search text in scanned paper documents.

3. Microsoft Word (Free): Open PDF in Microsoft Word, and you’ll be able to search for text in the document.

4. PDFgear (Free): Use PDFgear’s free OCR converter to convert scanned PDF to searchable Word/TXT.

Search in a Scanned PDF in Google Chrome

Many of you may already know that you can use Google Chrome as a practical PDF viewer application. But what you probably don’t know is that Google Chrome now has an inbuilt OCR feature that turns scanned/image-based PDFs into searchable PDFs. You can search for scanned PDFs in Google Chrome in the most straightforward manner.

The steps are simple:

1. Open Chrome web browser.
2. Drag and drop the scanned PDF in the Chrome interface.
3. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F (Windows) or Command + F (Mac) to open the search bar.
4. Type in the desired words to search in the PDF.

Make sure you’re using Google Chrome. According to our test, this OCR search feature is not available in Microsoft Edge.

How it Works

According to Google Chrome Support, when you use the Chrome PDF viewer to access PDFs, scanned PDFs of physical documents are automatically converted to be searchable and selectable using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). After the conversion, you can highlight, search, copy, paste, and find text within the document. The conversion is completed on your device without sending any data to Google or third parties.

Using iPhone’s Inbuilt OCR Scanner Feature

If you’re working with a paper document, then your iPhone can also be of help.

Steps:

1. The Notes app on both iPhone and iPad performs OCR automatically on scanned documents and images, allowing for searchable text within the app and via Spotlight search.
2. Open a new or existing note in the Notes app, tap the camera icon, and select “Scan Documents”.
3. Open a new or existing note, tap the camera icon, and select “Scan Text”.
4. Position the camera so the document or text is within the frame.
5. The app will automatically capture the document, or you can manually capture it by tapping the shutter button.
6. Once finished, tap “Save”. Open the PDF or note and search for text within the app.

You can also find similar feature in the Files app on iOS.

Open PDF in Microsoft Word

If you have Microsoft Word (2013 or later), it can convert PDFs (including scanned ones) into editable Word documents with OCR applied automatically.

Steps:

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Select File > Open, and choose the scanned PDF.
3. Word will convert the PDF into an editable format and apply OCR.
4. Use the Search tool in Word to find text within the document.

This method should also work on other Word processing tools with OCR support, such as Google Docs.

Convert PDF to Word Using OCR

If you’re working with scanned or image-based PDFs and want to extract editable, searchable content, PDFgear has you covered.

It has a batch conversion feature for you to convert dozens of scanned PDFs to searchable documents in one click.

Steps:

1. Download and install PDFgear, and open it on your computer.
2. Go to PDF to Word in Hot Tools.
3. Click Add File to add scanned PDFs to the queue.
4. Tick the OCR option below and select your language.
5. Click Convert to start the conversion.
6. Open the converted Word document and search for the text you need.

FAQs

Why can’t I search for text in my scanned PDF?

Scanned PDFs are often image-based, meaning the text is stored as a picture, not as selectable or searchable characters. You’ll need to apply OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to make the text searchable.

What is OCR, and how does it help with scanned PDFs?

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It’s a technology that analyzes the shapes of letters in a scanned image and converts them into editable and searchable text. Once OCR is applied, your PDF becomes searchable.

How do I tell if my PDF is scanned or searchable?

Try selecting text in the PDF with your mouse:

• If you can highlight individual words, it’s searchable.
• If you can only select the entire page as one block (like an image), it’s a scanned PDF.

Is OCR 100% accurate?

Not always. OCR accuracy depends on:

• Quality of the scan (resolution, contrast, noise)
• Font clarity and size
• Language and layout complexity

It’s always a good idea to proofread the converted text after OCR.

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