You highlight a line in a scanned PDF, hit copy, paste, and get nothing.
Loading Ocr PDF…
Makes text you can actually copy from a scan
One-click Copy button puts it on your clipboard
Recognition runs in the browser, nothing uploaded
Paste straight into email, docs, chat, or forms
Drop the Ocr PDF into a blog post, product docs, intranet, or school portal with one iframe. Processing, privacy, and usage limits are the same as on the full tool page.
Embed code
<iframe
src="https://www.fixtools.io/pdf/ocr-pdf?embed=1"
width="100%"
height="780"
frameborder="0"
style="border:0;border-radius:16px;max-width:900px;"
title="Ocr PDF by FixTools"
loading="lazy"
allow="clipboard-write"
></iframe>Attribution-friendly: a small "Powered by FixTools" link appears in the embed footer.
Copy works by selecting characters, and a scanned page has none. What looks like a sentence is a strip of pixels, so there is nothing for the cursor to select and nothing for copy to place on the clipboard. The document is a picture that happens to be full of words.
OCR gives you real characters to copy. Once the engine has recognized the text, the words exist as actual text in the output box, and the Copy button behaves exactly as you expected the PDF to. From there, paste works normally into any app.
This is far quicker than the usual fallback of retyping. Even a short paragraph is faster to recognize and copy than to type out by hand, and you avoid the transcription errors that creep in when you retype numbers and names from a screen.
Upload the scanned PDF, click Extract Text with OCR, and use the Copy button once the text appears. Paste the recognized text wherever you need it.
Step-by-step guide to copy text from a scanned pdf:
Open OCR PDF
Launch the FixTools OCR PDF tool in your browser. No account needed.
Upload the scanned PDF
Select the scan you have been unable to copy text from.
Run OCR
Click Extract Text with OCR and let it recognize the text on each page.
Find your text
Locate the passage you need in the output box, which is organized by page.
Copy to clipboard
Click Copy to put the recognized text on your clipboard, then paste it wherever you like.
Common situations where this approach makes a real difference:
Copying a reference number
Someone needs one account or order number out of a scanned statement to paste into a web form.
Grabbing an address
A user copies a mailing address from a scanned letter into a shipping label instead of retyping it.
Reusing a paragraph
A writer lifts a paragraph from a scanned page to quote it, rather than transcribing it word for word.
Filling a form
A person copies details from a scanned document into an online form, saving several minutes of typing.
Get better results with these expert suggestions:
Copy just what you need
Select only the passage you want from the output box before copying, rather than the whole document.
Verify numbers before pasting
Numbers are the most likely to be misread, so glance at the original before you paste a figure.
Use a clean scan for short details
For a single number or name, a sharp scan makes the difference between a right and wrong character.
Download if you need it later
If you will reuse the text, download the .txt file as well so you do not have to run OCR again.
More use-case guides for the same tool:
Other tools you might find useful:
PDF to TXT
Pull selectable text straight out of a text-based PDF.
Make PDF Searchable
Turn a scanned PDF into a searchable document.
PDF to Word
Move the extracted content into an editable Word file.
OCR a PDF Without Installing Software
OCR a PDF without downloading or installing anything. Free browser recognition extracts text from scanned PDFs on any device. Nothing is uploaded.
Extract Text From an Image-Based PDF
Extract text from an image-based PDF where the pages are pictures, not selectable text. Free browser OCR recognizes the characters and gives you copyable text.
OCR a PDF on Android
OCR a PDF on Android in Chrome for free. Extract text from a scan on your phone, then copy it or save a .txt file. No app to install, nothing uploaded.
OCR a Scanned PDF Online
OCR a scanned PDF online and free, right in your browser. Extract the text without uploading the file to a server, then copy it or download a .txt file.
Make a Scanned PDF Editable
Make a scanned PDF editable by extracting its text with free browser OCR. Recover the words as plain text you can edit and reuse. Nothing is uploaded.
OCR a PDF on Mac
OCR a scanned PDF on your Mac for free in Safari or Chrome. Extract editable text with no app to install, then copy it or save a .txt file. Nothing is uploaded.
Open Ocr PDF to review its free limits and processing method.
Open Ocr PDF →Free tier · No account needed · Transparent limits