How to make a scanned PDF searchable

  1. Open a scanned PDF, or take photos of documents. Photos are flattened, straightened and cleaned up automatically.
  2. Check that 'Make scanned pages searchable' is ticked.
  3. Press Export PDF. The pages look like clean scans, and now the text can be searched and copied.

Questions

How accurate is it?

Think Pages uses a modern AI text recognition model (PaddleOCR) with automatic straightening and flattening of phone photos. In our tests it read 98% of words and amounts correctly, including faded receipts and faxes. Always check important numbers.

Does it work on phone photos?

Yes. Photos of a page on a table are flattened and straightened before the text is read.

Which languages?

English and more than 50 other languages, including French, German, Spanish, Italian and Polish. Handwriting isn't supported yet.

How long does it take?

A few seconds a page on a laptop. The first time, text recognition (30 to 50 MB) downloads once, then it works offline.

Is my file uploaded?

No. Text recognition runs in your browser, on your device. The recognition model downloads once from thinkpages.app and then works offline.

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