Does it need an internet connection?

The first time, yes: MovaDoc downloads the engine and the language data from its own site. After that, it works offline, because the files are stored in your browser (in a private window, only until you close it). When you choose another language or quality, you need an internet connection again.

Is the PDF uploaded to a server?

No. Recognition runs in your browser, with the Tesseract engine. Your PDF never leaves your device.

Does it recognize handwriting?

No. Recognition works with printed text.

What changes in the PDF?

What you see stays the same: the recognized text is added, invisible, on top of each page, where each word is. That way you can select, copy and search the text. If the PDF has a digital signature, it will no longer be valid: MovaDoc warns you first.

How to make a PDF searchable

Updated October 7, 2026

A scan is just a picture of the page: however real the text looks, you can’t select, copy or search it. Text recognition, known as OCR, reads the words in the image and stores them in the PDF. With OCR PDF, you can do this on your device.

Open OCR PDFYour files stay on your device.

How to tell if your PDF is a scan

Open the PDF and try to select a sentence with your mouse, or search for a word with Ctrl+F (⌘F on a Mac). If you can’t, the pages are images and you need text recognition.

Making a PDF searchable, step by step

Open OCR PDF and drag the scanned PDF into the workspace. You can choose several at once.
Under “Document languages”, choose from English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German and Italian (a document can mix several). Select only the ones the document has.
Choose the “Quality”: “Fast” or “Accurate”.
Click “Recognize text”. The first time, MovaDoc downloads the recognition data beforehand (a few megabytes), as soon as you start using the tool.
Click “Download PDF” for the searchable PDF, or “Download the text (.txt)” if you only want the text.

Fast or Accurate

“Fast” is lighter and enough for sharp printed text. “Accurate” does better with small print and poor scans, but takes longer. On a computer, each page takes a few seconds; on a phone, it can take much longer.

How to get better results

Straighten the pages: a page scanned sideways has to be rotated first, with Organize PDF.
Use sharp, high-contrast scans when you can: blurry or crooked text leads to more errors.
Choose only the document’s languages: each extra language makes recognition slower.

What OCR doesn’t do

Handwriting isn’t recognized. In tables, the words become searchable, but copied text loses the table layout. And recognition can misread a letter or a digit (an O for a 0, for example), so always check anything important, such as amounts, dates, IBANs and ID numbers.

Just the text, or an editable document

If you only need the text, PDF to text creates a .txt file (and offers to recognize the text in a scan). If you want to edit the document, PDF to Word recognizes the text on scanned pages and creates a .docx.

What to check at the end

In the new PDF, search for a word you know is in the document: does it show up in the results?
Do the pages look the same as the originals? What you see doesn’t change: the recognized text is hidden on top.
Are the important numbers right? Compare a few with the original.