Scanned PDFs are essentially packs of images — your computer can't search or copy text from them until you run OCR. Once converted, the text becomes selectable and AI tools can read it.
PDF conversion
How to Convert a Scanned PDF to Text
By MyPDFKitty Editorial Team · Updated 2026-01-08
Quick answer
To convert a scanned PDF to text, upload it to MyPDFKitty's OCR PDF tool. We run optical character recognition on each page and return the text so you can search, copy, or feed it into AI tools.
Step-by-step
- Step 1
Upload the scan
Drop a scanned PDF from your phone or scanner.
- Step 2
Run OCR
MyPDFKitty extracts the text from each page.
- Step 3
Use the text
Search, copy, summarize, or chat with the result.
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FAQ
How accurate is OCR?+
Clean scans are near-perfect. Faint or skewed scans need cleanup.
Does it work in other languages?+
Multi-language support is rolling out — English-language scans work today.
Try it now
To convert a scanned PDF to text, upload it to MyPDFKitty's OCR PDF tool.