DEV Community: Muhammad Ali

How to Make a Scanned PDF Searchable and Editable (Free OCR Guide)

Muhammad Ali — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 09:32:26 +0000

Why you can’t select text in a scanned PDF, what OCR does about it, and how to get clean results.

You scan a contract, a form or an old book page. The PDF looks perfect on screen. But when you try to search for a word, nothing is found. When you try to copy a sentence, you can only drag a box over a picture.

That’s because a scanned PDF isn’t really text. It’s a photograph of a page. The fix is a technology called OCR, and once you understand it, you can turn almost any scan into a document you can search, copy and edit.

Why a scanned PDF has no text

A normal PDF, such as one exported from Word, stores the actual letters of every word. A scanned PDF stores a picture of each page, made of tiny coloured dots. Your eyes see words, but the computer sees only an image.

That’s why you can’t search it, copy from it, convert it cleanly to Word, or have a screen reader read it aloud.

An easy test: open the PDF and try to select one sentence with your mouse. If it highlights, the text is real. If you can only select the whole page or draw a box, it’s a scan.

What OCR does

OCR stands for optical character recognition. It looks at the picture of each page, finds the shapes of letters, and works out which characters they are. The result is real text, which is usually placed invisibly behind the scanned image, so the page looks the same but you can now search and copy it.

That gives you:

Searchable PDFs. Find any word with Ctrl+F.
Copyable text. Select a paragraph and paste it into another document.
Better conversions. A scan with OCR converts to Word or Excel far better than one without.
Accessibility. Screen readers can read the document aloud.
When you need it
Scanned contracts, letters and forms
Old documents and archives you want to search
Receipts and invoices for expense reports
Pages from a book or a report that you want to quote
A scanned PDF that you plan to convert to Word
Your options for OCR

Use a desktop program. Many PDF programs include OCR. The best ones are often paid, and the free ones can be limited.
Use a phone scanning app. Some apps run OCR as you scan. It’s convenient for new documents, but not for files you already have.
Use an online OCR tool. You upload the scanned PDF, run OCR and download the result. Nothing is installed, and it works on any device. The trade-off is that your document is uploaded, so choose a tool that explains how it handles files.

How to run OCR on a PDF online, step by step

The steps are similar in most online tools. Here they are using the one I built, MyPDFLabs.

Upload your scanned PDF. Drag it into the box or click to browse. The tool handles one file at a time, and it shows the file name and size once it’s added.
Choose the document language. English is selected by default. Pick the main language of your document, because the tool says this improves accuracy.
Click Run OCR. The tool notes that it works best with clean, high-resolution scans, and that processing may take 1 to 3 minutes. A long or large document can take longer, since every page has to be analysed.
Download the result and save it under a new name, such as contract-searchable.pdf.
Test it. Open the file, press Ctrl+F, and search for a word you can see on the page. Then try copying a sentence.
Proofread the important parts. OCR is good, but it isn’t perfect, so check names, numbers and dates.
How to get better OCR results

The quality of the scan matters more than the tool. A few habits make a big difference:

Scan at a good resolution. Around 300 dpi is a common recommendation for text documents.
Keep the page flat and straight. A tilted or curved page, like a book spine, is harder to read.
Use good light and contrast. Dark text on a clean, light background works best.
Avoid shadows and blur. For a phone photo, hold the phone steady and photograph the page from directly above.
Fix orientation first. A sideways page can confuse OCR, so rotate it before you run it.
Choose the right language. OCR is more accurate when it knows the language of the text, so set it before you start.
Keep the original scan. Save the OCR result as a new file.
What OCR struggles with
Handwriting. Neat printed handwriting sometimes works, but messy writing often doesn’t.
Very small or faded text. Old photocopies and light print can lose letters.
Complex layouts. Columns, tables and text over images can end up in the wrong order.
Look-alike characters. The digit 0 and the letter O, or 1, l and I, are easy to mix up.
Unusual fonts and decorative text. The more stylised the letters, the more mistakes.

That’s why proofreading matters, especially for anything with numbers or legal wording.

Common problems and how to fix them

The text I copied is full of strange characters. The scan was probably blurry or low resolution. Rescan at a higher quality and run OCR again.

Some words are wrong. Check that you chose the right language. Then correct the words by hand, or rescan the pages that went badly.

The text comes out in the wrong order. The page has columns or a complex layout. Check the order, or work on one column at a time.

The file got much bigger. OCR adds a text layer, and the scan itself can be large. Compress the PDF afterwards.

Nothing was recognised. The page might be sideways, upside down, or too faint. Rotate it, or rescan with better contrast.

It’s taking a long time. Large files take longer. Give it a few minutes before you assume something went wrong.

It’s a handwritten document. Expect poor results, and plan to type the important parts yourself.

Habits that save you trouble
Keep the original scan. If something goes wrong, you can run OCR again.
Proofread numbers and names. A single wrong digit in a contract or an invoice matters.
Test one page before you run a big document. Make sure the quality is good enough before you wait for 200 pages.
Be careful with sensitive files. Before you upload a contract, ID or financial paper to any online tool, read what it says about storing and deleting files. If you’re not comfortable, run OCR on your own computer.
A free OCR tool I built

Full disclosure: I built MyPDFLabs, a free set of online PDF tools. Its OCR tool turns scanned PDFs into searchable documents, with a choice of document language, no sign-up and no watermark on the core tools. It handles one file at a time, supports files up to 500MB, and deletes uploaded files automatically after processing. Results depend on the quality of your scan. It’s my own project, so treat it as one option among many. The advice in this article works with any OCR tool.

The short version
A scanned PDF is a picture, so it has no searchable or copyable text.
OCR reads the picture and turns it into real text.
Clean, straight, well-lit scans at around 300 dpi give the best results, and choosing the right language helps.
Always proofread names, numbers and dates, and keep the original scan.
Think before uploading sensitive documents anywhere.

Thanks for reading. If there’s a PDF task that always slows you down, tell me in the comments and I’ll cover it next.

How to Merge PDF Files for Free (Online, Command Line, and Python)

Muhammad Ali — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 19:49:51 +0000

You have a cover letter in one file, a resume in another, and a portfolio sample in a third. Or a month of scanned invoices that need to reach your accountant as one document. Sending a pile of attachments looks messy, and many upload forms accept only one file.

The fix is to merge them into a single PDF. It takes about a minute. In this guide I'll cover three ways to do it:

An online tool (fastest, no install)
The command line
Python (for scripts and automation)

When merging PDFs makes sense

Job applications: combine your resume, cover letter, and certificates
Invoices and receipts: bundle them for accounting or expense claims
School work: join chapters or assignments into one submission
Forms and admin: attach supporting documents to the main form
Reports: put a cover page, main content, and appendix in one file

Method 1: Merge PDFs online (no install)

I'll use the free MyPDFLabs Merge PDF tool. Disclosure: I built this site. The steps are similar on most online merge tools.

Step 1: Add your PDF files.
Open the tool. You'll see a large box that says "Drop PDF files here to merge." Drag your files into it, or click the box and select them from your device. You can add several files at once.

Step 2: Check the file list.
Under the box, the tool shows how many files you selected, for example "3 files selected." Each file appears as a card with its name and size, so you can confirm you've added the right ones.

Step 3: Put the files in order.
Every file card has a small drag handle (the six dots on the left). Drag a card up or down to change its position. The final PDF follows this order from top to bottom, so put your cover page first and the appendix last.

Step 4: Remove any file you added by mistake.
Click the X on a card to remove that file. To start over, click "Clear all" at the top right of the list.

Step 5: Click Merge.
Press the red button at the bottom. It shows the number of files, such as "Merge 3 PDFs." The tool combines them into a single document.

Step 6: Download and check.
Download the merged file and scroll through it before sending it anywhere.

Method 2: Merge PDFs from the command line

If you're already in a terminal, qpdf does this in one line:

qpdf --empty --pages cover.pdf report.pdf appendix.pdf -- merged.pdf

The files are combined in the order you list them. You can install qpdf with your package manager, for example sudo apt install qpdf on Ubuntu or brew install qpdf on macOS.

Method 3: Merge PDFs with Python

For scripts, batch jobs, or backend features, the pypdf library works well:

pip install pypdf

from pypdf import PdfWriter

files = ["cover.pdf", "report.pdf", "appendix.pdf"]

writer = PdfWriter()
for name in files:
    writer.append(name)

writer.write("merged.pdf")
writer.close()

This loops through your files in order and writes one combined PDF. If you only need certain pages from a file, append also accepts a page range. Check the pypdf documentation for the exact syntax in your version.

Check before you send

A merged PDF is only useful if it's right. Before you attach it anywhere, look for:

Page order: did a file land in the wrong place?
Orientation: a scanned page may be sideways.
Page count: it should match the total of your original files.
Quality: text and images should still look sharp.

Common problems and fixes

The merged file is too big to email.
Merging adds the file sizes together, so the result can be large. Run it through a PDF compressor afterward.

I only need some pages from each file.
Extract those pages first, then merge. This is easier than merging everything and deleting pages later.

One of my files isn't a PDF.
Convert it to PDF first (Word documents, images, and so on), then add it to the list.

The file is password-protected.
You'll usually need to unlock it first. Only do this for files you have the right to open.

I need to change something after merging.
Use a PDF editor to fix text, add a signature, or add a watermark.

A note on privacy

Merging often involves sensitive files like contracts, ID copies, or bank statements. Before using any online tool, check its privacy policy to see how files are handled and when they're deleted. For highly confidential documents, the command line and Python methods above run entirely on your own machine.

Quick checklist

[ ] Add all your PDFs
[ ] Put them in the right order
[ ] Remove anything added by mistake
[ ] Merge and download
[ ] Scroll through every page
[ ] Compress if the file is too large
[ ] Name it clearly, for example Ali_Resume_Cover_Letter.pdf

Final thoughts

Once you know the steps, merging PDFs takes under a minute, whether you click through a web tool, run one command, or script it. Pick the method that fits your situation, check the result, and send it.

If you've got a PDF task you'd like me to cover next, leave a comment. I read them all.

I built a free Rotate PDF tool with page thumbnails (no sign-up, no watermark)

Muhammad Ali — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 09:42:17 +0000

I just updated the Rotate PDF tool on MyPDFLabs, my free set of online PDF tools. It's for the moment when a PDF is sideways or upside down and you want to fix it for good, so I wanted to share what it does and what I focused on.

Why a rotate tool?

Sideways pages come up more often than you'd think:

A scanned document that came out sideways
A landscape chart inside an otherwise portrait report
A double-sided scan where every second page is upside down
A document you need to send or upload the right way round

Most viewers only rotate the view. The file doesn't change, so the page goes back to the wrong way when you reopen it or send it to someone. Most of the tools I found for fixing it properly wanted an account, added a watermark, or made me rotate pages one by one with no overview.

What it does

The tool shows every page of your PDF as a thumbnail, so you can see what you're changing before you download anything.

Page count and a "pages rotated" counter at the top, so you know how much you've changed
Rotate All Left / Rotate All Right for the whole document
Per-page -90° and +90° buttons on every thumbnail, for fixing just the pages that are wrong
Quick Select options: Rotate Odd and Rotate Even, for double-sided scans where every other page is upside down
Reset, if you change your mind
Save & Download PDF, which saves the rotation into a new file

It needs no sign-up, adds no watermark on the core tools, supports files up to 500MB, and deletes uploaded files automatically after processing.

What I thought about while building it

Rotation looks trivial, but a few choices mattered:

Show every page. If you can't see the pages, you can't tell which ones are wrong. Thumbnails make the problem obvious at a glance.
Rotate the file, not the view. The whole point is that the fix is saved, so the result looks right in every viewer.
Handle the common pattern. Double-sided scans often have every second page flipped, so the odd and even buttons save a lot of clicking.
Make it easy to undo. A reset button and a visible angle on each page make mistakes cheap.
Privacy matters. People rotate scanned contracts, IDs and forms, so I decided not to keep files around and not to ask for an account.

What I'd like feedback on

The site is still new, so I'd love honest opinions:

Are the per-page buttons and the "rotate all" options clear, or is there too much on the screen?
Would you want a way to select several pages by hand and rotate them together?
Which PDF tool should I add or improve next?

You can try it here: mypdflabs.com/tools/rotate

Thanks for reading, and I'll reply to every comment.

I added a free PDF Watermark tool with live preview (no sign-up)

Muhammad Ali — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 18:04:47 +0000

I just added a Watermark & Add Stamp tool to MyPDFLabs, my free set of online PDF tools. It's for marking a PDF as a draft, confidential or paid, or putting a logo on it, so I wanted to share what it does and what I focused on.

Why a watermark tool?

Marking a document comes up more often than you'd think:

Labeling a contract or proposal as DRAFT before sending it out
Marking a document CONFIDENTIAL
Stamping an invoice as PAID
Putting a logo on reports, handouts and certificates
Adding SAMPLE to a document you share as an example

Most of the tools I found wanted an account, added their own watermark, or gave me no way to see the result before downloading. I wanted something where you can see what you're doing as you go.

What it does

The tool has a controls panel on the left and a live preview of your pages on the right.

Two modes: Text Watermark and Image Stamp
Quick presets: Confidential, Draft, Sample, Do Not Copy, Paid and Urgent, or type your own text
Styling: colour, font size, font family and bold or regular weight
Opacity slider, so the mark doesn't make the page hard to read
Rotation: diagonal (45°), horizontal, vertical or reverse (-45°)
Position: center, tiled across the page, top or bottom
Page selection: all pages, first page only, or a custom range
Live preview that you can zoom and flip through before downloading

It needs no sign-up, adds no watermark of its own on the core tools, supports files up to 500MB, and deletes uploaded files automatically after processing.

What I thought about while building it

Watermarking looks simple, but a few design choices mattered:

Show the result before the download. Opacity, size and rotation are hard to judge from numbers, so a preview you can flip through saves a lot of trial and error.
Presets for the common cases. Most people want "CONFIDENTIAL" or "DRAFT" in a sensible default style, so one click should get them there.
Defaults should be readable. A strong mark can make a page unreadable, so the default opacity stays low.
Be honest about what a watermark is. It labels a document, it doesn't protect it. Someone determined can still copy text or try to remove it, so for sensitive files a password is the right tool.
Privacy matters. People mark contracts, invoices and IDs, so I decided not to keep files around and not to ask for an account.

What I'd like feedback on

The site is still new, so I'd love honest opinions:

Are the controls clear, or is there too much on the panel?
Is the live preview useful, or would you rather have fewer options and a simpler flow?
Which PDF tool should I add or improve next?

You can try it here: mypdflabs.com/tools/watermark

Thanks for reading, and I'll reply to every comment.

I added a free Split & Extract PDF tool (no sign-up, no watermark)

Muhammad Ali — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:12:50 +0000

I just added a Split & Extract Pages tool to MyPDFLabs, my free set of online PDF tools. It's for the moment when you have a long PDF and only need part of it, so I wanted to share what it does and what I focused on.

Why a split tool?

Long PDFs are awkward to share, and this comes up more often than you'd think:

A 120-page contract where the client only needs five pages
A scanned bundle that should be separate files
A form that accepts one page at a time
A big report you want to cut into chapters

Most of the tools I found wanted an account, added a watermark, or made the page selection fiddly. I wanted something simple: drop in a file, type the pages you want, and download the result.

What it does

Tells you the page count as soon as you upload, so you know what you're working with
Two modes: By Range and Extract Pages
Simple page syntax. Use dashes for ranges and commas to separate them, for example 1-5 or 1,3,5-8
No sign-up and no watermark on the core tools
Files up to 500MB, one file at a time
Automatic deletion. Uploaded files are deleted after processing

What I thought about while building it

Splitting looks trivial, but a few details matter:

Page input has to be forgiving. People type ranges in many ways, so the tool shows an example in the field and a short hint under it, instead of hoping users guess the format.
Show the page count first. If you know the file has 4 pages, you won't ask for page 10.
Printed page numbers and PDF page numbers often differ. A cover page or a table of contents shifts everything, so this is the most common mistake people make.
Splitting isn't redaction. Removing pages doesn't hide anything on the pages you keep, and I think it's worth saying that clearly.
Privacy matters. People split contracts, IDs and CVs, so I decided not to keep files around and not to ask for an account.

What I'd like feedback on

The site is still new, so I'd love honest opinions:

Is the page range input clear, or would you prefer picking pages from thumbnails?
Do you prefer typing ranges or clicking pages?
Which PDF tool should I add or improve next?

You can try it here: mypdflabs.com/tools/split

Thanks for reading, and I'll reply to every comment.

I added a free PDF to Word converter (no sign-up, no watermark)

Muhammad Ali — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 09:33:55 +0000

I just added a converter to MyPDFLabs, my free set of online PDF tools. It turns a PDF into an editable Word document, and it handles a few other conversions too. Here's what it does and what I focused on.

Why a converter?

Converting a PDF to Word is one of the most common PDF jobs, and it comes up for ordinary reasons:

A resume or form that only exists as a PDF
A report someone sent you that needs changes
An old document with no original file
A contract or letter you need to reuse as a template

Most of the tools I found wanted an account, added a watermark, or hid the result behind a paywall. I wanted something where you pick a conversion, drop in a file, and download the result.

What it does

The converter page has seven options in one place:

PDF to Word
PDF to Excel
PDF to Images
Images to PDF
Word to PDF
Excel to PDF
PPT to PDF

You choose the conversion at the top, drop your file in, convert it, and download. It works with one file at a time, supports files up to 500MB, and needs no sign-up. The core tools add no watermark, and uploaded files are deleted automatically after processing.

What I thought about while building it

Conversion looks simple until you try it on real files:

A PDF doesn't know what a paragraph is. It stores where text sits on the page, so any converter has to guess the structure. Simple documents come out well, and complicated layouts may need tidying.
Scans are a special case. A scanned PDF is a picture, so it needs OCR before it can become editable text.
Keep the flow short. The best converter is one where you pick the conversion, upload the file and get the result without extra steps.
Privacy matters. People convert contracts, IDs and CVs, so I decided not to keep files around and not to ask for an account.

I'm honest about the limits too: results depend on the document, and tables and multi-column layouts are the hardest.

What I'd like feedback on

The site is still new, so I'd love honest opinions:

Is the page clear, or would you expect something different?
How well does PDF to Word keep your formatting on your files?
Which conversion should I improve or add next?

You can try it here: mypdflabs.com/tools/convert?to=word

Thanks for reading, and I'll reply to every comment.

I added a free Compress PDF tool with 3 quality levels (no sign-up, no watermark)

Muhammad Ali — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 20:31:05 +0000

I just added a Compress PDF tool to MyPDFLabs, my free set of online PDF tools. Big PDFs are one of the most common problems people run into, so I wanted to share what it does and what I focused on.

Why a compress tool?

You finish a document and then something blocks you:

An email bounces because the attachment is too big
A job portal rejects your application because of a 5 MB upload limit
A scanned document is far larger than it needs to be
A merged PDF turns into one huge file

Most of the tools I found for this wanted an account, added a watermark, or gave me no say in how much quality I was giving up. I wanted something simple: open the page, upload a file, choose how strong the compression should be, and download the result.

What it does

Three compression levels. Maximum Compression for the smallest file, Balanced for good compression with good quality, and Less Compression for higher quality and a larger file.
Original size shown up front, so you can see how much you saved.
No sign-up and no watermark on the core tools.
Files up to 500MB.
Automatic deletion. Uploaded files are deleted after processing.

The savings depend on the file. A scan or a PDF full of photos can shrink a lot, while a mostly-text PDF has little to remove. I show approximate figures for each level, but they're estimates, not promises.

What I thought about while building it

Compression sounds simple, but a few things mattered more than I expected:

Quality is a trade-off, so give people control. A smaller file is only useful if it's still readable, so I added levels instead of one fixed setting.
Show the result clearly. People want to know how much space they saved before they download.
Be honest about the numbers. The size reduction varies by file, so the tool shouldn't claim more than it can deliver.
Privacy matters. People compress contracts, IDs and CVs, so I decided not to keep files around and not to ask for an account.

What I'd like feedback on

The site is still new, so I'd love honest opinions:

Are the three levels easy to understand, or would you prefer a slider?
Which level do you reach for most, and why?
Which PDF tool should I add or improve next?

You can try it here: mypdflabs.com/tools/compress

Thanks for reading, and I'll reply to every comment.

I built a free Merge PDF tool with no sign-up and no watermark

Muhammad Ali — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 20:09:10 +0000

I just added a Merge PDF tool to MyPDFLabs, my free set of online PDF tools. It's one of the most requested things people do with PDFs, so I wanted to share what it does and how I thought about it.

Why a merge tool?

Merging is one of those small jobs that comes up all the time:

A cover letter, resume and certificates for a job application
Scanned receipts for an expense report
Chapters of an assignment saved as separate files
Contracts and attachments for a client

Most of the tools I found for this wanted an account, added a watermark, or capped the file size. I wanted something where you open the page, add your files, and download one PDF.

What it does

Combine several PDFs into one. Add your files and set the order.
No sign-up.
No watermark on the core tools.
Files up to 500MB.
Automatic deletion. Uploaded files are deleted after processing.

It also works well with the other tools on the site. If a file is sideways, rotate it. If the result is too big to email, compress it. If you only need a few pages from a long file, split or extract them first and then merge.

What I thought about while building it

Merging looks trivial, but a few details matter:

Order is everything. The result is only useful if the files come out in the order you expect, so that step needs to be obvious.
Real files are messy. People upload scans, protected files and huge documents, so the tool needs clear messages when something can't be merged.
Privacy matters. People merge contracts, IDs and CVs, so I decided early not to keep files around and not to ask for an account.

What I'd like feedback on

The site is still new, so I'd really like your honest opinions:

Is the merge flow clear, or is anything confusing?
What would make it faster for you?
Which PDF tool should I add next?

You can try it here: mypdflabs.com/tools/merge

Thanks for reading, and I'll reply to every comment.

I built a free PDF toolkit with Next.js and Python (and what I learned about PDFs)

Muhammad Ali — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:17:57 +0000

A few weeks ago I started building MyPDFLabs, a free set of online PDF tools. It's live now, and I'd like to share what it does, how it's built, and what I learned about PDFs along the way. I'd also really like your feedback.

Why I built it

Every time I needed to rotate, merge or sign a PDF, the same things got in the way: a sign-up wall, a watermark on the result, or a small file size limit. I wanted a tool where you open the page, upload the file and get the result.

So I built one.

What it does

MyPDFLabs has around 26 tools in the browser:

Edit and create PDFs: change text, add images, shapes and signatures
Organize: merge, split and extract pages, rotate, delete and reorder pages, add page numbers
Convert: PDF to Word, Excel and images, and Word, Excel, PowerPoint and images to PDF
Protect and clean up: compress, watermark and stamp, redact, encrypt and unlock, flatten
Sign and fill forms
OCR for scanned documents
Chat with PDF, to ask questions about a document
An ATS-friendly resume builder with 50+ templates

The core tools need no registration and add no watermarks. Files up to 500MB are supported, and uploaded files are deleted automatically after processing.

The stack

Frontend: Next.js (React)
Backend: Python, for the heavy PDF processing
Hosting: a VPS I manage myself

I split it this way because the browser is good for the interface and quick interactions, while Python has strong libraries for the real PDF work.

What makes PDF tools tricky

If you've never built with PDFs, here's what surprised me.

A PDF isn't a document like Word is. It describes where to draw each piece of text on a page. There are no paragraphs that reflow. That's why editing a sentence is much harder than it looks, because the file has no idea the sentence exists.

Fonts are a common problem. If the original font isn't embedded or available, text can shift when you edit it. Checking the result after saving matters.

Long documents need care. An editor that works for a 5-page file can struggle with a 200-page one. I test mine with large PDFs because pages and thumbnails have to load without freezing the browser.

Scanned PDFs are just pictures. To edit or search them, you first need OCR to turn the image into real text.

Privacy is a design decision, not a feature. People upload contracts, IDs and CVs. That's why uploaded files get deleted after processing, and why I don't ask for an account.

What I'd like feedback on

The site is still new, so I'd love honest opinions:

Which tool would you use most?
Is anything confusing, slow or broken?
What PDF tool is missing?
If you've built PDF tooling yourself, how did you handle text editing and fonts? I'd like to compare notes.

Try it

You can find everything at mypdflabs.com. If you only want to try one thing, open the PDF editor.

Thanks for reading, and I'll reply to every comment.