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SlimFile.app

Make a scanned PDF searchable

Make a scanned PDF's text selectable and searchable. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded. Up to 5 at a time, 25 MB each.

Choose your PDFs

up to 5 at a time.

PDFMax 25 MB each

How it works

  1. Step 1

    Add a scanned PDF

    Drop up to 5 PDFs onto the page, or browse for them. Each can be up to 25 MB.

  2. Step 2

    It reads the page

    Each page is rendered and its text is recognized right here in your browser — nothing is uploaded anywhere.

  3. Step 3

    Download the searchable copy

    The page looks exactly the same. The text underneath is now selectable and searchable.

Why use SlimFile.app for this

  • The page looks exactly the same

    An invisible text layer is added behind the scan, so nothing visible changes — the page simply becomes searchable.

  • Free, no sign-up

    No account, no email address, no trial that runs out.

  • No watermark

    What you download is clean — nothing added to your file.

  • Never leaves your device

    This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.

Questions

How do I make a scanned PDF searchable?
Add the scan here and run OCR. The text on each page is recognised and added behind it, so you can search, select and copy it in any PDF reader. It currently reads English text.
Does this change how the PDF looks?
No. The visible page is untouched — what's added is an invisible text layer positioned behind it, so the page looks identical but you can now select, copy and search its text.
How accurate is the text recognition?
Good on a clean, reasonably straight scan of printed text — not perfect, especially on skewed pages, low-resolution scans, handwriting, or unusual fonts. Treat the result as searchable, not as a guaranteed-correct transcript.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. Rendering the page and reading its text both happen in your browser, using WebAssembly — the PDF never leaves your device. The first run downloads the recognition engine and language data (a few megabytes), which your browser then caches.
Can I OCR a password-protected PDF?
Not yet — run it through Remove PDF Password first. Because OCR runs entirely client-side rather than through the server, it does not yet share PDF Slim and Split PDF's inline unlock flow.
Which languages are supported?
English only for now. Support for more languages is worth adding if there is demand for it.

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