Turn image text into a searchable PDF

In this guide

How it works

Select one to ten images containing German or English text.
Choose the recognition language and create the PDF.
Check names, numbers and search results before downloading.

Input, result and limits

Property	Details
Input	JPG / PNG / WebP
Output	PDF
Important limitation	Up to 10 images; German or English OCR produces a searchable PDF.

The workflow in six views

Turn image text into a searchable PDF — Input: Select one to ten images containing German or English text. — 1Input
Select one to ten images containing German or English text.

Turn image text into a searchable PDF — Settings: Choose the recognition language and create the PDF. — 2Settings
Choose the recognition language and create the PDF.

Turn image text into a searchable PDF — Apply: JPG / PNG / WebP → PDF — 3Apply
JPG / PNG / WebP → PDF

Turn image text into a searchable PDF — Before and after: Visual page → Extracted text — 4Before and after
Visual page → Extracted text

Turn image text into a searchable PDF — Review: Compare names, figures and special characters Check reading order and paragraphs Check page count and order — 5Review
Compare names, figures and special characters Check reading order and paragraphs Check page count and order

6Save

Check names, numbers and search results before downloading.

Example

Before

Visual page

After

Extracted text

Check these details in the result

Compare names, figures and special characters
Check reading order and paragraphs
Check page count and order

Useful next steps

PDF OCR: make scanned text searchable	Recognize printed German or English text in PDF scans. Add a searchable text layer and check the recognized content.
Scan documents from photos into a multipage PDF	Choose up to 20 document images, adjust corners and perspective, arrange the pages and create a PDF. Review color or grayscale filters before exporting.
Convert JPG and PNG images to PDF	Bring JPG and PNG images together in a PDF. Check the image order and review the generated pages before downloading.
Convert PDF text to a TXT file for reuse	Extract existing PDF text into a UTF-8 TXT file. Reuse wording without the page layout and check reading order in columns, tables and scanned documents.

Prepare images that are easy to read

Sharp, upright images with even lighting give recognition a better starting point. For photographed documents, use the scanner first when perspective or page edges need correction. Common image formats include JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC; animated or multipage image files are not supported by this workflow.

Keep the original as your reference

The combined upload is limited to 25 MiB, with at most 40 megapixels per image. Images are fitted onto A4 pages. OCR adds searchable text; it does not recreate an editable document layout. Recognition can misread small type, handwriting, low contrast or unusual characters, so important details need checking.