What it does
OCRmyPDF adds an OCR text layer to existing scanned PDFs. Its documentation covers image processing, optimization, language packs, batch work, and PDF/A output modes.
OCRmyPDF adds searchable text to scanned PDFs and can write PDF/A or ordinary PDF output. Select the recognition languages and install their packs before a batch. A sidecar text file contains only pages actually OCRed, so it is not a complete extraction of pre-existing text. In-place conversion overwrites only on success. Signed PDFs are refused by default because OCR cannot preserve their digital signatures; forced rasterisation and lossy optimisation also change what the output retains.
Strengths
- Adds searchable text directly to existing PDF scans.
Watch out for
- Adding OCR cannot preserve an existing PDF digital signature.
Best for
- Making a scanned document archive searchable
Sources
- OCRmyPDF documentation — ocrmypdf 17.13.1 documentation (Oct 26, 2026)
- OCRmyPDF LICENSE - Mozilla Public License 2.0 (Oct 26, 2026)
- Cookbook — ocrmypdf 17.13.1 documentation (Oct 26, 2026)
- Using the OCRmyPDF API — ocrmypdf 17.13.1 documentation (Oct 26, 2026)