Scan to Text

Runs in browser OCR & Text

For scans you want to edit or quote rather than search: the pages are recognised locally and the text is handed to you as plain text and as a .docx with one paragraph per line or reflowed paragraphs. The scan itself is not modified.

Privacy: Processed locally in your browser. Your file is not uploaded.

What is OCR?

OCR (optical character recognition) turns the pixels of a scanned page or photo into text: it finds lines and words, recognises characters with a model trained per script, and produces text you can search, copy and index. Accuracy depends on resolution (300 dpi is the usual target), contrast, skew and the script — Arabic and Devanagari need their own language models — and the output should be proofread where it matters.

How to use Scan to Text

  1. Drop the scanned PDF.
  2. Choose the language, the layout and the output.
  3. Click "Recognise text".
  4. Download the .txt or .docx.

Scan to Text features

  • OCR in the browser; the scan is not modified
  • Text file and/or Word document
  • One line per printed line, or reflowed paragraphs
  • Right-to-left paragraphs for Arabic
  • Page selection, 150–300 dpi
  • Confidence shown

Scan to Text example

Quote from an old scanned report

Input:

report-1998.pdf, pages 3-5, English, "Join lines into paragraphs", Word

Output:

report-1998.docx — three pages of editable paragraphs

Frequently asked questions about Scan to Text

What is the difference from OCR PDF?

OCR PDF gives you back the same PDF with an invisible text layer (searchable). Scan to Text gives you the text itself as .txt and .docx to edit elsewhere. Same recognition, different output.

Does the Word document keep the layout?

No. It contains the text as plain paragraphs, right-to-left where the text is Arabic; columns, tables, pictures and fonts of the scan are not reproduced. That is stated on the result rather than hidden.

Can I get paragraphs instead of one line per printed line?

Yes — choose "Join lines into paragraphs"; lines are merged until a blank line.

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. The file is opened and processed by your browser with WebAssembly and JavaScript; nothing is sent to Mutqan Soft or anyone else. Close the tab and the file is gone. Downloading the result needs a free account — no subscription, no payment.

What are the size limits?

Up to 250 MB and 2,000 pages per operation on a desktop browser, 60 MB and 500 pages on a phone, because everything runs in your device’s memory. The tool tells you before it starts if a file is over the limit.

Can I use it on a password-protected PDF?

Yes, if you know the password: the file list asks for it once and every operation then works on the decrypted pages. The output is saved without a password unless you protect it again.

Technical notes

Recognition as in OCR PDF; the .docx is written with the `docx` library as plain paragraphs (bidi and right alignment for Arabic), one page break per source page.

References