Drop a scan or photo here
or click to browse — PDF, JPG, PNG, WebP, up to 25 MB
Scanned & image-based PDFs up to 25 pages — password-protected PDFs not supported
What OCR does
ℹ️ For best results with photos, keep the document flat and well-lit. Already-selectable text? PDF to Word is faster.
Most PDFs created from Word, Google Docs, or a print-to-PDF already carry a text layer — the words are stored as selectable text. For those, PDF to Word and Chat with PDF work directly and instantly, with no daily limit.
OCR is for the other kind: a scan from a copier, a fax, or a photo taken on your phone. There, the page is just an image — selecting text gives you nothing. AFileFix's OCR reads the pixels with AI and reconstructs the text, so you can copy, search, and reuse it.
Upload a scanned PDF or a photo. The document is sent to Anthropic's Claude API, which reads each page as an image and transcribes the text verbatim — preserving headings, lists, and tables as Markdown. It does not summarize or rewrite; anything genuinely unreadable is marked [illegible] rather than guessed.
Longer PDFs are processed a few pages at a time, in order, which keeps each job fast and reliable. When it's done, copy the text or download it as a .txt or .md file. Your document is held in memory only, forwarded to Anthropic for processing, and never written to our disk.
Reading a page as an image is much heavier than reading a text layer, so OCR is capped at 25 pages per document to keep it fast and free. If your file is longer, use Split PDF to break it into 25-page parts and OCR each part — both tools are free and run back to back.
Best results: clean scans and sharp, well-lit photos of printed text — letters, forms, invoices, book pages, contracts. Tables and multi-column layouts are preserved.
Modest results: faint or low-contrast scans, skewed phone photos, dense handwriting, and very small print. The AI still transcribes, but expect some [illegible] markers — rescan or rephotograph for a cleaner pass.
Whatever the input, treat OCR output as a strong first draft: proofread before relying on it for anything important.
PDF to Word and Chat with PDF read the text layer already inside a PDF — they don't work on scanned documents, where the page is just an image of text. OCR reads the pixels with AI, so it can transcribe scanned PDFs and photos that have no selectable text at all. If your PDF already has selectable text, use PDF to Word or Chat with PDF instead — they're faster and free of the daily OCR limit.
OCR sends each page to the AI as an image, which is slower and more costly than reading a text layer. The 25-page cap keeps each job fast and keeps the tool free. For longer documents, use Split PDF to break the file into 25-page parts, then run OCR on each part.
Very good on clean scans and clear photos — printed text, forms, and tables transcribe faithfully, and layout is preserved as Markdown. Accuracy drops on faint scans, heavy handwriting, skewed photos, or low-resolution images. Anything the AI genuinely can't read is marked [illegible] rather than guessed. Always proofread the output before relying on it.
Scanned or image-based PDFs (up to 25 pages) and photos or screenshots in JPG, PNG, or WebP. Files must be under 25 MB. Password-protected PDFs aren't supported — unlock them first.
For AI-processing details and Anthropic's API retention terms, see our Privacy page.
Free, no signup. Turn a scanned PDF or photo into copy-ready text.