Check whether a PDF has selectable text

Open a PDF and the tool counts the characters in every page’s text layer. Pages with text are searchable; pages without are images (scans) that need OCR before you can search or copy from them.

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How to use Scan PDF for Selectable Text

Choose a PDF.
Wait for the page-by-page scan.
Read the verdict and the list of pages without text.
Run OCR PDF if pages need it.

Supported formats

Input: PDF
Output: On-screen report

How the verdict works

A page counts as having text when it contains a meaningful number of non-space characters. Pages with only a few stray characters (page numbers) are flagged as “very little text”.

Hybrid documents

Some PDFs mix real text pages and scanned pages. The report shows exactly which are which.

Limitations

Counts characters; does not judge text quality.

Privacy

Files you choose are read into your browser’s memory and processed on your device; they are not uploaded to a server. Temporary download links are released after use, and the offline cache never stores your documents. More about privacy and limits.

Frequently asked questions

Does it read the text aloud or show it?

No – use Extract Text to view the content.

Can text be present but gibberish?

Yes, poor OCR layers or broken font encodings can produce unreadable text. Check a sample with Extract Text.