PDF itself is difficult to work with, let alone scanned PDF. In general, scanned PDF are essentially an image form that cannot be edited. Then people will ask：
Question 1: How to identify scanned PDF and native PDF?
Broadly speaking, scanned PDF and native PDF are two types of PDF. To identify scanned and native PDF, you just need to figure out if the text is searchable or not in the PDF. If the words can be searched in the PDF, it is a native PDF and if the words cannot be searched, it is a scanned PDF file. You will find that you can't select any text from scanned PDF, you can only select an area instead.
Question 2: Is there any way to convert scanned PDF to Word?
Yes, of course. There are actually many ways to convert scanned PDF to Word. In this article, we’re going to show you different methods to get the job done. Just read on!
The method that fits you may vary depending on your needs:
Jump to:
In total, according to the different user of Mac and Windows, we prepared two PDF to Word converters with OCR enabled to convert scanned PDF to Word offline.
Enolsoft PDF Converter OCR is the go-to PDF converter software when it comes to converting scanned or native PDF to editable Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other formats. The program has an OCR feature that allows you to convert scanned PDF to Word that can be edited or searched.
It is worth mentioning that it's very cost-effective when compared to the similar software like Adobe acrobat DC, Foxit PhantomPDF.
Remarkable features
Step 1: Click the Free Download button to install it.
Step 2: Drag and drop the scanned PDF file you'd like to convert or click the + button to add scanned files.
Step 3: Set the output format as Word (DOCX/DOC), also choose the page range.
Step 4: Click on Settings icon, you will be able to enable OCR and choose file language for the document. Also you can customize the output document as you like.
Step 5: After everything has been done and set as required in the above steps, it is time to hit the Convert button to convert scanned PDF to Word. Just wait for the editable word file.
You can also convert scanned PDF to Word online if you don’t have to do that very often. These online tools allow you to convert scanned PDF to Word without platform limit. You can do that on Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS or iPad. Most importantly, they are totally free.
Along with the above features, we have also noticed a few pros and cons of converting scanned PDF to Word online free.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Here we recommend OnlineOCR. It is a free online OCR service to convert scanned PDF to editable Word, Excel and Text output formats. Besides, the website supports OCR 46 languages, including Korean, Japanese, and Chinese.
OnlineOCR.net
Steps to convert scanned PDF to Word online free
No matter which PDF to Word converter we choose (online or offline), it is the OCR technology that helps us to convert scanned PDF to editable Word. If you don't apply OCR in the conversion of scanned PDF to word, the output file is still uneditable.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a technology that allows us to convert scanned PDF editable Word. This technology has been around for some time and gets better day by day. The name itself refers that the technology is used to recognize characters from PDF or image.
OCR is a technology that cannot convert anything by itself. Therefore, it is embedded in some PDF converters to convert scanned PDF to Word. There are many OCR converters out there available for free. Basically, there are two kinds of OCR software, online and offline.
In Google searches, you’ll find a wide range of online OCR services available on the Internet and there is a lot of downloaded OCR software that can be used for converting scanned PDF to Word too. Today, to avoid confusion, we just have focused on two offline software namely Enolsoft PDF Converter with OCR and Icecream PDF Converter. We will test more OCR software for you in our later article.
These are the ways we wanted to share with you. As we said at the beginning, the best method can vary from case to case. Which method do you find most effective and efficient? or do you find any other better solutions for converting scanned PDF to Word? Please feel free to let us know.
Bryan is the Chief Writer at Enolsoft for 13 years. He doesn’t just document software, he is more like a power user that bridges the gap between complex file management systems and the real people who use them, showing users the easiest way to turn digital chaos into streamlined efficiency.
