Free OCR Tool to Copy & Search Scanned PDFs 📝

Need to copy or search text from a scanned PDF — but don’t want to pay for expensive software? This tutorial shows you a completely free and simple method using Microsoft OneNote that lets you extract and search text from any scanned PDF using OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

🔍 With this method, you can:

Copy text from scanned letters, contracts, or printed forms

Search through PDF content as if it were typed text

Avoid using paid software like Adobe Acrobat Pro

🧠 How it works:
You simply print your PDF to OneNote (works from any PDF viewer), and OneNote automatically performs OCR on the scanned image. You can then search, select, and copy the recognized text — even if the original PDF was just an image or scan.

✅ In this video, you’ll learn:

How to send a scanned PDF to OneNote using “Print to OneNote”

How to view the scanned PDF inside OneNote

How OCR works in the background

How to highlight, search, and copy the extracted text

Bonus: How to keep the formatting clean when pasting into Word or email

🖥️ Requirements:

A Windows PC with OneNote (free with most Microsoft accounts)

Any standard PDF viewer (e.g., Chrome, Edge, Adobe Reader, FireFox)

💡 This method works great for:

Legal documents

School notes

Printed reports and letters

Old scanned PDFs without selectable text

📌 Skip the subscriptions — use this powerful free tool built right into your system!

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