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How to make a scanned PDF searchable on a Mac

Run OCR on the PDF: it adds an invisible text layer so you can search, select and copy the words. OneMacTools' Make PDF Searchable does it on your Mac with Apple's Vision, in many languages.

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Steps

  1. Open OneMacTools › Make PDF Searchable, or right-click the PDF › Quick Actions › OMT: Make PDF Searchable.
  2. Choose the language if it isn't detected automatically.
  3. Click Make Searchable. The new PDF keeps the original look, with text you can search and copy.

Do it with OneMacTools

Make PDF SearchableAdd an invisible OCR text layer to scanned PDFs so you can search, select and copy their text.PDFPDF to Text & WordGet the text out of a PDF as a Word document, plain text or RTF. Scanned pages are read with OCR.PDFCompress PDFShrink image-heavy PDFs for email and upload.PDF

Questions

Does OCR change how the PDF looks?

No. The text layer is invisible; the pages look the same.

Updated 14 October 2026. More in guides and the glossary.

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