# Make PDF Searchable — Make a scanned PDF searchable (OCR) on Mac

Add an invisible OCR text layer to scanned PDFs so you can search, select and copy their text. Part of OneMacTools, 151 private tools in one native Mac app (macOS 26 or later); category: PDF. Runs on your Mac; nothing is uploaded.

Scanned PDFs are just pictures of text. OneMacTools reads each page on your Mac and adds an invisible text layer aligned with the printed words, so Spotlight, Preview and other apps can search and copy it.

Page: https://www.onemactools.com/tools/make-pdf-searchable · Download: https://www.onemactools.com/download · Pricing: https://www.onemactools.com/pricing

## How to use it
1. **Add the scanned PDFs.** Drop one or more PDFs onto Make PDF Searchable. Or select them in Finder, right-click and choose Quick Actions › OMT: Make PDF Searchable.
2. **Click Make Searchable.** There's nothing to set. Each page is read on your Mac and an invisible text layer is added, lined up with the printed words.
3. **See what was done.** OneMacTools tells you how many pages got new text. Pages that already had text are left as they are.
4. **Search your copy.** The new PDF ends in “searchable” and is saved in a dated folder in Downloads › OneMacTools. Open it and use Find, or search for it in Spotlight.

## Options
- **No options:** Make PDF Searchable has nothing to set. It finds the pages that are pictures of text and adds a text layer to just those.

## Tips
- Scan at 300 dpi where you can. Clear, straight, high-contrast scans give the most accurate text.
- Fix sideways or upside-down pages with Rotate PDF Pages first, so the text is read the right way up.
- Once your scans are searchable, Split PDF can divide them wherever a word like Invoice appears.
- The recognised text is very good but not perfect. Check important names and numbers before you copy them into something else.
- Use the Finder Quick Action on a folder's worth of scans to process them in the background.

## Questions
**How do I make a scanned PDF searchable on a Mac?**
Drop it onto Make PDF Searchable and click Make Searchable, or use the Finder Quick Action. Each scanned page is read on your Mac and gets an invisible layer of text you can search, select and copy.

**Why can't I search my scanned PDF?**
A scan is a picture of text. Make PDF Searchable reads each page on your Mac and adds an invisible text layer lined up with the printed words, so Spotlight, Preview and other apps can search, select and copy it.

**Does the PDF look any different?**
No. The page images are unchanged; the text layer is invisible.

**What's OCR?**
Optical character recognition: software reading the letters in a picture. OneMacTools uses the text recognition built into macOS, so it runs on your Mac.

**Will it redo pages that already have text?**
No. Pages with existing text are left alone, so a PDF that mixes typed and scanned pages only gets text added where it's missing.

**Can I just copy the text out instead?**
Yes. Extract Text saves the text as a file and copies it to your clipboard, if you don't need a searchable PDF.