The scanned PDF OCR API for image-based documents.
Turn scanned PDFs, faxed documents, and archive pages into clean text. Use the same upload and async job flow for image-only PDFs and digital PDFs.
Get started today for free. No credit card required.
See a scanned document become page text.
Image-based PDFs and faxed forms can be converted to text even when normal PDF text extraction cannot read the page contents.
{
"pages": [
{
"page": 1,
"text": "MOTOR CLAIM NOTIFICATION\nPolicy number: POL-418209..."
},
{
"page": 2,
"text": "Repair quote\nFront bumper and left headlamp..."
}
]
}Submit a scanned PDF. Get text per page.
Text mode returns one entry per page. Use it to index archives, power search, feed LLM workflows, or hand off extracted text to downstream systems.
# OCR an image-based PDF
$ curl https://api.ocrwell.com/v1/documents \
-H "X-API-Key: $OCRWELL_KEY" \
-d '{
"upload_id":"upl_01H7",
"filename":"archive-scan.pdf",
"mode":"text"
}'{
"job": {
"id": "019539a6-6c3d-7e5f",
"status": "completed",
"mode": "text",
"page_count": 3
},
"result": {
"pages": [
{
"page": 1,
"text": "SERVICE AGREEMENT\nParties..."
},
{
"page": 2,
"text": "Schedule A\nSupport terms..."
},
{
"page": 3,
"text": "Signed for and on behalf of..."
}
]
}
}Where teams use scanned PDF OCR.
Archive search
Convert scanned contracts, forms, letters, and legacy PDFs into page-by-page text ready for search indexes and audit tools.
Fax and scan ingestion
Faxed pages, photocopies, and image-only PDFs enter the same async job flow as clean digital PDFs, with polling or webhooks for completion.
LLM document pipelines
Extract text before sending content to an LLM, reducing token cost and keeping your model prompt focused on the document content.
Scanned PDF OCR questions.
What is a scanned PDF?
A scanned PDF contains page images rather than selectable text. OCRWell reads those images and returns page-by-page text through text mode.
How is this different from the PDF to text API page?
The API flow is the same. This page focuses on image-based, faxed, and archive PDFs where normal text extraction cannot read the page contents.
Can scanned PDFs also return structured data?
Yes. Use structured mode with a schema when you need fields or rows instead of raw page text.
Start free. Pay only when you scale.
- No credit card required.
- Hard cap, no overage charges.
- Paid plans from $20/mo when you grow.
Explore nearby OCR workflows.
Read scanned PDFs today.
Generate an API key, upload your first image-based PDF, and get page-by-page text back in seconds. Free forever tier covers 200 OCR pages per month.