OCR PDF: make scanned pages searchable
A scanned PDF is just a picture of a page — no selectable text, no search, nothing an AI assistant can read. OCR (optical character recognition) fixes that by adding a real text layer underneath the image. Velox PDF runs OCR on-device, in one click, for free.
⬇ Download Velox PDF for Mac — freeWhat OCR actually does
When a document is scanned or photographed, the PDF that results is an image — visually a page, but with no underlying text your Mac understands. You can’t select a word, search for a phrase, or copy a sentence out of it.
OCR reads the shapes of the letters in that image and converts them into real, selectable text, then lays that text invisibly on top of the original image — the page looks exactly the same, but now has a text layer underneath it.
How Velox PDF’s OCR works
- Open the scanned PDF and click OCR Page in the toolbar.
- Velox PDF reads the page using Apple’s on-device Vision framework — the same technology behind Live Text on iPhone and Mac, running locally, not in the cloud.
- A selectable, searchable text layer is added to the page, with the image itself untouched.
Why it matters
Once a page has a text layer, everything else Velox PDF does works on it too: highlighting a sentence, searching the document for a phrase with the Search PDF tool, or asking Velox PDF’s AI assistant a question about the page’s content. Without OCR, none of that is possible on a scanned document — it’s just a picture.
OCR is one feature of a full PDF app
Velox PDF is a native Mac app for reading, marking up, and signing PDFs — with on-device OCR, AI chat with page citations, and instant summaries built in. Free to download, no subscription required to start.
Download Velox PDF for Mac — free →Frequently asked questions
Is OCR in Velox PDF free?
Yes — OCR runs on-device as part of the free download, no subscription or sign-in required to use it.
Does OCR work offline?
Yes. It uses Apple's on-device Vision framework, not a cloud service, so it works with no internet connection and the scanned page never leaves your Mac.
What languages does it recognize?
Whatever languages Apple's Vision text-recognition supports on your version of macOS — it isn't limited to English, but exact coverage depends on your OS version rather than anything Velox PDF configures itself.
Can I search or chat with a PDF after running OCR?
Yes — once OCR adds a text layer, that page behaves like any other text PDF: selectable, searchable (try the free Search PDF tool), and answerable by Velox PDF's AI assistant.
Does OCR change how the page looks?
No — it adds an invisible, selectable text layer underneath the existing scanned image. The page looks identical; it just becomes text-searchable.