Find and select text in a scanned PDF. On-device OCR is part of FileSway Pro.
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Pro Searchable PDF creation uses on-device OCR. The free plan does not include it.
OCR means optical character recognition. It reads the picture of the letters on a scanned page and adds text you can find and select. The page still looks like the scan. FileSway does not edit PDF text.
FileSway Pro is a one-time $14.99 purchase in the U.S. There is no subscription. Apple sets the price, and it can vary by country or region. There is no account. Restore Purchases is available. Pricing puts Free and Pro side by side. FileSway shows what is included in Free and Pro before you convert.
OCR can contain errors. A blurred or faint word can come back as the wrong word. Check names and numbers before you send the file. The screen above is Pages, where a typed order such as 5, 1, 3 sets which pages are included. PDF pages explains that control. Searchable OCR is a separate Pro step.
Scans can come from document scan on a supported device, or from Photos or Files. Use an unlocked PDF. A photo of a page is not searchable text until OCR runs.
Open FileSway and add the pages from Photos or Files. On a supported device you can also use document scan (see how to scan a document with iPhone).
If you started from a photo, make the PDF first. One photo to one PDF is free. Photo to PDF is that step. A picture placed on a page is not text yet.
Create the searchable PDF with FileSway Pro. OCR runs on your iPhone. The free plan does not include searchable OCR.
Read the result, including names and numbers. OCR can contain errors. FileSway does not edit PDF text, so it will not rewrite a wrong word.
Save to Files, share, or export a ZIP. Your original stays unchanged. If the file also has to meet a size cap, compress the PDF after you have checked the text.
The scan is what OCR reads. A cleaner page is easier to read. Check the words before you rely on them.
Searchable means you can find a word and select the text in the PDF. FileSway does not edit PDF text, fill in forms, or sign the document.
The picture of the page stays what was scanned. The recognized text is a layer on top of that picture, and that layer can be wrong. If a name is wrong, look at the page image and type the right value where you are sending it. Your original file stays unchanged.
Live Text can find and select text in a photo in recent iOS versions, when you need one line from a picture. Saving a searchable PDF is a different result. Apple may move these menus.
Open the photo in Photos.
Use Live Text when that version of iOS shows it, and select the text you need.
Copy the text. The photo is still a photo, and you do not have a searchable PDF from this step.
Free & Pro
| Feature | Built-in iOS | FileSway Free | FileSway Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Searchable PDFFind and select text in the PDF. OCR can contain errors. | Live Text can find text in a photo, in recent iOS versions. It does not make a searchable PDF. | ||
| On-device OCR for that PDF | Live Text is not PDF OCR. | ||
| Edit the PDF text | Live Text does not edit the PDF. | ||
| Add a scan, photo, or unlocked PDF | Photos, and the scan tools that version includes | Photos, Files, or document scan on supported devices | Same sources, then searchable OCR |
| File uploaded to FileSway for OCR | Not part of Live Text | No searchable OCR | No. OCR runs on your iPhone. |
| Price | Included with iPhone | Free | $14.99 once |
Document processing does not upload your files to our servers.
Image conversion, PDF tools and OCR run on your iPhone. Cloud file providers, Apple purchases and restore, and links you choose to open can still use the internet.
On-device privacyA searchable PDF lets you find and select text in a scan, and the page still looks like the scan. FileSway Pro adds that text with on-device OCR, which can contain errors, and FileSway does not edit PDF text.
No. Searchable PDF creation using on-device OCR is part of FileSway Pro, a one-time $14.99 purchase in the U.S. (prices are set by Apple and can vary by country or region), and there is no subscription or account. The free plan is one input and one output per job, without searchable OCR, though a multi-page PDF can still produce more than one result file on the free plan. See Pricing.
No. You can find and select text, and FileSway does not edit PDF text. Check the result, because OCR can contain errors, and the original stays unchanged.
No. OCR runs on your iPhone, and document processing does not upload your files to our servers. Cloud file providers, Apple purchases and restore, and links you choose to open can still use the internet. The current version has no advertising or analytics SDK, and there is no account.
After OCR in FileSway Pro, you can find and select text in the PDF. OCR can contain errors, so check the words before you rely on them.
FileSway is coming to the App Store. Convert, resize & compress photos and PDFs, right on your iPhone.