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Convert Scanned PDF to Word Online

by Hung Nguyen

You can also read this article in German, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Italian and Portuguese.

Check out how you can convert scanned PDF documents to editable Word files using our OCR. 📑

Converting your file from PDF to Word is easy. The process simply returns the contents of your PDF file to its original format.

However, if you are scanning documents and saving them to PDF, most times, they’re stored as images. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is required to extract the text and save the converted documents into editable Word files.

Our online tool offers both options. And yes, it’s free to use.

How to Convert Scanned PDF to Word Documents Online

  1. Go to the Smallpdf PDF to Word online tool.

  2. Upload your PDF file via drag-and-drop.

  3. Select the option you need—the OCR conversion is only available as a Pro feature.

  4. Wait for the conversion to finish.

  5. Download your editable Word file.

Convert Scanned PDF to Word Online

Scanned PDF to Word in a nutshell

The process of converting the scanned PDF file into an editable Word doc may take a few extra seconds, as our OCR needs to recognize the text of the paper documents stored as scans in PDF form. On the bright side, being a fast online PDF to Word converter—loved by over 40 million monthly users, and counting, the whole process to convert the file from scanned PDF to Word shouldn’t take too long.

Is the Scanned Pdf to Word Converter Free?

 

All of Smallpdf’s tools are free to use with some limitations—our OCR Word converter is a Pro feature. You can scan to pdf online, as well as convert images, spreadsheets, and powerpoints to pdf, even when these documents are scans. To use our optical character recognition (OCR) technology to convert images to editable Word, check out our JPG to Word guide.

Cool, But What Are the Limitations?

 

Free tasks are limited to two per day and some features are only accessible with a Pro subscription. File size is also limited to a maximum of 5 GB, as high-resolution scans may be quite large.

Getting a Smallpdf Pro account will remove the daily task limit and allow you to use the tools as often as you need to convert images to pdf, or scanned pdf to word, or use our scan to pdf converter.

Are My Scans Safe?

 

Utmost security of your files is a guarantee. We’ve recognized the concern of general users when it comes to cloud services from day one. Smallpdf does everything in our power to take care of your files; we use TLS encryption, delete files after one hour, and use the reliable Amazon Web Services to host and handle your documents. For full disclosure, check out our Terms and Privacy page.

applause

Go on, give our scan to PDF converter a try

Hung Nguyen
Hung Nguyen
Senior Growth Marketing Manager @Smallpdf