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POST /api/pdf/ocr/convert

PDF OCR Convert API

Send the URL of a scanned PDF and get back the same document with a text layer, so its words can be selected, copied and found. Made for archives and paper intake.

  • Free plan
  • No credit card

Request

curl -X POST https://apdf.io/api/pdf/ocr/convert \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
  -d file="FILE_URL"

Same scan.
Now with text.

Each scanned page gets recognized text laid over its image. Viewers can select, copy and search it like any other PDF.

invoice-scan.pdf example
Northwind Supplies Ltd.
INVOICE
Invoice no. 10482
Date: 12 March 2024
Total due: 1,240.00
Scanned image Text layer Selected text
pages 1 size 12 KB file 6f1674e2703953aa.pdf
What OCR does to your PDF
Scanned pages
Get an invisible text layer from OCR
Text already in the file
Stays as it is
An older OCR layer
Is replaced with a fresh one
Page images
Kept, not straightened or rotated
The new PDF
A download URL, valid for 60 minutes

Paper in, search out.

A scanned page is only a picture of text. OCR turns it into a document your tools and your users can search.

Digitized archives

Make years of scanned contracts and letters searchable in your document system, without retyping a single word.

Scanner and mailbox intake

Run every PDF from the office scanner or a shared mailbox through OCR before it is filed, so none lands as a picture.

Phone scans from users

Turn the paperwork your customers photograph and upload into PDFs whose text can be selected and copied.

Ready for the next step

Hand later steps a PDF with real text, so search, text extraction and copy and paste work on scans too.

Run OCR from anywhere.

Make scans searchable wherever they come in. One account and one monthly allowance behind every route.

Your code

One authenticated POST from any language. Copy-paste samples in cURL, Node.js, Python and more.

POST /api/pdf/ocr/convert
Open the endpoint docs
Zapier

Pick the action in any Zap and map files from earlier steps. No code and no servers to run.

Make PDF Searchable With OCR
Use it in Zapier
n8n

Add the Apdf node to any workflow, on n8n Cloud or self-hosted, and chain it with your automation.

Convert PDF with OCR
Use it in n8n
AI agents

Let Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or your own agent run it through the MCP server, on any paid plan.

convert-pdf-with-ocr
See what agents can do

1,000 OCR conversions
a month. Free.

Start on the free plan and move up only when your volume does — up to 1,000,000 operations a month on Business.

  • One call is one operation, however many pages.
  • Only calls that do the work are counted.
  • Hard limits, so no surprise overage charges.
Plan PDF operations / month
Hobby Free
$0 / month
1,000
Pro
$39–$99 / month
20,000 – 60,000
Business
$149–$899 / month
100,000 – 1,000,000

OCR conversion, answered

OCR recognizes English text, and there is no language parameter. Documents in other languages may be recognized less reliably.
OCR always runs in the background. Check the job on the job status endpoint, or pass a webhook_url and the result is posted to you when it is ready.
Password-protected PDFs, digitally signed PDFs and PDFs with fillable form fields are rejected with an error message, and the failed job is not counted. Remove a password first with Passwords.
Yes. OCR text extraction returns the recognized text as JSON, page by page, and OCR search returns the pages and lines where a term appears.
As a URL: Apdf downloads the file, up to 100 MB. In Zapier and n8n you can map the file from an earlier step instead.
After the API call

Your code made the PDF.
Then it went dark.

Opened, read, signed or ignored — you never see any of it. Send the PDFs you generate as personal links, and every open, page read, comment and signature comes back to your software as a webhook. Need it signed? Same link. Same account, same API key, one more call.

Your PDF, after sending Live
document:loaded CFO
page:read p4 · 38s
signature:signed 11:48

API · Webhook · MCP

Turn your scans into
searchable PDFs.