Make scanned Arabic PDFs searchable — offline
Add a searchable text layer to scanned Arabic and English documents, on your Windows PC. The page looks exactly as scanned — but now you can search it and copy from it.
Arabic OCR that stays on your PC
A fast, private desktop toolkit — not another website that uploads your files.
Arabic and English
Recognise Arabic, English, or documents that mix both. Choose the main language first and add the second one for bilingual pages.
The page stays as scanned
OCR adds an invisible text layer behind the image. Stamps, signatures and layout are untouched — the file simply becomes searchable with Ctrl + F.
Official papers stay private
Government letters, contracts and ID documents are processed by an engine installed on your PC. Nothing is sent to a cloud OCR service.
How to make a scanned Arabic PDF searchable
4 steps, entirely on your PC.
Download PdfForge free from mes-dev.com and install it on Windows.
Open OCR and choose your scanned PDF.
Choose Arabic as the language — add English as well for bilingual documents.
Click Make searchable, save the result, then press Ctrl + F in it to search the text.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is the Arabic recognition?
On clear printed text scanned at 300 DPI, results are good. Accuracy drops on decorative fonts, handwriting, low-contrast photocopies and photos taken at an angle. For names, numbers and amounts that matter, check the recognised text before relying on it.
Does it convert the scan to Word?
No. PdfForge produces a searchable PDF, not a Word document. Once the text is recognised you can copy it, or save it as a .txt file with Extract text.
Which languages are supported?
Arabic and English, including documents that mix the two. Other languages are not included, and handwriting is not supported.
Is my document uploaded to be recognised?
No. The OCR engine and its Arabic and English language files are installed with the app, so recognition runs entirely on your PC with no internet connection.
What is free and what needs Premium?
The free plan makes 10% of each file's pages searchable — at least 1 page and at most 10, starting from page 1 — and keeps the remaining pages exactly as they were, once a day and three times a month. The one-time Premium upgrade recognises every page with no limit.
Get PdfForge free
Compress, merge, split, OCR, sign and redact PDFs entirely on your Windows PC — 50+ tools, nothing uploaded, and a one-time Premium upgrade instead of a subscription.
Download PdfForge — free