OCR feature is now available in pdfFiller, making scanned PDFs instantly editable

The new OCR feature turns scanned PDFs into editable text, streamlining document workflows for SMBs and healthcare, legal, and real estate teams

BOSTON, Oct. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- pdfFiller, the online PDF editing and document management platform owned by airSlate, has announced the launch of a new optical character recognition (OCR) feature that makes scanned and photographed PDFs directly editable inside the pdfFiller editor, with no separate conversion step.

The feature is aimed at paper-heavy industries such as healthcare, legal, and real estate, where scanned contracts, intake forms, and leases are common.

Roughly one in five documents opened in pdfFiller is a scanned or image-only PDF, a category that was previously a dead end for editing.

Turning scanned PDFs from static images into editable documents

Until now, a scanned PDF was effectively a picture of a document: pdfFiller's Edit PDF tool had no text to grab onto, so users could only erase fragments and manually retype over them. The new OCR feature changes that by giving the editor a text layer to work with, directly addressing several common pain points:

• Lost originals: When the source Word or Google Docs file for a contract, agreement, or invoice is gone, users can now edit the scan itself to update a date, name, or payment terms.
• Phone-photo documents: A paper document snapped on a phone can be uploaded, corrected, and sent on without retyping the entire page.
• Errors on scanned forms: A misspelled name, outdated address, or wrong date on a scanned form can be corrected in a minute instead of printing, fixing by hand, and rescanning.
• Paper-only templates: Letterheads, price lists, menus, and application forms that exist only as printouts can be digitized once and updated indefinitely.
• Falsely "searchable" PDFs: Files from free scanner apps that appear text-searchable but produce garbled or doubled text when edited now run through the same recognition flow and edit cleanly.
• Paper-heavy industries: In healthcare, legal, and real estate, faxed intake forms, scanned leases, and insurance paperwork can now be corrected, not just filled out, when a printed field needs a fix.

Key features

pdfFiller designed the OCR feature to work automatically across desktop, tablet, and mobile web, with several core capabilities:

• Automatic, per-page recognition — no OCR button, upload step, or software to install; recognition triggers the moment a user tries to edit a scanned page
• One-click paragraph conversion from static image text to a fully editable text box
• Background-matched patches that cover the original printed text so edits blend into the page
• Support for mixed documents, recognizing scanned pages individually while leaving already-editable pages untouched

Recognition quality depends on scan quality, with clearly printed text working best, and pdfFiller is direct that font matching (currently three families plus bold detection) and background patching (matched by color, not texture) are still improving — better font fidelity is next on the roadmap. Recognition succeeds in approximately 98% of runs.

Use cases & workflows

• Real estate: A property manager receives a scanned lease with a tenant's name misspelled. Instead of printing, correcting by hand, and rescanning, the manager opens the file in pdfFiller, clicks the paragraph with the name, edits it directly, and exports a corrected lease in under a minute.
• Legal: A small law firm receives a faxed intake form from a client. The firm fills out the form as before, then also corrects a wrong date or address printed on the form itself — a step that previously required manual workarounds or a full retype.
• Healthcare: A clinic receives a scanned insurance form with an outdated policy number. Staff correct the number directly on the scan and resend it, rather than requesting a new form or retyping the page.
• Small business: A shop owner has only a printed copy of an old price list or menu. They scan it once, edit it in pdfFiller, and keep it as an editable file going forward instead of retyping it from scratch each time it changes.

Pricing & Availability

The OCR feature is now live for 100% of pdfFiller users on web, desktop, tablet, and mobile at no additional cost. On desktop and tablet, users may open any scanned PDF in the editor and flip the Fill Out / Edit PDF switcher to Edit PDF. On mobile web, users open the document and tap the Edit text tool. There are no settings to configure and nothing to install; recognition triggers automatically the moment a user attempts to edit a scanned page.
For more information, visit https://ocr-pdf-file.pdffiller.com/

About pdfFiller

pdfFiller is an industry-leading, cloud-based platform that offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing documents. Users can edit, convert, and create forms, leverage legally-binding eSignatures, and utilize advanced collaboration features. Committed to security, pdfFiller complies with major standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO/IEC 27001 to ensure data protection. By providing an all-in-one digital environment, pdfFiller helps businesses and individuals streamline their document workflows, boost productivity, and operate with greater efficiency and security.

Disclaimer: Statements in this press release regarding pdfFiller's future plans, expectations, and intentions are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected.

Media Contact

Name: Darina Prokhorova
Email: prokhorova.daryna@airslate.com
Website: https://www.pdffiller.com/ | https://ocr-pdf-file.pdffiller.com/

Social: LinkedIn | Facebook

A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0cd46edf-262b-4b10-bd23-f209d88bb58d