Find out whether a PDF actually has a real text layer you can select, search, and copy — or whether it's effectively a set of scanned page images with no extractable text at all — before you try to search, copy from, or index it. This diagnoses the problem; it does not run OCR. For that, the PDF Text Editor can run OCR in your browser.
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| Page | Characters found | Likely scanned |
|---|---|---|
Your file is processed on our server and deleted automatically afterward — see the privacy note below.
Overview
About PDF Text Density Checker
Upload a PDF and this tool measures how much real, extractable text each page actually contains, then reports a per-page and overall verdict: fully text-based, likely scanned (little or no extractable text — an image of a page rather than real text), or a mixed document with some of each. This is a diagnostic check, not OCR — it tells you whether a page already has a usable text layer or would need OCR to become searchable; it does not perform OCR itself. To recognize text on a scanned page, use the PDF Text Editor, which runs OCR in your browser.
Compatibility
Supported Formats
Accepts PDF (.pdf) input up to 20 MB and 200 pages. Reports a per-page and overall text-density verdict — no output file is produced.
Guide
How to Use PDF Text Density Checker
- Choose or drag in a PDF file.
- Click "Check Text Density".
- Review the per-page character counts and the overall verdict.
Highlights
Features
- Per-page + overall verdict See exactly which pages have real text and which look scanned, plus one overall summary for the document.
- Honest about OCR Clearly states this is a diagnostic check, not OCR, and that it does not recognize text itself — no false promise of text recognition.
- Reuses the same extraction engine as PDF to Text Uses the same real text-layer extraction as this site's PDF to Text tool, so the diagnosis matches what that tool would actually return.
- No files retained This is a report-only tool — no output file is created, and your uploaded PDF is deleted automatically after the check runs.
Applications
Use Cases
- Check whether a downloaded PDF is genuinely searchable before relying on Ctrl+F to find something in it
- Confirm a batch of scanned documents actually needs OCR before sending them to an OCR service
- Diagnose why PDF to Text returned little or no content for a particular file
Good to Know
Limitations
This is a diagnostic heuristic based on extractable-character counts, not OCR — it identifies whether a page already has real text, it does not add text to a scanned page. For OCR, use the PDF Text Editor.
Files are processed on our servers and are not shared with third parties. Files are deleted as soon as processing or download finishes. Any leftover temporary file is removed automatically by our cleanup process within the configured retention period (60 minutes). See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Support
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this tool perform OCR?
No. It only measures how much extractable text is already present in the PDF and reports whether a page looks text-based or scanned — it does not recognize text inside a scanned image. For OCR on a scanned page, the PDF Text Editor can run it locally in your browser.
How does it decide a page is "likely scanned"?
It extracts the real text layer (the same way our <a href="/pdf-to-text/">PDF to Text</a> tool does) and counts the non-whitespace characters found on each page. A page with very little or no extractable text is flagged as likely scanned — an image of a page rather than real, selectable text.
Why would a "mixed" verdict happen?
Some documents combine genuinely text-based pages (a cover page created digitally, for example) with scanned pages (photocopied inserts) in the same file — a mixed verdict means some pages have a real text layer and others don't.
How many pages will it check?
Every page up to this site's standard PDF page-count limit (shown on the upload form) — the same ceiling enforced on every PDF tool here.
Is my PDF kept on your server?
No. This is a report-only tool — no output file is created, and your uploaded PDF is deleted automatically shortly after the check runs.
Keep Going
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