---
title: "Make a scanned PDF searchable (OCR)"
method: POST
path: "/pdf-ocr"
tags: ["PDF"]
---

# Make a scanned PDF searchable (OCR)

`POST /pdf-ocr`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.cofferdock.com`
- URL: `https://api.cofferdock.com/pdf-ocr`
- Auth: API key in header `x-api-key`

Rasterizes every page and adds an invisible, searchable text layer on top with Tesseract, hosted by us. The PDF looks identical, but its text becomes selectable and searchable. Max 30 pages per call; only eng and spa are supported today.

Costs 1 credit PER PAGE, not per call: real OCR work grows with the number of pages, unlike near-instant PDF operations.

## Request body

- object
  - `file` string, byte, required: The scanned PDF to make searchable, base64-encoded. Up to 30 pages per call.
  - `language` 'eng' | 'spa': Language of the text in the PDF: "eng" (English, default) or "spa" (Spanish). Pick the one that matches the text.
  - `output` 'json' | 'binary' | 'url' | 'pdf': How to return the pdf: "json" (base64 in the JSON response), "binary" (the pdf itself, ready for n8n/Make/Zapier) or "url" (a temporary download link, valid 15 minutes). Default: json when the request is JSON, binary when the input was sent raw.

## Response `200`

Result.

- object
  - `success` boolean
  - `pdf` string, byte
  - `meta` object
    - `language` string
    - `pages` integer
    - `size_bytes` integer
    - `used` integer: Credits used this month, after this call.
    - `remaining` integer, nullable: Credits left this month (null = unlimited).
    - `unlimited` boolean

## Other responses

- `400`: Invalid input (nothing is charged).
- `401`: Missing or invalid API key.
- `403`: Email not verified.
- `429`: Monthly credit limit reached, or too many requests per minute for this key (see Retry-After).
- `503`: Server busy (queue full). Retry after the seconds in the Retry-After header.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/cofferdock/apis/cofferdock-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/cofferdock/apis/cofferdock-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/cofferdock/apis/cofferdock-api/revisions/b57aa000d33a?raw)