Extract text from a PDF, with OCR for scans

Reads the PDF’s own text layer first (method: text). If there is none, renders the pages and recognises them with Tesseract (method: ocr). Up to 25 MiB decoded. Concurrent OCR jobs are capped per instance and extra requests get 503; retry shortly. Metered as ocr.pdf.

POST/v1/ocr

Authorization

AuthorizationBearer token (JWT) · headerrequired

Bearer API key issued for your account. Send Authorization: Bearer <key>.

Request body

requiredapplication/json

content_base64stringrequired

The PDF, base64. Up to 25 MiB decoded.

languagesstring

Tesseract language codes.

default: "eng"

max_pagesinteger

min 1 · max 200 · default: 20

timeout_secsinteger

min 1 · max 300 · default: 120

Responses

200

The PDF as Markdown

methodstringrequired

text when the PDF's own text layer was read, ocr when pages were recognised.

Allowed:textocr

bytesintegerrequired

charactersintegerrequired

markdownstringrequired

400

Bad request

string

401

Missing or invalid bearer token

string

403

Billing or plan entitlement blocked the request

string

502

Upstream service (arXiv, YouTube, web page) failed

string

503

The backing service is not configured or is busy

string

Try it

Server

Base URLCustom base URLOverrides the selected server when set.

Authorization

Bearer token (JWT)Remember on this deviceInclude my values in samples

Bodyapplication/json

content_base64string*The PDF, base64. Up to 25 MiB decoded.languagesstringTesseract language codes.max_pagesintegertimeout_secsinteger

Request

curl -X POST 'https://api.webfold.ai/v1/ocr' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "content_base64": "string",
  "languages": "eng+deu",
  "max_pages": 20,
  "timeout_secs": 120
}'

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.webfold.ai/v1/ocr",
    headers={
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN",
        "Accept": "application/json",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    data="{\n  \"content_base64\": \"string\",\n  \"languages\": \"eng+deu\",\n  \"max_pages\": 20,\n  \"timeout_secs\": 120\n}",
)

const response = await fetch("https://api.webfold.ai/v1/ocr", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN",
    "Accept": "application/json",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: "{\n  \"content_base64\": \"string\",\n  \"languages\": \"eng+deu\",\n  \"max_pages\": 20,\n  \"timeout_secs\": 120\n}"
});

Response

{
  "method": "text",
  "bytes": 0,
  "characters": 0,
  "markdown": "string"
}

"string"

"string"

"string"

"string"

"string"