LuceVoce

Listen to scanned PDFs

How LuceVoce reads PDF pages that are only pictures with text recognition (OCR), what you need on Windows, and how to turn it off.

Windows
Yes
Mac
Yes
iPad
Yes
iPhone
Yes
Show steps for

Some PDFs are scans: their pages are pictures with no text inside. LuceVoce recognises the text on those pages in the background, page by page, with your device's own text recognition (OCR), and starts reading while it works. The highlight follows the recognised words like in any other book.

Open a scanned PDF

  1. Add the PDF and open it as usual.
  2. While pages are being recognised, the top of the reading view shows "Reading scanned pages: 3 of 40".
  3. Select play. Pages that already have text play at once; a scanned page waits until its text is ready, and the voice goes on without restarting.

When it is done, a message says the scanned pages were read with text recognition. Recognition happens once per book: the text is kept, so the book opens with its text straight away next time.

Get text recognition ready

Windows

LuceVoce uses the text recognition languages installed in Windows. If none fits, a message says so; select Open Language settings and add a language that includes Optical character recognition (in Settings, Time & language, Language & region).

Mac

Text recognition is built into the Mac and covers many languages. There is nothing to install.

iPhone and iPad

Text recognition is built into iPhone and iPad. There is nothing to install.

Turn text recognition off

  1. Open Settings, then Library.
  2. Under Scanned PDFs, turn off Read scanned pages with text recognition (OCR).

Good to know

  • If some scanned pages cannot be read, a message says how many.
  • A word split with a hyphen at the end of a line on a scanned page stays split.
  • Chinese and Japanese scanned text gets spaces between characters.
  • Tilted scans are not straightened.
  • Only PDFs get text recognition, not pictures in other formats.
  • Text recognition happens on your device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
  • In the PDF pages view, a page still being recognised shows "Text recognition is running" over its picture. See Read PDFs.

Related

  • Read PDFsHow LuceVoce tidies a PDF into readable text, and how to switch to the real PDF pages with the spoken word lit on them and zoom in.
  • File formats LuceVoce can readEvery book, document and audiobook format LuceVoce opens, from EPUB, PDF and Kindle to Word, comics and MP3, and what it does with each one.
  • Fix common problemsWhat to do when the voice sounds robotic, a language has no voice, a book won't open, a scanned PDF is silent or your place doesn't reach another device.

Last updated 13 November 2026