# Scanned archive records to searchable text

**Use case:** 

Archives, court files and declassified records are usually photographs of paper - you cannot search them, quote them or paste them anywhere. This reads the pages with OCR and gives you the text back, page by page, with a confidence score on each one so you know how far to trust it. Ten languages. No API key and no cloud OCR account.

## Input

```json
{
  "pdfUrls": [
    "https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32204484.pdf"
  ],
  "languages": [
    "eng"
  ],
  "outputMode": "text",
  "dpi": 300,
  "minConfidence": 40,
  "minRows": 2,
  "minColumns": 2,
  "minFilledPercent": 35,
  "joinAcrossPages": true,
  "maxPagesPerPdf": 3,
  "maxFileSizeMb": 50,
  "forceOcr": false,
  "includeMarkdown": true,
  "includeCsv": true
}
```

## Output

```json
{
  "recordType": {
    "label": "Record"
  },
  "fileName": {
    "label": "File"
  },
  "pageNumber": {
    "label": "Page"
  },
  "pageSpan": {
    "label": "Pages"
  },
  "title": {
    "label": "Title"
  },
  "rowCount": {
    "label": "Rows"
  },
  "columnCount": {
    "label": "Columns"
  },
  "emptyCellCount": {
    "label": "Empty cells"
  },
  "unreadableCellCount": {
    "label": "Unreadable cells"
  },
  "meanConfidence": {
    "label": "Confidence"
  },
  "extractionMode": {
    "label": "Mode"
  },
  "header": {
    "label": "Header"
  },
  "rows": {
    "label": "Rows"
  },
  "markdown": {
    "label": "Markdown"
  },
  "csv": {
    "label": "CSV"
  },
  "text": {
    "label": "Page text"
  },
  "hint": {
    "label": "Note"
  }
}
```

## About this Actor

This example demonstrates how to use [PDF Text Extractor & OCR - Scanned PDF to Text, Tables & CSV](https://apify.com/practical_ophthalmologist_iuq/scanned-pdf-ocr.md) with a specific input configuration. Visit the [Actor detail page](https://apify.com/practical_ophthalmologist_iuq/scanned-pdf-ocr.md) to learn more, explore other use cases, and run it yourself.


## How to integrate an Actor?

This Task's input is already configured above. Use it as-is rather than inventing a new one.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For full API examples (JavaScript, Python, CLI, MCP, OpenAPI), see this Task's Actor page: https://apify.com/practical_ophthalmologist_iuq/scanned-pdf-ocr.md

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).