GUIDES · PDF TO LATEX
Get the LaTeX back out of a PDF.
Retyping equations from an old paper or a scanned textbook is slow and error-prone. Docr’d recognizes formulas, tables and figures on each page, shows each one beside the crop it came from so you can check it, and exports the document as a LaTeX project you can compile and edit.
What the LaTeX project holds
The LaTeX export is a ZIP file holding:
document.tex, the document with its sections and paragraphs.- Display equations in
equationorequation*environments, keeping the original numbering with\tag, and inline math in place. - Tables as
tabularenvironments. - Figures as image files in a
figuresfolder, placed with\includegraphicsand their captions. docrd.styfor the small amount of styling the document needs,references.bib, andbuild.log, which lists anything that could not be converted cleanly so you know where to look.
Corrections you made in Docr’d are part of the export.
Convert a PDF
- Create an account and open the web app. Hosted OCR runs there, in Docr’d Cloud, never on your computer. Adding documents and OCR need cloud access: an activated free place, while one is available, or a paid plan. Your account shows which you have.
- Add the PDF to your library. Scanned and born-digital PDFs both work; a born-digital PDF is readable and searchable straight away.
- Run reconstruction at Balanced or Max quality. On a free place you can choose a page range instead of the whole document.
- Open a formula or table to compare it with the original crop and fix anything that was misread.
- Open the document’s menu on its record bar and choose Export → LaTeX. When the ZIP is ready, choose Download.
The same menu exports Markdown with LaTeX math, if you write in Markdown.
Working with single formulas
Each recognized formula opens in a side panel that shows its LaTeX in an editable box beside the source crop, so you can correct it and copy it into your own document. Formulas are searchable across your library, so you can type part of an equation, or search its LaTeX, and find every paper where it appears.
Choosing a quality
| Fast | Text only. It does not rebuild formulas or tables, so it is not the right choice for LaTeX. |
|---|---|
| Balanced | Layout, headings, tables and formulas. The right choice for most papers and textbooks. |
| Max | The most thorough: adds formula numbers, charts and tables that continue across pages. Each page counts three times against your allowance. |
What it costs
Reading, correcting, searching and exporting pages you have already reconstructed uses no OCR pages, though correcting in the web app needs cloud access. Reconstruction uses OCR pages: free places include 100 Balanced pages a month while places are available, and paid plans include monthly pages at any quality, with no automatic overage charge. See pricing.
Docr’d is in early access. Recognition is good but not perfect, especially on faint or skewed scans, which is why every formula stays linked to its crop. Docr’d does not read handwriting. Tell us at support@getdocrd.com when a page converts badly; please leave out private documents.