Book in, book out
Chapters and headings in order
Footnotes at the bottom, not mid-text
Tashkeel and Arabic-Indic numerals preserved
A whole book in one job
How it works
- 1
Upload the scanned book
A PDF or images (JPEG, PNG, TIFF). Paid plans support uploading a book split across several files in a single job.
- 2
Choose "Editable Word document"
Multiple OCR engines and vision models process the pages together, and AI selects the best result for each page — no reliance on a single engine.
- 3
Download the Word file and review by chapter
One Word file with the book’s structure: headings, paragraphs, footnotes, and correct text direction, ready to review and edit chapter by chapter.
From scanned book to text
A page from a scanned classical book — and what comes out: a chapter heading, vocalized body text, and the footnote in its place.
بَابُ مَا جَاءَ فِي طَلَبِ الْعِلْمِ
قَالَ الْمُصَنِّفُ: اعْلَمْ — عَلَّمَكَ اللَّهُ الْخَيْرَ — أَنَّ الْعِلْمَ لَا يُنَالُ بِرَاحَةِ الْجَسَدِ(١)، وَأَنَّ مَنْ رَامَ الْعِلْمَ جُمْلَةً ذَهَبَ عَنْهُ جُمْلَةً.
(١) أخرجه مسلم في صحيحه من قول يحيى بن أبي كثير.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between a text-based PDF and a scanned PDF?
- A text-based PDF contains real characters you can select, copy, and search; a scanned PDF is just pictures of pages with no text in them at all. Test your file: open it and try to select a line with your mouse — if you can copy it, it is text-based and you can paste it into Word directly; if the whole page selects as one image, it is scanned and needs OCR to turn the pictures into text. Most classical Arabic books circulating as PDFs are the scanned kind, which is exactly what this tool is built for.
- Does it handle matn, sharh, and footnotes?
- Yes — layered classical layouts are the design case. A page combining core text (matn), commentary (sharh), and footnotes comes out in Word with each layer in its place: the commentary does not merge into the core text, footnotes are separated at the bottom with their numbering, and tashkeel survives in every layer. We still recommend reviewing annotation-heavy pages against the original before relying on them — old editions vary in how visibly they separate the layers, and review is part of the work, not a flaw in the tool.
- Does it preserve chapter structure across a whole book?
- Yes — pages are processed in order and come out as a single Word file that keeps the book’s sequence: headings and sections in place, paragraphs flowing as in the original, footnotes attached to their pages. That is the practical difference between a tool built for books and one that processes loose pages: you do not have to reassemble the text by hand after conversion. Afterwards, review the headings in Word and adjust the styles to your taste before final output.
- How much does digitizing a 500-page book cost?
- A few dollars, not hundreds. You start free with 20 credits every month, no credit card required — a page costs roughly one credit on the default engine. One-time credit packs start at $3.99 for 100 credits and never expire, so a 500-page book runs about $20 on the default engine — while manual transcription of the same book costs $500–2,500 at the going $1–5 per page and takes weeks instead of minutes.
- What file formats and size limits apply?
- ScribeTools accepts PDFs and images in JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and other common formats. The file size limit is 5 MB on the free plan, rises to 25 MB with any credit pack purchase, and to 50 MB or 100 MB on the Plus and Pro subscriptions. For large books, paid plans support batch uploads — 10 files per job on Plus and 20 on Pro — so a book scanned in parts converts in one go.
- Are free tools enough for digitizing a scanned book?
- For clean, modern, unvocalized print — quite possibly: Google Docs reads clean pages well and free, though it works page by page and keeps no book structure. For classical books — vocalized, footnote-heavy, in older typography — generic tools strip the diacritics, merge footnotes into the text, and reverse the direction on export to Word. Run a few pages of your book on the free credits and compare the output yourself before deciding.