There are two ways to make a scanned PDF searchable without Adobe Acrobat
1. Convert a scanned PDF to a searchable file format using a free online tool with OCR
You can use the free online scanned PDF to Word OCR converter to convert your scanned PDF into a Word document on this page. Then, open the converted document in Word, press CTRL + F, and search for a word or phrase.
2. Turn a scanned PDF into searchable one using a desktop PDF software (Able2Extract Professional)
The whole process is done in a few steps: simply open your PDF in Able2Extract and click on the Searchable PDF button on the main toolbar. Able2Extract Professional will automatically perform OCR on your scanned document making it searchable from inside the Able2Extract Pro interface (no output file). Use the search field in the footer toolbar to look for a word in a searchable PDF (you can also choose to make the search Whole Words Only and/or Case-sensitive).