diff --git a/src/ccstruct/imagedata.cpp b/src/ccstruct/imagedata.cpp
index e45a5dedb2..cc6bee241d 100644
--- a/src/ccstruct/imagedata.cpp
+++ b/src/ccstruct/imagedata.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 
 #include <cinttypes>    // for PRId64
 #include <fstream>      // for std::ifstream
+#include <thread>       // for std::this_thread
 
 namespace tesseract {
 
@@ -389,9 +390,6 @@ DocumentData::DocumentData(const std::string &name)
       reader_(nullptr) {}
 
 DocumentData::~DocumentData() {
-  if (thread.joinable()) {
-    thread.join();
-  }
   std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock_p(pages_mutex_);
   std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock_g(general_mutex_);
   for (auto data : pages_) {
@@ -438,9 +436,8 @@ void DocumentData::AddPageToDocument(ImageData *page) {
   set_memory_used(memory_used() + page->MemoryUsed());
 }
 
-// If the given index is not currently loaded, loads it using a separate
-// thread.
-void DocumentData::LoadPageInBackground(int index) {
+// If the given index is not currently loaded, loads it.
+void DocumentData::LoadPage(const int index) {
   ImageData *page = nullptr;
   if (IsPageAvailable(index, &page)) {
     return;
@@ -456,9 +453,7 @@ void DocumentData::LoadPageInBackground(int index) {
     }
     pages_.clear();
   }
-  if (thread.joinable()) {
-    thread.join();
-  }
+
   // Don't run next statement asynchronously because that would
   // create too many threads on Linux (see issue #3111).
   ReCachePages();
@@ -474,7 +469,7 @@ const ImageData *DocumentData::GetPage(int index) {
     bool needs_loading = pages_offset_ != index;
     pages_mutex_.unlock();
     if (needs_loading) {
-      LoadPageInBackground(index);
+      LoadPage(index);
     }
     // We can't directly load the page, or the background load will delete it
     // while the caller is using it, so give it a chance to work.
@@ -713,7 +708,7 @@ const ImageData *DocumentCache::GetPageRoundRobin(int serial) {
   for (int offset = 1; offset <= kMaxReadAhead && offset < num_docs; ++offset) {
     doc_index = (serial + offset) % num_docs;
     int page = (serial + offset) / num_docs;
-    documents_[doc_index]->LoadPageInBackground(page);
+    documents_[doc_index]->LoadPage(page);
   }
   return doc;
 }
@@ -770,7 +765,7 @@ const ImageData *DocumentCache::GetPageSequential(int serial) {
   }
   int next_index = (doc_index + 1) % num_docs;
   if (!documents_[next_index]->IsCached() && total_memory < max_memory_) {
-    documents_[next_index]->LoadPageInBackground(0);
+    documents_[next_index]->LoadPage(0);
   }
   return doc;
 }
diff --git a/src/ccstruct/imagedata.h b/src/ccstruct/imagedata.h
index 625c17769a..b638d4dc9d 100644
--- a/src/ccstruct/imagedata.h
+++ b/src/ccstruct/imagedata.h
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 #include "points.h" // for FCOORD
 
 #include <mutex>  // for std::mutex
-#include <thread> // for std::thread
 
 struct Pix;
 
@@ -202,18 +201,20 @@ class DocumentData {
     std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(general_mutex_);
     return memory_used_;
   }
-  // If the given index is not currently loaded, loads it using a separate
-  // thread. Note: there are 4 cases:
-  // Document uncached: IsCached() returns false, total_pages_ < 0.
-  // Required page is available: IsPageAvailable returns true. In this case,
-  // total_pages_ > 0 and
-  // pages_offset_ <= index%total_pages_ <= pages_offset_+pages_.size()
-  // Pages are loaded, but the required one is not.
-  // The requested page is being loaded by LoadPageInBackground. In this case,
-  // index == pages_offset_. Once the loading starts, the pages lock is held
-  // until it completes, at which point IsPageAvailable will unblock and return
-  // true.
-  void LoadPageInBackground(int index);
+
+  // If the given index is not currently loaded, loads it.
+  // Note: there are 4 cases:
+  // - Document uncached: IsCached() returns false, total_pages_ < 0.
+  // - Required page is available: IsPageAvailable returns true. In this case,
+  //   total_pages_ > 0 and
+  //   pages_offset_ <= index%total_pages_ <= pages_offset_+pages_.size()
+  // - Pages are loaded, but the required one is not.
+  // - The requested page is being loaded by LoadPage. In this case,
+  //   index == pages_offset_. Once the loading starts, the pages lock is
+  //   held until it completes, at which point IsPageAvailable will unblock
+  //   and return true.
+  void LoadPage(const int index);
+
   // Returns a pointer to the page with the given index, modulo the total
   // number of pages. Blocks until the background load is completed.
   TESS_API
@@ -275,9 +276,6 @@ class DocumentData {
   // Mutex that protects other data members that callers want to access without
   // waiting for a load operation.
   mutable std::mutex general_mutex_;
-
-  // Thread which loads document.
-  std::thread thread;
 };
 
 // A collection of DocumentData that knows roughly how much memory it is using.