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OCR BUG in Acrobat Prof 8.0

Forum Index > General Acrobat Topics > OCR BUG in Acrobat Prof 8.0
2010-04-04 20:34:22
sbstrum
Registered: Apr 4 2010
Posts: 12
Answered

I use (or used) Acrobat Professional for some years and 8.0 seems to have mutated to where there is a defect in the OCR. I have spoken to Adobe Acrobat Professional Support (paid support) and have gotten advice on 4 different occasions. Some of the suggestions were blatantly lame. Some were reasonable but none have fixed the problem. Since I use this in my medical practice, this issue has cost me a lot of lost time.

I discovered that if I have a PDF document that has NOT undergone OCR then I can open it up in Acrobat 8.0 Professional without a problem. Once I run the Acrobat OCR, Acrobat, even though it is finished with the job, tries to continue it. I get a busy icon (watch that you see when normal OCR is done) that lasts for 9 seconds exactly, then function is returned for a brief 5 seconds, and the entire cycle is repeated until I quit the application.

If I exit out of Acrobat completely, and open up another document which ALREADY has undergone OCR, no problem. If I open up a document that has not had OCR, then no problem. Therefore, something in the active of using the OCR tool in Acrobat ignites this problem.

Acrobat support from the company has been atrocious so far. The alternate products I have found have been OK but lacking the power of Acrobat Pro.

Any ideas on how to solve this problem? I am running Acrobat Professional 8.0 on an iMac using Mac OS 10.5.8 with 6 GB RAM.

Any help would be appreciated.

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 8.1.6, Macintosh
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2010-04-05 02:06:20
#1
rbogie
Registered: Apr 28 2008
Posts: 432
try this: run 'examine document' tool (on document menu) and remove 'hidden text'. apply OCR anew.
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2010-04-05 08:41:55
#2
sbstrum
Registered: Apr 4 2010
Posts: 12
I tried the above. In the examine document window that opens the item with checkbox relating to removal of hidden text is grayed out and cannot be selected.

I also noted today that if I newly open an already OCR'd PDF with Acrobat Professional and there is no problem, that when I also perform a task such as delete a page, it triggers the same problem. The icon that you see when OCR is being actively performed is seen for 9 seconds, disappears for 5 seconds, and then the cycle goes on ad infinitum. Given that what I am seeing is the same icon (like a clock or watch--not sure of what it is officially called), I still believe that the "illness" is triggered by something to do with an OCR related file.
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2010-04-05 11:37:33
#3
rbogie
Registered: Apr 28 2008
Posts: 432
sbstrum wrote:
checkbox relating to removal of hidden text is grayed out
this means there is not any OCR (invisible) text in the file. there are several things you could try, but the "if/then" iterations are too burdensome for the limited communication available on this (any) forum. i am pretty sure the probem is with the file, not with acrobat. how many pages are in the file? what's its digtital weight? if you could send me the file, i'll see if i can resolve the issue. shoot me an email via the forum.
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2010-04-05 11:43:46
#4
sbstrum
Registered: Apr 4 2010
Posts: 12
The problem is not with the file. It occurs with EVERY PDF file opened with Acrobat. No problem opening the file with Preview or PDF Studio. Also, I note that if I open a file with Acrobat and try to use ANY tool on the Acrobat menu bar (top menu bar) the problem occurs. It is not specific to the OCR tool. Of interest, is that if I complete the OCR on the file (any file) and close Acrobat, and then open it again, the problem is gone.
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2010-04-05 11:57:45
#5
rbogie
Registered: Apr 28 2008
Posts: 432
if the problem is with acrobat, then you might consider performing a repair installation (on the help menu). beyond that, i dont have a clear solution without going thu an impossibly long and maybe fruitless "try this, then try that" process.
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2010-04-05 12:21:11
#6
sbstrum
Registered: Apr 4 2010
Posts: 12
Believe that I did the repair installation as one of the first attempts to fix the problem. I did repair permissions, clear caches, run cron scripts, rebuild launch services, emptied trash, cleared logs.

I just got off the phone with Acrobat Pro Tech Support and after an hour they said the following:
1) call Apple and ask them to show you how to transfer your user profile to a new user account since Acrobat works on the new user account.
2) or purchase upgrade to Acrobat Pro v 9 and see if that works first. If it does not, then you can return v 9.

At least the last tech support guy tried. And, I appreciate your help; you did try.
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2010-04-06 16:04:16
#7
sbstrum
Registered: Apr 4 2010
Posts: 12
follow-up to the above & RESOLUTION. I gave up with Adobe Support & asked a local Mac support person to see if he could help solve the problem. He solved it in 7 minutes! He immediately went to my User Library folder and found a folder called Acrobat User Data. In that folder there was a font file that he believed was the culprit. But he simply moved the Acrobat User Data folder to the desktop because it would be rebuilt as soon as Acrobat Pro was restarted. It worked and the problem is gone and has not returned over a 2 day follow-up. So, despite Acrobat's Tech support spending many hours with me and having control of my desktop, a local Mac support person fixed the problem in less than 10 minutes. No doubt he is bright. For me, no doubt Adobe Tech Support for Acrobat Pro are incompetent.
I appreciate the help offered here on acrobatusers.com.
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2010-04-06 18:35:57
#8
1Renee
Registered: Apr 6 2010
Posts: 11
Hi --- I am not really new to Adobe Acrobat--but just downloaded Acrobat Pro Trial version hoping it would help with my problem--but it didn't---
I want to be able to SAVE the file so that it will open up in a certain zoom view----like "actual size" or
"page width" --- but when I save it that way--it still opens up as viewing the whole page---the page I am trying to save is an 11 x 17 and I want it to open up when I send it to people in a full width view---but it won't DO it---what am I doing wrong---
thank you so much---this is urgent for my client for tomorrow morning---thanks for a quick help---I was on hold with Adobe help line for 1 hour and 45 minutes and still they didn't answer---
thanks
Renee

Renee

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2010-04-06 18:37:58
#9
1Renee
Registered: Apr 6 2010
Posts: 11
I just realized that I am not in the correct forum---I am sorry--I didn't see that--but can someone help me ? thanks
Renee

Renee

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