These forums are now Read Only. If you have an Acrobat question, ask questions and get help from one of our experts.

Searchable text and OCR

Forum Index > PDF Creation > Searchable text and OCR
2009-03-09 12:28:49
gasmith813
Registered: Nov 6 2008
Posts: 9
Answered

I'm using Acrobat 8 professional. When I print a TIFF image of a document using the Adobe PDF Converter, the result is a non-searchable pdf document. When I print a text file to the Adobe PDF Converter, the result is a searchable pdf file.

I need to know if the Adobe PDF Converter is performing an automatic OCR in the background for non-image items?

What would I have to do if I printed a text file to the Adobe PDF Converter and did NOT desire searchable output?

I'm curious about what is really happening in the backgroiund to see if Acrobat will meet our requiremnts for a project.

Thanks in advance.

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 8.0, Windows
Top
2009-03-09 14:58:07
#1
daka630
Expert
Registered: Mar 1 2007
Posts: 1420
Bon dia gassmith813,

Quote:
When I print a TIFF image of a document using the Adobe PDF Converter, the result is a non-searchable pdf document.
Yes. That is the expected (designed) characteristic.
The image (TIFF) has been imported into PDF. No image, even one of textual content is "searchable".

Quote:
When I print a text file to the Adobe PDF Converter, the result is a searchable pdf file.
Yes. That is the expected (designed) characteristic.
The output PDF contains renderable text; not an image, thus, it is searchable.

Quote:
I need to know if the Adobe PDF Converter is performing an automatic OCR in the background for non-image items?
No. Again, any output PDF from an authoring application that contains renderable text will, itself, contain renderable text.

Quote:
What would I have to do if I printed a text file to the Adobe PDF Converter and did NOT desire searchable output?
If the output PDF came from an authoring application (FrameMaker, InDesign, Word, WordPerfect, etc.) then the text in
the PDF is renderable and the default would always be searchable.

If the output PDF's content is an image then, as with any image, the content is not searchable, as-is.
Post processing the PDF's image with OCR would provide a "layer" of OCR characters. This hidden text supports search.

Be well...

Be well...

Top
2009-03-09 15:27:02
#2
gasmith813
Registered: Nov 6 2008
Posts: 9
Thank you Daka, that is just what I wanted to confirm.
Top