How do I make sure my scanned receipt is easy for Acrobat to read?

Scan your receipt at 300 dpi for the best clarity. Make sure the receipt is flat and well-lit when you scan it. Choose the correct language for the text on the receipt before you start the OCR process.

What is the difference between scanning a document and recognizing text in a scanned PDF?

Action What it does Result. Scanning a document Turns a physical paper into a digital image file (PDF). An image-only PDF, where text cannot be searched or copied. Recognizing text (OCR) Analyzes the image of text in a PDF and converts it into actual, selectable text. A searchable PDF with an invisible text layer, allowing search and copy functions.

Create Searchable Receipts in Adobe Acrobat — How-to & AI prompts

AI prompts

2 ways to ask · copy any one

AExecute — “help me do it”Process yesterday’s receipts so expense reports move: scan the paper receipts into PDFs, run…+

Process yesterday’s receipts so expense reports move: scan the paper receipts into PDFs, run text recognition to make them searchable, combine them into one file per trip, and drop it into Expenses for my CFO by close of business [deadline=Friday].

when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed.

BImprove — “do it better”Before I submit expense scans to Finance, reduce back-and-forth: scan and OCR each receipt,…+

Before I submit expense scans to Finance, reduce back-and-forth: scan and OCR each receipt, normalize vendor names and dates on the first page, attach a two-line trip summary, and combine into one searchable PDF so the expense team can match charges without emailing for clarifications.

when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed.

How to do it

the tool · the steps · what to avoid

1
Open the scanned PDF file in Adobe Acrobat.
2
Go to the Tools menu.
3
Select Scan & OCR from the tools list.
4
Click Recognize Text and choose In This File.
5
In the settings panel, ensure PDF Output Style is set to Searchable Image.
6
Click Recognize to start the OCR process.
7
Save the PDF after OCR is complete.
Best practiceFor best OCR accuracy, scan your documents at 300 dpi and ensure the images are clear before running OCR.

In the appWith the API

After OCR completes, you can search, copy, and highlight text in your previously scanned PDF.

This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.

Glossary

words on this page

OCROCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is technology that turns images of text into real text you can search and copy.ExampleAfter scanning a paper invoice, OCR allows you to copy the vendor's name from the image.

Searchable LayerA hidden layer of text added to an image-based PDF, allowing you to search for words within the document.ExampleThe hidden searchable layer in the scanned contract allowed us to find specific clauses.

DPIDPI means dots per inch, and it tells you how clear an image is when it is scanned.ExampleA scanned photo saved at 300 DPI will usually contain more detail than the same photo at 72 DPI.

Who does this

3 roles

ArchivistResearch LibrarianRecords Manager

FAQ

about this task

Scan your receipt at 300 dpi for the best clarity.
Make sure the receipt is flat and well-lit when you scan it.
Choose the correct language for the text on the receipt before you start the OCR process.

A searchable text layer is an invisible layer that Acrobat adds to your scanned document. It contains the text that OCR recognized from the image. This layer is important because it allows you to search for words within the document, copy text, and interact with the content as if it were a regular digital document, even though it started as an image.

No, if your scanned document already contains 'renderable text' (meaning it's not just an image but has actual text data), Acrobat's Scan & OCR feature will not work. It is designed only for pages that are purely images. If you try to run OCR on a document with existing text, you will likely see an error message. You should only use Scan & OCR on documents that are image-only PDFs.

Choosing the correct language is very important because OCR software uses language-specific rules and dictionaries to recognize words. If you select the wrong language, Acrobat might misinterpret characters or words, leading to many errors in the recognized text. This makes the document less searchable and less accurate, so always set the language to match the document's content.

Action	What it does	Result
Scanning a document	Turns a physical paper into a digital image file (PDF).	An image-only PDF, where text cannot be searched or copied.
Recognizing text (OCR)	Analyzes the image of text in a PDF and converts it into actual, selectable text.	A searchable PDF with an invisible text layer, allowing search and copy functions.

Create Searchable Receipts

When to use it

AI prompts

How to do it

Glossary

The real tasks

Who does this

FAQ

Sources

Adobe help

When it fails