How do I fix errors in text recognized by OCR?

After running OCR, Acrobat will highlight potential errors. Click on the highlighted words to correct them. Acrobat helps you fix mistakes to make sure the text is accurate.

What is the difference between a regular PDF and a searchable PDF?

Feature Regular PDF (Image-only) Searchable PDF (OCR'd). Text Interaction Text is part of an image; cannot select or copy. Text is selectable, copyable, and editable. Search Functionality Cannot search for words within the document. Can search for any word or phrase. Accessibility Not accessible for screen readers or text-to-speech. Accessible for screen readers and text-to-speech. Creation Method Often from scans or photographs. Created by running OCR on an image-only PDF.

Make Discovery Searchable in Adobe Acrobat — How-to & AI prompts

AI prompts

2 ways to ask · copy any one

AExecute — “help me do it”Scan the paper discovery boxes for [matter=Smith matter], run OCR on all pages, compress the…+

Scan the paper discovery boxes for [matter=Smith matter], run OCR on all pages, compress the resulting PDFs, and save searchable files to the team's [folder=Discovery/Smith] folder by end of day [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”Make the [matter=Smith] discovery immediately useful: scan and OCR each box into searchable…+

Make the [matter=Smith] discovery immediately useful: scan and OCR each box into searchable PDFs, add filename tags for custodian and date, compress to a shareable size without losing OCR accuracy, and generate a simple index spreadsheet of key documents for the team to cite.

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 PDFA searchable PDF is a document where you can look for words, even if it started as a scanned image.ExampleEven though it was a scan, the searchable PDF let me find every instance of 'warranty' in the document.

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

After running OCR, Acrobat will highlight potential errors.
Click on the highlighted words to correct them.
Acrobat helps you fix mistakes to make sure the text is accurate.

Recognizing text in scanned PDFs turns images of text into actual, selectable text. This is important because it allows you to search for words, copy text, and make your documents accessible for archiving and indexing. Without text recognition, your scanned documents are just pictures, and you cannot interact with the text inside them.

If your scanned document is blurry, the OCR accuracy will be lower. OCR works best with clear, high-resolution images. Blurry text makes it hard for the software to identify characters correctly, leading to more errors. To improve results, try to rescan the document at a higher quality, ideally 300 dpi, before running OCR. A clear source image is key to good text recognition.

Selecting the correct language before running OCR is very important because OCR uses language-specific rules and dictionaries to recognize characters and words. If you choose the wrong language, the software might misinterpret characters that look similar in different languages or fail to recognize common words, resulting in many errors and poor text recognition. It ensures the most accurate conversion possible.

Feature	Regular PDF (Image-only)	Searchable PDF (OCR'd)
Text Interaction	Text is part of an image; cannot select or copy.	Text is selectable, copyable, and editable.
Search Functionality	Cannot search for words within the document.	Can search for any word or phrase.
Accessibility	Not accessible for screen readers or text-to-speech.	Accessible for screen readers and text-to-speech.
Creation Method	Often from scans or photographs.	Created by running OCR on an image-only PDF.

Make Discovery Searchable

When to use it

AI prompts

How to do it

Glossary

The real tasks

Who does this

FAQ

Sources

Adobe help

When it fails