How do I make sure the OCR process works best for my incoming bill?

Scan your bill at 300 dpi for the best accuracy. Always select the correct language of the bill before starting OCR. Make sure the page is an image-only document, not one that already contains digital text.

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

Action What it does Result. Scanning a document Turns a physical paper document into a digital image file (like a PDF). An image-only PDF, where text cannot be selected or searched. Recognizing text in a scan Uses OCR technology to find and convert text within that digital image. A searchable PDF, where text can be selected, copied, and searched.

OCR Incoming Bill in Adobe Acrobat — How-to & AI prompts

AI prompts

1 way to ask · copy any one

AExecute — “help me do it”Turn the incoming paper bill from [vendor=Utilities Co.] dated [date=July 8, 2026] into a…+

Turn the incoming paper bill from [vendor=Utilities Co.] dated [date=July 8, 2026] into a searchable PDF, save it to the vendor folder, and name it [filename=UtilitiesCo_2026-07-08_searchable.pdf] so auditors can find it quickly.

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 or image file in Adobe Acrobat.
2
Go to the Tools menu and select Recognize Text.
3
In the Recognize Text dialog, click Recognize Text and choose In This File.
4
Adjust language and page settings if needed, then click Recognize Text to start OCR.
Best practiceFor best OCR accuracy, scan documents at 300 dpi and ensure the image is clear and not overly bright or dark.
5
After OCR completes, select and copy text directly from the PDF, or use Export PDF to save as an editable format such as Word.
NoteYou can now search, select, and edit the recognized text within Acrobat.

In the appWith the API

After OCR, you can highlight, copy, or edit the text just like a regular PDF document.

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 searchable layer is hidden text that Acrobat adds to a scanned document. This lets you search for words 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

ArchivistResearcherAdministrative Assistant

FAQ

about this task

Scan your bill at 300 dpi for the best accuracy.
Always select the correct language of the bill before starting OCR.
Make sure the page is an image-only document, not one that already contains digital text.

Recognizing text in a scanned bill makes the text selectable and searchable. This means you can easily find specific words or numbers in the document, copy text, and organize your bills better for future reference or data entry.

If your scanned bill is blurry, the text recognition (OCR) might not work well. OCR needs clear text to convert it accurately. To improve results, try to rescan the bill at a higher quality, ideally 300 dpi, to get a sharper image before attempting to recognize the text.

Acrobat shows 'page contains renderable text' because the OCR feature is designed only for pages that are images without existing selectable text. If the page already has real, digital text, Acrobat cannot add another layer of recognized text. You can check if the text is already selectable by trying to highlight it.

Action	What it does	Result
Scanning a document	Turns a physical paper document into a digital image file (like a PDF).	An image-only PDF, where text cannot be selected or searched.
Recognizing text in a scan	Uses OCR technology to find and convert text within that digital image.	A searchable PDF, where text can be selected, copied, and searched.

OCR Incoming Bill

When to use it

AI prompts

How to do it

Glossary

The real tasks

Who does this

FAQ

Sources

Adobe help

When it fails