How do I make a scanned site survey searchable in Acrobat?

Open your scanned site survey in Acrobat. Go to 'All tools' > 'Scan & OCR' > 'In this file'. Select the page range and language. Click 'Recognize Text' to add a searchable text layer.

What is the difference between a regular PDF and an OCR'd PDF?

Feature Regular PDF (image-only) OCR'd PDF (searchable). Text Selectability Text is part of an image; cannot be selected or copied. Text is recognized and can be selected, copied, and edited. Search Function Cannot search for specific words within the document. Allows searching for any word or phrase in the document. File Origin Often created by scanning paper documents without text recognition. Created from scans or images, then processed to add a text layer. Accessibility Less accessible for screen readers or text-to-speech tools. More accessible, as text can be read aloud or converted.

Scan Site Survey in Adobe Acrobat — How-to & AI prompts

AI prompts

2 ways to ask · copy any one

AExecute — “help me do it”Scan the site survey sheets to PDF, run OCR to recognize text and dimensions, convert the key…+

Scan the site survey sheets to PDF, run OCR to recognize text and dimensions, convert the key drawings into editable files, and save the editable versions so I can update dimensions quickly.

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

BImprove — “do it better”Before editing, scan at high resolution, run OCR and verify critical dimension text for…+

Before editing, scan at high resolution, run OCR and verify critical dimension text for accuracy, create editable copies of the base plan and a locked archived PDF of the originals, and note any ambiguous measurements to confirm on-site before I update dimensions in the model.

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.

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.

Renderable TextRenderable text is text that a computer can already read and select, not just a picture of text.ExampleYou can easily copy and paste text from a PDF because it contains renderable text.

Who does this

3 roles

ArchivistResearch LibrarianRecords Manager

FAQ

about this task

Open your scanned site survey in Acrobat.
Go to 'All tools' > 'Scan & OCR' > 'In this file'.
Select the page range and language.
Click 'Recognize Text' to add a searchable text layer.

For the best OCR accuracy, you should scan documents at 300 DPI (dots per inch). Scanning at a lower resolution, like 72 DPI, will make the text recognition much less accurate and harder for Acrobat to read.

Acrobat shows this error because the page you are trying to OCR already has real, selectable text. The OCR feature is only for pages that are images of text. It cannot be used on pages where the text is already recognized and editable. You can check if the text is selectable before running OCR.

Yes, you can automate text recognition for many scanned PDFs. Adobe offers a PDF Services API with an 'OCR PDF' operation. This allows programs to send image-based PDFs to a server, which then returns PDFs with a searchable text layer. This is very useful for large archives or indexing systems.

Feature	Regular PDF (image-only)	OCR'd PDF (searchable)
Text Selectability	Text is part of an image; cannot be selected or copied.	Text is recognized and can be selected, copied, and edited.
Search Function	Cannot search for specific words within the document.	Allows searching for any word or phrase in the document.
File Origin	Often created by scanning paper documents without text recognition.	Created from scans or images, then processed to add a text layer.
Accessibility	Less accessible for screen readers or text-to-speech tools.	More accessible, as text can be read aloud or converted.

Scan Site Survey

When to use it

AI prompts

How to do it

Glossary

The real tasks

Who does this

FAQ

Sources

Adobe help

When it fails