How do I make sure Acrobat recognizes text accurately from my scanned table?

Scan your document at a high resolution, like 300 dpi. This improves clarity. Choose the correct language for the text in your scan before starting OCR. This helps Acrobat understand the words. Ensure the scan is clear and not blurry. Good input leads to good output.

Extract Tables From Scan in Adobe Acrobat — How-to & AI prompts

AI prompts

2 ways to ask · copy any one

AExecute — “help me do it”Convert the scanned traffic count report PDF into an Excel file and XML export so I can import…+

Convert the scanned traffic count report PDF into an Excel file and XML export so I can import the counts into my spreadsheets; verify column headers and row totals match the printed report before I run analysis.

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

BImprove — “do it better”Extract tables so analysts can trust them: convert the scanned count report to Excel and XML,…+

Extract tables so analysts can trust them: convert the scanned count report to Excel and XML, reconcile header names to our schema, correct misread numbers, and produce a short QC log of any ambiguous cells for the data manager.

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.

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 real, typed text in a PDF, not just a picture of words.

Who does this

3 roles

ArchivistResearcherAdministrative Assistant

FAQ

about this task

Scan your document at a high resolution, like 300 dpi. This improves clarity.
Choose the correct language for the text in your scan before starting OCR. This helps Acrobat understand the words.
Ensure the scan is clear and not blurry. Good input leads to good output.

An image-only page is like a photograph of a document; the text cannot be selected or searched. A page with renderable text already has a text layer, meaning the text can be highlighted, copied, and searched. Acrobat's OCR feature works by adding a searchable text layer to image-only pages, making the text usable. It does not need to run on pages that already have renderable text because the text is already there.

Acrobat shows this message because the page already has a layer of selectable text. OCR is for converting images of text into real text. If the text is already real, OCR is not needed. You can usually select and copy the text directly without running OCR again.

Acrobat's ability to extract tables from a blurry scan will be very low. OCR works best with clear, high-quality images. Blurry text is hard for the software to recognize, leading to many errors or no recognition at all. It is always better to rescan the document at a higher quality if possible to get accurate results.

After running OCR, Acrobat allows you to correct text recognition errors. You can go to 'All tools' > 'Scan & OCR' > 'Correct Recognized Text'. This tool highlights potential errors and lets you manually type in the correct words. It helps ensure the final text layer is accurate and matches the original document.

Extract Tables From Scan

When to use it

AI prompts

How to do it

Glossary

The real tasks

Who does this

FAQ

Sources

Adobe help

When it fails