How do I make my scanned deposit slips searchable in Acrobat?

First, open your scanned deposit slips in Acrobat. Go to 'All tools' and select 'Scan & OCR'. Choose 'In this file' and then 'Recognize Text'. Acrobat will add a searchable text layer to your document. This lets you find specific information within your deposit slips quickly.

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

Action What it does Result. Scanning to PDF Turns a paper document into a digital image file (PDF). You get a PDF that looks like the original paper, but you cannot search or copy text from it. Recognizing text in a scan (OCR) Analyzes the image of text in a PDF and converts it into actual, selectable text. You get a 'searchable PDF' where you can highlight, copy, and search for words within the document.

Scan Deposit Slips in Adobe Acrobat — How-to & AI prompts

AI prompts

2 ways to ask · copy any one

AExecute — “help me do it”Scan today's deposit slips and transaction receipts into PDF, name files by account number and…+

Scan today's deposit slips and transaction receipts into PDF, name files by account number and date, and save completed PDFs to the branch SharePoint deposits folder so I can retrieve them for audits.

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

BImprove — “do it better”Before filing deposit scans, make them audit-friendly for the branch auditor: OCR the PDFs so…+

Before filing deposit scans, make them audit-friendly for the branch auditor: OCR the PDFs so text is searchable, ensure each file is named with account number, deposit date, and teller ID, group slips and receipts into one PDF per day, and save to the SharePoint audit folder.

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.

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.

Who does this

3 roles

ArchivistResearch LibrarianRecords Manager

FAQ

about this task

First, open your scanned deposit slips in Acrobat.
Go to 'All tools' and select 'Scan & OCR'.
Choose 'In this file' and then 'Recognize Text'.
Acrobat will add a searchable text layer to your document.
This lets you find specific information within your deposit slips quickly.

OCR, or Optical Character Recognition, is a technology that turns images of text into actual text data. For scanned deposit slips, OCR is very important because it makes the text on the slips searchable and editable. Without OCR, your scanned slips are just pictures, and you cannot search for names, dates, or amounts. OCR helps you organize and find information easily.

If your scanned deposit slip is blurry, the OCR might not work well. OCR needs clear text to recognize characters correctly. For the best results, you should scan documents at a high quality, like 300 dpi. If the scan is too blurry, OCR might make mistakes or fail to recognize text at all. Try to rescan blurry documents for better accuracy.

Acrobat shows 'page contains renderable text' when the page already has real text, not just an image. The OCR feature is for pages that are only images. If a page already has text, Acrobat cannot apply OCR again. To fix this, make sure your document is truly an image-only scan before trying to recognize text.

Action	What it does	Result
Scanning to PDF	Turns a paper document into a digital image file (PDF).	You get a PDF that looks like the original paper, but you cannot search or copy text from it.
Recognizing text in a scan (OCR)	Analyzes the image of text in a PDF and converts it into actual, selectable text.	You get a 'searchable PDF' where you can highlight, copy, and search for words within the document.

Scan Deposit Slips

When to use it

AI prompts

How to do it

Glossary

The real tasks

Who does this

FAQ

Sources

Adobe help

When it fails