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globale99692958
globale99692958
Participant
September 13, 2024
Answered

OCR ODF: Searchable but not editable?

  • September 13, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 1186 views

Hi all, I read the following page:

 

https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/docs/overview/pdf-services-api/howtos/ocr-pdf/

 

It says "Optical character recognition (OCR) converts images to text so that you and your users can fully interact with the PDF file. After performing OCR, the PDF may be fully editable and searchable.".

 

I used a very simple PDF which includes a picture of mouse and a text that says "MICE", and I followed the documentation here:

 

https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/docs/apis/#tag/OCR

 

to perform OCR for the simple PDF file. I download the processed PDF file, and I found out that the text "MICE" included in the generated PDF is now seachable, but not editable by using Acrobat.

 

The page linked to the first link says "the PDF may be fully editable and searchable".

 

Is it possible to perform OCR so that the text can be editable, not just seachable?

 

Thank you!

 

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Joel Geraci

    Thank you, Joel, for taking a look at it. I appreciate it.

     

    In addition to the Adobe PDF Services API, there are many other PDF related API sets and many of them include the OCR feature. But, I can't find any reliable API that makes text be editable. If you know of anything that I should try, it would be great if you could let me know.

     

    Thank you again!


    You might be able to find one but I have no specific recommendation. The majority of OCR applications that operate on PDF are optimized for searching, not editing so it might be difficult to find one that works for you. 

    1 reply

    Joel Geraci
    Community Expert
    Joel GeraciCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 18, 2024

    The service isn't able to always create an editable PDF which is why the description uses the word "may" rather than "will". It depends on the PDF and the proximity of the text to other page elements. Can you share your input PDF?

    globale99692958
    globale99692958Author
    Participant
    September 18, 2024

    Thank you, Joel, for the reply. I wondered why it says "may"... Here is the simple PDF file I used.  Thank you!

    Joel Geraci
    Community Expert
    Joel GeraciCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 18, 2024

    Ok thanks. I think the editability is being thrown off by the white text on the black background.

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