Batch OCR multiple files that are signed

[kelly_9892]

Hi,

I have roughly 10,000 drawings that have been signed electronically in adobe.   These now need to be OCR recogonised which I am unable to do because of the signatures.  I assume I will have to flatten them first which will keep an image of the signatures only, which is fine.  Is there a way to do this as a batch as I am struggling with preflight!?

[S. S]

Hi @kelly_9892,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

In case you are still looking for a solution, I have two suggestions you might want to try:

Method 1: Using an Action in Acrobat (Best for Large Batches)

1. Open Acrobat
2. Go to "All Tools" → Click "Action Wizard"
3. Click "New Action"
4. In the “Choose Tools to Add” section:
   • Under "Pages", select "Flatten" (this will rasterize the electronic signatures)
   • Under "Recognize Text", select "OCR" → Set your OCR settings
5. Click "Save" and give the action a name
6. Run the Action on a folder containing all your PDFs

Method 2: Using Preflight in Batch Mode (If Preflight Issues are Resolved)

If you prefer Preflight, try:

1. Open Acrobat
2. Go to "All Tools" → "Print Production" → "Preflight"
3. In the Preflight panel, search for "Flatten annotations and form fields"
4. Click "Fix" to test on one file
5. If it works, go to "Action Wizard" → Create New Action
6. Add the Preflight Fixup + OCR steps, then save & run it on all files

This should process all your files automatically. 

Hope this helps.

-Souvik