Problem finding single accented letters

[Ute Leone]

Hello,
In Acrobat version 2005.001.20438 (generated by InDesign 2025) I had to search for some single accented letters. Unfortunately, all non-accented letters are also found. For example: "à" also finds "a", "è", finds all "e" etc.
I attach a screenshot.
Have you encountered the same problem and a possible solution?
Thanks for the possible response.
I attach a screenshot.

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @Ute Leone, 

Thank you for reaching out with your question. 
If the document was exported as a flattened PDF, the following are my observations:

Acrobat’s OCR is optimized for word-level recognition, which often results in context-based encoding. That means searching for a full word like “résumé” might succeed, but a single letter like “é” could fail, as it may not be stored as a standalone Unicode character.

A couple of things you might try:

•       Check the font encoding using Preflight (in Acrobat Pro).
•       Copy and paste the letter from the PDF into a text editor — does it paste correctly, or appear as a space/symbol?
•  Re-OCR the document using a custom OCR setting that prioritizes searchable text (go to Scan & OCR > Recognize Text > In This File > Settings in Acrobat).

Note: What you’re observing seems to be related to how OCR engines, like the one in Acrobat, interpret and encode accented characters, especially when they appear as standalone letters.

If the document wasn't flattened, in that case, check if the fonts are properly embedded. Use the Preflight tool to check for font issues: https://adobe.ly/3Gq4yO2

~Tariq

[try67]

This does not seem to be a relevant reply to the issue. The file has not been OCRed, but created from InDesign.

[Ute Leone]

First of all I thank everyone for the answers and I apologize for my bad English.

The font seems correct and if I paste the text from Acrobat into Word the accents are correct.
However, with the suggestion in point two I found another problem! After the text is recognized, the pages are rotated and the accents problem persists.

As TRY67 writes, the problem is not caused by a PDF generated from a scan; the PDF is generated by InDesign.

[try67]

It doesn't seem there's a workaround for issue in Acrobat, but it is possible to search for only accented characters using a script, such as this (paid-for) tool I've developed that can highlight all the instances of the results using actual comments, not just an ad-hoc selection: https://www.try67.com/tool/acrobat-highlight-all-instances-of-a-word-or-phrase-in-a-pdf

[Ute Leone]

Hi, TRY67,
thanks for the tip, I downloaded the trial version.

[Ute Leone]

Hi TRY67,

I tried the demo, but it also finds single letters without accents. Did I do something wrong in setting the search? I attach screenshots.

[try67]

I'll need to see the actual page. Could you share it here, or privately?

[Ute Leone]

Hi TRY67,

I solved it with radzmir's suggestion. Thanks anyway for your availability.

[AnandSri]

Hi @Ute Leone!

We're glad to know that it worked for you, feel free to reach out if you need any assistance.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[try67]

It worked fine for me on this Wikipedia page (in Spanish). Note that instances of "e" without the accent are not highlighted.

[JR Boulay]

This lack has persisted since the first versions of Acrobat, although it has been reported many times over the years.
However, there's no need for AI to do this, other software has been doing it very well for a long time...

[Ute Leone]

Hi JR Boulay,
I honestly didn't notice. Thanks to you too.

[radzmar · Accepted solution]

Make sure you have the option for diacritics and accents set correctly in Acrobats preferences. When you have to change it, restart the app once to make tha changes work for the search function.

[JR Boulay]

It's a stroke of genius to have enabled by default this well-hidden preference with its incomprehensible wording (in French, at least)! 

When I think that no one, including Adobe, has ever been able to give me the answer to this problem for all these years...

radzmar your the best!

[Ute Leone]

Hi radzmar,
thanks thanks thanks! You solved a very annoying problem.