Scanning stalls and message appears (converting to searchable image exact). help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DEANA235146391buz]

I have very slow scanning due to the process stalling...Once all pages scan through, the screen freezes and says "converting to searchable image exact". I have to wait many minutes for this to finish before I can save my documents ....I am going crazy!

How do I turn this extra step off so it doesnt take 20 minutes for my scans to finish???  I dont have this issue on other pcs and printers and I have checked that all my settings are the same on this laptop/printer.....

Help??  thank you  :  )

[DEANA235146391buz]

FYI...I have Adobe Acrobat Pro and I am scanning off of an HP 426 printer to create a PDF document.  

[gary_sc]

I am a Mac user so I could not even test what you're doing but I can make some guesses. Please keep in mind that Acrobat, by itself, cannot scan at all. It has no scanning software whatsoever. What it can do is, by using some software called TWAIN, lets you use your scanning software inside of Acrobat. There are some advantages to simply using your scanning software separately, saving the files out as TIF images, and then opening these TIF images in Acrobat for PDFing OCRing. [Note: if you save your images out as TIF images when those are brought into Acrobat, the conversion to PDF and OCR is automatic. If you save as JPG or PNG, it isn't and you have to perform an extra step.

When you either drag a pile of TIF images onto Acrobat OR Create PDF from a folder, you will be asked if you want all of the TIF images as separate documents or one document, The offer to OCR them is automatic and you will not be asked.

Now, to speed up scanning the scanning process: not always a good idea. The better the quality of the scan, the more successful the OCR will be. For example, you can scan at 100 ppi and the scanning process will go very fast, but you'll have many errors in your OCR. Personally, I prefer to scan my documents at 600 ppi which takes a longer time but the quality of my OCR is very good. 300 ppi is a compromise speed. Do not go below 300 ppi if you want any quality. 

You do need to check what kind of setting you are using when OCRing. There are three possible settings:

(1) Searchable Image

(2) Searchable Image (Exact)

(3) ClearScan

#1 - Provides an OCR output whose glyphs have no stroke or fill  -- so, "invisible" or "hidden".

This method also dresses up the image a wee bit. Thus, an altered image rather than the exact image as provided by the scanner.

Consequently, #1 is typically not acceptable to a FedGov agency (or any entity with an interest in a document of record having the proper "provenance").

#2. An OCR output developed as in #1. But, the exact image remains untouched.

Typically this is what a FedGov agency requires if submitting a scanned image of text.

So, the original image out of the scanner maintains its integrity and the OCR output supports find / search.

#3 ClearScan - Introduced a few versions back. When the bit-map of a character's image is recognized that is replaced with a font (character glyph is seen as it has fill and stroke applied).  What is not recognized is left. And more magic...

Bottom line - That image out of the scanner that *was* the exact replica of the hardcopy and thus a valid/legal document of record is blown away, gone, dent de lion in the wind eh. Typically not acceptable for something submitted to a FedGov agency.

Now, one of the big PIA with Acrobat is that if you have a many-page document, every time Acrobat processes a page, it will come to the front of your applications and let you know about it. There's nothing you can do about that. What I do is plan on doing the processing of the documents while I'm off at lunch or something. 

I hope I've give you some ideas.

Good luck!

[DEANA235146391buz]

Thanks Gary

I am scanning at 300 dpi.  I scan closing packages that are about 100-200 pages.

I have two laptops..one in my office that I scan  to a brother printer....no issues, same settings.

Second laptop is in my car printing on an HP printer....same settings but this one gets the delay and the "converting to searchable image exact" message....which is causing the major delay.  I dont have this on the laptop/printer combo in the office????

your comment below....where can I check this?

You do need to check what kind of setting you are using when OCRing. There are three possible settings:

(1) Searchable Image

(2) Searchable Image (Exact)

(3) ClearScan

I will go and check to see if the setting is different on the two separate laptops.  I am not techy, so need full on layman terminology...fyi...lol

Thanks again for taking the time to try and assist me...!!!  :  )

[gary_sc]

Hi Deana,

You're scanning and printing in your car??? OK. :>)

Anyhow, any document (screenshot, whatever) and open that up in Acrobat. Go to the Scan & OCR tab of your tools, On the top bar, click on "Recognize Text," select "This file," and the bottom half will be seen:

Then click on Settings and you get this:

From here you can select which one you want. This is sticky so whatever you set it at, it will stay. Be sure to let it recognize the text to make sure it stays. You can then toss the document if it's not important.

There are other ways to get there but this is one of the more direct ways to it even if you have to play a bit of games to get there.

Good luck!