Text is shown as picture when editing

[Martina22007392vj7k]

When opening up my PDF, and pressing Edit, the text is shown as pictures instead of text. Mostly, every word becomes a seperate picture. This means that I can't edit the text. 

Any suggestions on how I can fix this problem?

[Bernd Alheit]

What app does you use?

[Martina22007392vj7k]

I'm using Pro.

[gary_sc]

Hi Martina,

Which version of Acrobat are you using? Reader, Standard, or Pro.

Also, did you create the PDF or is this a PDF that you received or downloaded or whatever so you do not know how it was created.

Lastly, can you select text in the PDF when you drag across a sentence or the does the page turn blue?

[Martina22007392vj7k]

Hi, 

I'm using Pro. 
The PDF was originally created in InDesign, then converted to Word from PDF (due to that other parts of the company needed to be able to edit). Ofcourse, Word wasn't working great, so Acrobat Pro was suggested. But then the above issue accured. 
No, the text can't be selected in the PDF. But the problem only extends to text that has been altered in Word. (All that is original from InDesign is no problem). 

/Martina

[Acalz714]

I have the same problem. So frustrating. I need to edit the words on the PDF's. How do I get back to text vs image? 

[Amal.]

Hi there

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out.

Is this an issue with a particular PDF file or with all the PDFs that you try to edit? Please try with a different PDF file and check.

It sounds like your PDF might be a scanned document or an image-based PDF rather than a text-based one. When you open it in Edit mode, Adobe automatically detects the content, but if the text appears as separate images, it likely means the document doesn't contain selectable text.

To fix this, try to Use OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

• Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
• Click on Scan & OCR (found under the "Tools" tab).
• Select Recognize Text and choose the appropriate language.
• After the text is recognized, try editing again.

Let us know how it goes.

[Acalz714]

All PDFs do this. I used to be able to hit "Edit" in Adobe PDF and atomatically be able to edit text. Now I have to hit OCR every time. It works just takes more effort - a few more steps.

Thank you!
Warm regards,
[P.I removed by Moderator]