PDFs are no longer searchable in Acrobat Reader

[FDC-Marshall]

Within the last week, we've encountered an issue at my organization where documents scanned to a network location are suddenly not able to be searched. The documents are being scanned in as an image, but when they are opened, they no longer convert to a searchable image. This is affecting documents that have just been scanned and documents that were scanned weeks ago or longer.

Currently, we have a mix of Acrobat Reader 11 and different versions of Acrobat Reader DC. They are set to not automatically update. We've tried changing multiple settings on the scanner, and have not had success. It is set to scan as text only, and to pdf version 1.7, but it still scans as an image. The pdfs can be opened in Acrobat or Acrobat Pro automatically ask to be converted to an editable picture when you try to add a text field or search.

Has anyone else run into a problem like this before?

[Just Shoot Me]

I picture, image and a PDF document are 2 totally different things.

Scan them as PDF documents.

[FDC-Marshall]

The scanner has the option to scan files as .pdf, and to make them text or photo .pdfs. It is currently set as text, but still coming through as a photo. Prior to this week, users had the ability to search a .pdf that was scanned in, and it would ask if they wanted to convert to a searchable picture while using Acrobat Reader XI or Acrobat Reader DC.

[Bernd Alheit]

FDC-Marshall  wrote

The scanner has the option to scan files as .pdf, and to make them text or photo .pdfs. It is currently set as text, but still coming through as a photo. ...

Looks like a issue of the scanner software.

[FDC-Marshall]

I thought it was a scanner software issue too, but stuff that had been scanned in weeks and months ago are affected too. They were working fine until this week.

[~graffiti]

FDC-Marshall  wrote

I thought it was a scanner software issue too, but stuff that had been scanned in weeks and months ago are affected too. They were working fine until this week.

Hmm. Not sure what could cause that. Can you possibly share one of these documents (as long as they don't have sensitive information)?

[Bernd Alheit]

  wrote

I thought it was a scanner software issue too, but stuff that had been scanned in weeks and months ago are affected too. They were working fine until this week.

Can you select and copy text?

[FDC-Marshall]

The documents do contain sensitive information, so i can't link one in here.

When you try to click anywhere in the .pdf, it highlights the entire document because it counts it as a single image.

[Bernd Alheit]

Did you look at the modification date of the files?

[FDC-Marshall]

There are files modified as old as Nov 1, 2017, and as recent as yesterday. They all exhibit the same problem.

[Bernd Alheit]

Acrobat Reader can't create searchable PDF documents from scans.

[gkaiseril]

I would imagine that someone used either Acrobat or a stand alone OCR program to OCR the PDF to convert the scanned image to either a PDF of text content or an page image with hidden text. Both of these types of PDFs are searchable. Many OCR programs can create PDFs from the scanner's image..

[FDC-Marshall]

So someone will Acrobat or Acrobat Pro will have to go in an convert each .pdf to a searchable image to make it work again, or will Acrobat Reader users just never have the capability to search a .pdf that was scanned in as an image?

[~graffiti]

FDC-Marshall  wrote

So someone will Acrobat or Acrobat Pro will have to go in an convert each .pdf to a searchable image to make it work

Not necessarily no. It sounds like your scanning software has the option to scan and save as text but it's not doing its job correctly. You may want to start by checking on support for that software. If it were working properly, Reader users would be able to search the document.

[carrieg81487371]

This is precisely what I am now having to do. Maddening!