Need software to "OCR" PDFs for searching

juanantoniod · 24 Jan 2011

Hello,

This is what I am trying to accomplish: A 'self managed' document management system.

My scanner will scan documents into PDF directly, naming them 001, 002, 003, etc.

I would like to leave these assigned file names, and then just search through the PDFs when I need to find something (a particular document).

Therefore, I need a program that OCRs the scanned PDF images, so that the text within them can be searched and found. Which program can I use to do this?

Thank you very much for any advice and assistance! :)

Bill2 · 24 Jan 2011

Slightly digressing from the topic, OCR is a somewhat inexact science because the quality of the scan is the key. One could use Adobe acrobat pro (the paid version, not the free reader) but whenever I've tried I always get an error saying the file cant be OCRed because it contains graphics other than images and texts. Dont know whether its peculiar to adobe or theres something I'm doing wrong.

juanantoniod · 24 Jan 2011

Yes, and what I am trying to avoid is key working every document. I want to scan all of my documents into one folder of PDFs, then run a keyword search hoping that at least one of the keywords will locate the correct document. I know it's asking for a lot. I'm just trying to save as much effort as possible. Thanks!

rap33042 · 24 Jan 2011

This isn't an OCR solution, but it may help anyway.

Through February 5th, PDFZilla will be offered for free at this link: PDFZilla Time-limited Giveaway - Get PDFZilla For FREE!

Hope this helps!

juanantoniod · 24 Jan 2011

Thanks for the PDFzilla reco. I already had it, but it is great for anyone else who has not already gotten the FREE copy. It converts PDFs to almost any other format imaginable.

What I found out through Googling this, is that I wanted my PDF documents to be *indexed*. Supposedly, Google Desktop automatically does this as part of its indexing, *if* you have the texttopdf program add-on, which should come with it. Also, now, Windows 7, can be configured to index PDF text. So, I have it set up and am giving it some time to do the indexing before I run a test query.

Thanks to everyone here who is so helpful!

joeray638 · 13 May 2011

I found a fix to make pdf doc with searchable text in win 7. Scan a document as an image file with a resolution of at least 600 dpi. Use your ocr software to convert it to a searchable pdf. This is the only method that worked for me after much trial and error. Believe me, I tried them all. My hp all-in-one printer works with hp solution center 14.0 which has the ocr software. All the best.

joeray638 · 13 May 2011

juanantoniod said:

Thanks for the PDFzilla reco. I already had it, but it is great for anyone else who has not already gotten the FREE copy. It converts PDFs to almost any other format imaginable.

What I found out through Googling this, is that I wanted my PDF documents to be *indexed*. Supposedly, Google Desktop automatically does this as part of its indexing, *if* you have the texttopdf program add-on, which should come with it. Also, now, Windows 7, can be configured to index PDF text. So, I have it set up and am giving it some time to do the indexing before I run a test query.

Thanks to everyone here who is so helpful!

Win 7 will not index all of your pdf files properly for searching. I tried everything.

joeray638 · 13 May 2011

juanantoniod said:

Yes, and what I am trying to avoid is key working every document. I want to scan all of my documents into one folder of PDFs, then run a keyword search hoping that at least one of the keywords will locate the correct document. I know it's asking for a lot. I'm just trying to save as much effort as possible. Thanks!

I posted a fix on this thread that might work for you.