If you need to select, copy or search through the text inside a scanned PDF file, you need to run the file through an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that is able to recognize text on the PDF and make it searchable. A good OCR software for Mac should be able to quickly convert a PDF to text and support multiple languages, such that you can OCR a wide variety of PDFs. With PDF Expert, you can convert your PDF files to OCRed text on Mac by following this simple guide.
What is OCR PDF and how it works
OCR is a technology that converts different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, PDF files, or images, into editable and searchable data. By analyzing the structure of a document and segmenting it into blocks of text, tables, and images, the software recognizes the characters in the text and converts them into a file that users can copy, highlight, or search through.
PDF Expert has built-in OCR technology that can recognize any document – giant books, magazines, reports, or any other type of file. It can recognize over 20 languages simultaneously, making it perfect for users working with international documents who need precise text recognition across different alphabets and scripts.
How to OCR scanned PDFs on Mac
PDF Expert offers easy, fast, and precise optical character recognition. Here’s how to OCR a PDF:
- Download PDF Expert for free and launch the app.
- Drag & Drop your PDF file into the app to open it.
- Click on the Scan & OCR option at the top of the app window.
- Click on the Recognize Text option to OCR PDF pages.
- When you see "There is no selectable text on this page" message, click on Recognize. Alternatively, choose the correct language in the sidebar and click on Recognize.
- Choose the Language of your scanned PDF document, then select which Pages you want to recognize text on and click on Apply.
- PDF Expert will instantly run its OCR scan technology on the file and recognize all the text it can find.
- For any words that can’t be recognized, PDF Expert makes a best effort guess and allows you to manually correct any wrong guesses, as shown below.
Now, you can select and copy the text on this PDF file as well as highlight text and search for words or phrases.
How to convert static PDF images to text
OCR can help convert a static PDF image to text, enhancing the document’s quality and making it searchable. Here’s how you can OCR PDF images with PDF Expert:
- Download PDF Expert for free and launch the app.
- Click Select File or quickly drag & drop your PDF into the app.
- Click Scan & OCR > Recognize text at the top of the app window.
- If the message “There is no selectable text on this page” appears, click on Recognize.
- In the sidebar, select the correct language and click on Recognize. Then select which Pages you want to recognize text on and click on Apply.
That’s it! Now, you have converted a PDF into a searchable file with text that you can easily copy and paste, highlight important phrases, and search for certain words.
How to convert PDF to Word
If you want to edit a text and format your document, you can convert your PDF to Word in a couple of clicks with PDF Expert. Here’s how:
- Download PDF Expert for free and launch the app.
- Open your PDF file in PDF Expert. Click on Select File on the main screen or drag & drop your file into the app.
- Select Export on the toolbar.
- Select To Word from the export options.
- Choose the location to save your converted file.
- Click on Export.
Your PDF file will be converted to a Word document, retaining the layout and formatting of the original PDF. You will then be able to edit the text, change places, add new information, insert other data, and much more.
PDF Expert is the go-to PDF app for Mac. Boasting an effortless design, it makes your PDF life easy by empowering you with the right set of tools to help you with any PDF task. Read and annotate books, take notes, edit PDFs, sign documents, and more.