Image-only PDF

 If the document appears to contain text but cannot execute a word search, it could be an image-only PDF file.

 

Two ways to OCR a scanned image

Perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert the bitmap image of text to actual characters.Using "Recognize Text Dialogs Perform OCR on a scanned document"

In Acrobat Pro DC, this can be performed two ways:

  1. Scanned Page Alert: Select OK from the Scanned Page Alert dialog after opening the document for the Recognize Text dialog.
  2. Recognize Text Using OCR:
    • By selecting Tools > Action Wizard > Make Accessible > Recognize Text using OCR.
    • There is an option of recognizing the entire document, the current page, or a range of pages within the document. Use the Edit button in the scanned page dialog to set the desired characteristics for the resulting file.
      • The Recognize Text—General Settings dialog also  when the Make Accessible Wizard is selected. Use the following settings:
        • Primary OCR Language: Acrobat does not recognize a document’s language itself—a user must indicate which language is used.
        • PDF Output Style: This option should be set to Editable Text and Images will allow the resulting PDF to “reflow”. Reflow allows the text on the page to be enlarged without displaying horizontal scroll bars. As the text size increases, the text wraps so content is not lost in the margins. 
        • Downsample to: Downsampling should be set to the highest resolution as measured in dots per inch (DPI). This should be 600 DPI.

Resume Through the Rest of the Sections in the Make Accessible Pane

    1. Set Language & Tags
    2. Run Accessibility Check