To make a PDF document searchable, you will need to use optical character recognition (OCR) software. OCR software is designed to recognize text within images and convert it into searchable and editable text.
Here is a basic step-by-step process for using OCR software to make a PDF searchable:
Download and install OCR software on your computer. There are many OCR software programs available, both free and paid. Some popular options include Adobe Acrobat, ABBYY FineReader, and Tesseract.
Open the PDF document in the OCR software.
Select the option to perform OCR on the PDF. This option is usually found under a “Tools” or “Convert” menu.
Choose the language of the text in the PDF. This is important because it allows the OCR software to accurately recognize the characters in the document.
Select the pages of the PDF that you want to make searchable. You may have the option to select all pages, or you can choose specific pages to process.
Click “Start” or “OCR” to begin the OCR process. This may take a few minutes, depending on the size of the PDF and the speed of your computer.
Once the OCR process is complete, save the PDF with the recognized text. The text should now be searchable within the PDF.
Keep in mind that the accuracy of the OCR process can vary depending on the quality of the original PDF and the language of the text. It may be necessary to review the recognized text and make any necessary corrections.
