Adobe Acrobat Reader Accessibility: Optional Character Recognition (OCR)

Overview 

Learn how to convert a PDF to use optional character recognition (OCR) to create editable and accessible documents. This article covers converting a PDF to an editable document using OCR, verifying security restrictions, checking accessibility using the Check for Accessibility tool, and making corrections to the document. 

Best Practices: 

• Check accuracy of OCR Output: when scanned documents are opened, Acrobat automatically runs OCR to make the document editable. Before editing make sure the content is accurate. If necessary, rescan using the Recognize Text option to improve the output.  
• Enhance Image Quality: If the scanned PDF contains low quality images, use the Enhance Scanned File or Enhance Camera Image to improve the quality before attempting to edit the document. 
• Use Correct Fonts and Formatting: Ensure that all fonts and formatting of edited text match the original document as closely as possible.  
• Remove Security Restrictions: If the PDF has security restrictions that prevent editing, remove these restrictions before attempting to edit the document. Security restrictions can interfere with screen readers by preventing them from pulling the text from the PDF. 
• Avoid Editing Complex Elements: If the PDF contains tables, graphs, or images, avoid edits that could alter the layout or formatting of these elements 

Recognize Text on Scanned PDF 

Using the Scan and OCR tool creates an editable scan from recognizable text. With this feature you can edit scanned texts and change OCR language.  Editing a scanned PDF can be complicated in it includes low-quality text or images, line breaks, or complex formatting.  

Steps

1. Open the Scanned File, select “Get Started” from the top banner that appears.  
2. Under the All-Tools tab, select Scan& OCR
   
3. From the left panel, under “Recognize Text” select “In this file,” a dialog box should appear 
4. Select the Settings Gear from the dialog box
   
5. Set your desired page range
6. Ensure the output is set to Editable Text and Image
   
7. Select OK
8. Select Recognize Text  

For more information 

• How to edit scanned PDFs in Adobe Acrobat 
• Edit document structure with the Content and Tags panels (Adobe Acrobat Pro)