How to use OCR to convert scanned files into editable and searchable documents on Windows

OCR PDF how to convert scan files into editable and searchable PDFs hi my name is George and welcome back to the PDF element YouTube channel thanks to technology office work is becoming increasingly more efficient fortunately there are scenarios where we don't have these advantages such as working with physical documents these situations are always a headache since we can't use the editing markup or search tools that we've become so used to it is for this reason that in today's video I want to share with you some great tips on how to use the PDF element OCR feature so that you can turn your physical documents into digital searchable and editable documents and this is going to take just a few seconds PDF elements OCR feature is an optical character recognition tool which can analyze photos images and documents with text and turn these physical scan documents into editable PDF documents working with physical documents will no longer be an obstacle and it doesn't matter how many pages images or photos you need to work with by the end of this video you're going to be a pro at doing everything such as edit text in scan PDF documents convert images to editable Microsoft Office formats extract data from scan PDF and transform multiple scan files into editable files within minutes are you ready well let's get started welcome back to the PDF element YouTube channel before we go any further please make sure you have the newest version of PDF element installed in your device you can find the download link in the description below this video number one edit text in scan PDF documents using OCR feature to edit text from a stand document is a strategy that will help you save a lot of time and effort when it comes to typing as is the case with most programmers for programmers creating and designing a web page is not an easy task when it comes to adding content who source is a physical document they spend hours writing code so wasting their time copying text is not something they're going to enjoy OCR technology is responsible for recognizing the elements and characters within an image so to use this technology on physical documents it is necessary to take a photograph or scan the document once you have a non-editable PDF wall image you can use PDF elements ocl feature to create a fully editable PDF document and now I'm going to show you how to do this to get started open the PDF element app and click on the OCR option A pop-up window will appear where you will have to specify the language of your PDF and set some preferences just make sure to check the scan to add text option when you're done click apply and wait for the OCR process to finish now the text of your PDF is fully editable the only thing you need to do is to use the edit tool found inside the edit section and choose the text option you are now free to edit all the text in the document and if you need to you can copy paragraph just like you would with any other word processing software that was incredibly easy right now let's talk about something a little more complex number two convert images to editable Microsoft Office formats there are many cases when there's relevant information in documents that you'd like to convert to text if you are a researcher you already know this researchers constantly need to Source information from places like books newspapers scientific papers or documents so sometimes images within these documents are essential sources of information as I mentioned before the OCR feature is an incredibly powerful tool as this technology is capable of recognizing text within images allowing you to create PDF files for editing highlighting and search tools on the other hand once you've created a PDF using images you can also create text files using only the information that you consider necessary with PD element this process is very simple let me show you how to do it the first thing you need to do is convert your images to PDF files to do this simply click on the create PDF option and choose the from file option Now using the Windows File Explorer select the image that you are going to use to create your PDF and click on open PDF element will instantly create a PDF file with the image you chose and at the top of your screen you will find a banner that will suggest you perform an OCR process on your document you can click on the perform OCR button on the banner or click on the OCR button on the toolbar of the home section select the scan to editable text option and set the pages that you need then select the language of the image when you're done click apply and wait for the process to finish now PDF element is already able to identify the text that is in the images of your PDF but we're not finished yet go to the convert section and choose the to text all to word option A pop-up window will appear and all you have to do is choose a name for the document you are about to create and a Target location when you are done click OK as soon as you open the document with Microsoft Office you'll notice the text in your images is fully editable and easy to integrate with your other Microsoft Word files that was amazing right this will save you many hours of typing work and as you can see quality is not an issue here let's move on to the next tip for today I'm sure you're gonna love this one too number three extract data from the scan PDF using forms is probably the simplest way to collect information there are thousands of users for forms but the only drawback is that when you extract all this information manually it can be a nightmare fortunately PDF element has a sophisticated solution for this problem using the OCR feature PDF element is able to recognize forms and extract all their data the data will be organized and you can then save this in a Microsoft Excel file with tools like this you'll take tasks that could have taken hours and make them take a few minutes it sounds impossible right but I'm going to show you just how easy this is the first thing you need to do is open the PDF of the form you want to extract information from remember that if you don't have a scanner you can take a photo with your phone and use PDF elements convert it into a PDF now use the extract data tool that is in the form section A pop-up window will appear where you will need to specify the extraction mode you want to use the first option will automatically extract all the information from your form but this will require you to previously use the recognized form option found in the form section on the other hand the second option will allow you to make a specific selection of the data that you are interested in extracting in this case I'm going to use the second option now simply use your cursor by dragging and dropping to create a selection area don't forget to name each area and specify the language when you are done simply click apply and choose a location to save your CSV file when you open the CSV document you'll notice that all the data on the form has been extracted and placed into horizontal order to properly organize this information you will first need to separate it to do this select one of the cells and move the content into another row then go to the data section and click the text to columns option the text The Columns wizard will appear on the screen just click finish now all of the information in the cell you selected has been spread across multiple cells select the first and last cells by holding down the shift key right click and select the copy option finally click on the cell where you are going to place the data in descending order right click and choose the transpose paste option that only took a few seconds right now let's repeat this process as many times as necessary to properly organize your data now you can extract any data in a matter of seconds and if you found that tip useful just wait for this next one number four transform multiple stand files into editable files in redesigning a web page is a huge Challenge and graphic designers are aware of this graphic designers designing a web page is not as easy as just closing their eyes and using their imagination many factors must be taken into account in order to achieve a good final product since many times the changing the original website content is not an option for this reason it's sometimes necessary to extract data from the website and then reorganize it in a creative way PDF element ocl feature is fantastic for these cases and it allows artists to transform multiple files into editable files within minutes in this way it is pretty much always easier form all kinds of tests to ensure getting the most attractive design in this shortest period of time let me show you just how easy it is to scan multiple PDF files and convert them into one editable PDF file to get started open the PDF element application and click on the batch process option then in the pop-up window select the OCR option now simply drag and drop your PDFs into the ocl window you will now see the setting window for the OCR process in this window you will have to select if you prefer the document to be editable or searchable text only choose the language of your documents and the destination where you want to save the files when you are ready click apply and wait for the process to finish as soon as the process is finished the Windows File Explorer window will automatically open with your files in it open any of them to check the results all of your files are now fully editable amazing isn't it now you are able to edit and freely search for words in your PDF documents we're almost done but now it's time for your favorite section this is the you ask we answer section where I'm going to answer some of your most common questions about the OCR feature question one what is OCR optical character recognition is something you probably already know about because we use this technology on a daily basis scanners barcode and QR readers license plate recognition all these tools essentially do the same thing what makes the difference is the software that OCR is implemented with for example PDF element uses OCR to create highly searchable and editable PDF documents when question two how to make a PDF searchable every time you perform an OCR process with PDF element regardless of the scanning option that you choose you'll be able to use PDF elements search and replace tools the reason that there is an option called scan to searchable text in an image is for those situations where you want to create read-only and non-editable PDFs question three how do I convert scan PDFs to word in the convert section of PDF element you will find tools to convert your PDFs to other formats but keep in mind that a stamp PDF is not editable text and this can cause Microsoft Word to try and convert your document to an image if you want to convert your PDF to Microsoft Word document you must first complete the OCR process in this way you will guarantee the best possible result that is everything for today OCR really is a wonderful feature isn't it I hope these tips help you to work more comfortably and efficiently from now on don't hesitate to share your questions with us in the comment section below this video if you found this video useful be sure to share it with other people who might get use out of it take a look at the rest of videos on our Channel just try searching for keywords that interest you don't forget to like this video And subscribe to the channel thank you for watching and see you next time

Channel: Wondershare PDFelement

Views: 55,492

Keywords: ocr, how to convert scanned pdf to word, scanned pdf to word, ocr pdf, ocr pdf to excel, ocr pdf editor, scanned image to editable text, how to convert scanned pdf to searchable text, How to Convert Scanned Files into editable and searchable documents using OCR, convert scanned pdf to text, How to use OCR to convert scanned files into editable and searchable documents on Windows, convert scanned files, convert scanned document to editable text

Id: DqmELjZAkbA

Length: 9min 26sec (566 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 29 2022