Converting graphical text into searchable PDFs
Optical input devices such as scanners and digital cameras mostly create raster graphics. These graphics may contain text, but that text cannot be processed directly by a computer. Editing or searching text inside graphic formats like .png or .jpg is not possible.
Convert graphical text into searchable PDFs for free with the webPDF portal
The following guide shows how to use webPDF and OCR (optical character recognition) to convert graphical text into PDF format.
You can access the webPDF portal at:
https://portal.webpdf.de/webPDF/
Note: The following guide refers to the German version of the webPDF portal. You can change the language in the top-right corner.
- First, upload your scanned or digitized document by clicking [Browse]. Please note: OCR requires an image resolution of at least 200 dpi.
- In the workspace, in the functions section, click [Convert image into PDF document with OCR] (highlighted in red in the image below).
- A new dialog opens where you can define settings such as output format and text language. In this example, a German text is converted into PDF. Click [Start OCR] once all settings are configured.
- The webPDF server processes the request quickly and provides the generated PDF document for download. Click the [Download] button (highlighted in red) to save the file.
- You can now select, copy, and search text in the PDF file as usual.
You can find more information about OCR and the file formats supported by webPDF on our website:
www.webpdf.de/supported-file-formats/
This guide is also available as a video:
