How do you go directly to the parts that you want to review in a PDF? Search within the file, of course. But have you ever worked on a PDF not allowing you to search the PDF text? Why is the PDF not searchable, is there any solution to make this type of PDFs searchable again? Today, we are here to bring all the answers to you.
See the Apple Support article System requirements for Continuity on Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch. See Fill out a PDF form. To change the note color, Control-click the note, then choose a color. To move the note to a different location, drag it. See Add notes and speech bubbles to a PDF. Jan 03, 2019 Edit any PDF on a Mac. To correct text with PDFpen: Open the desired PDF document within the application. Highlight the text within the PDF and click Correct Text. Erase the current text and type the desired changes. To insert and edit an image in PDF: Click on 'Insert' icon and choose an image you want to add.
In this article, we will focus on multiple ways to make a PDF searchable in Adobe Acrobat, without Acrobat, even to make PDF searchable free.
Easily Make PDF Searchable on Mac
- Make PDF searchable and indexed;
- Make images in searchable PDF format;
- OCR PDF and images to Word, Excel, PPT, Keynote, Pages, etc.;
- Convert native and protected PDFs to 16 formats;
- Create searchable PDF from other documents (Word, PowerPoint, ePub, CHM, etc.)
- Batch convert/OCR;
- Highly accurate conversion result with formatting maintained.
About Searchable PDF
What is a searchable PDF?
A searchable PDF is the PDF file composed of 2 layers, image layer and text layer. There in the text layer saves the text content and users are allowed to search for or locate the keyword within the document.
Why is PDF Not Searchable?
In most cases, the reason why a PDF is not searchable can be concluded as, the file is not originally generated from documents editors like Adobe, Microsoft Office, it is image-based, which means the text content is saved as bitmap font. These fonts cannot be recognized, therefore the PDF tool cannot do the matching to locate the keywords.
Hence, to make a PDF searchable, you need to make the PDF image text to be recognized, this is just OCR works for.
Make PDF Searchable without Acrobat (Mac & Windows)
When dealing with PDF files, Adobe Acrobat comes across our minds, it is always standing on the top of PDF solutions. However, not all of us have installed an Adobe, for one reason or another. Never mind, we can still make PDF text searchable without Acrobat. Here we recommend 2 dedicated PDF OCR programs, both of them will surprise you with even better and more accurate results.
For Users Who Want to Make PDF Searchable on Mac
You can try Cisdem PDF Converter OCR for Mac, a professional PDF OCR Converter enabling users to convert native and scanned PDFs, even images into searchable PDF, to Word, Excel, PPT, Keynote, HTML, Keynote and so on. It supports batch making searchable PDFs from scanned files, keeping original file quality as well. There won't be any worry about formatting issue and image resolution occurring in the conversion. This powerful OCR PDF Converter can understand more than 200 languages accurately.
Major Capabilities:
- Convert PDF to searchable PDF;
- OCR image to searchable PDF, editable formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc);
- Convert native PDF to 16 formats(Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, ePub, Keynote, Pages, Image, etc.);
- Batch convert and OCR PDF files;
- Accurate conversion/OCR results with original formatting;
- Create searchable PDF from Word, PowerPoint, CHM, ePub, HTML, etc;
- Compress, merge and protect PDF output when creating PDFs within the program;
Let's Make PDF Searchable on Mac Now!
- Download the free trial of Cisdem PDF Converter OCR on its official website, install and launch it on your mac.
Free Download - Go to the 'Converter', drag and drop the PDFs into the interface, or just click “+” to add files.
- Turn OCR button ON, choose All Pages or fill Page Range. Select the language and output as PDF to make a searchable PDF from imported PDFs on mac.
- Click “Convert” to convert PDF to searchable PDF on mac. Find the searchable PDF in output folder.
Also, you can check the YouTube video tutorial to make your PDF searchable on Mac.
For Users Who Want to Make PDF Searchable on Windows
Readiris 16 for Windows converts any PDFs into searchable PDF, Word, Excel, ODT, ePub, Audio and image formats, with original layout preserved. It can connect with your scanned, directly scan the document to the program and make it searchable. Even, you can utilize this tool to manage PDF files, such as protect PDF, shrink PDF and organize PDF pages, etc.
Let’s make PDF searchable on Windows Now!
- Import PDF into the program.
You can choose “Scan”, put the paper file in to the scanner that connects with this program, to import the digital copy directly. Also you can choose “From File” to import PDFs from your PC. - Then choose the output as PDF, also select output folder, rename the file if needed.
- You will find the PDF is fully searchable now.
- Then save the searchable PDF file on your Windows PC.
2 Ways to Make PDF Text Searchable Free
No one will turn down a free solution to fix his or her problems, at least, we all want to have a try before paying for an expert. To make PDF text searchable on Mac or Windows, we have free options too.
Here are 2 free tools recommended as following. But first of all, we’d like to talk a little about making PDF searchable free in Mac Preview.
Can We Make PDF Text Searchable in Mac Preview?
No, you cannot.
You can search a word within PDF in Mac Preview by press Command+F, but if a PDF is not searchable in the first place, you won’t be able to make it searchable in Preview. Preview can open and view native or scanned PDF files, but there is no OCR capability in Preview to make an image (scanned) PDF text searchable. You have to apply OCR on the PDF file and make it searchable, then search PDF word in Preview.
#1 Make PDF Text Searchable Free with Online2PDF
There are quite a lot of free OCR tools available online, such as onlineocr, freeonlineocr, newocr, freeocr, etc.. And my favorite is online2pdf, due to its good-quality conversion result and extended features to manage your files.
Online2PDF offers a wide range of free services for PDF tasks, including editing, compressing, protecting, unlocking, merging, splitting, converting and OCR. Its OCR feature allows users to make PDF searchable in 30+ languages and it supports batch convert.
Advantages:
- Make PDF and image in searchable PDF format;
- Export PDF as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Image and others;
- Recognize 30+ languages;
- Batch convert;
Disadvantages:
- Maximum 20 pages can be converted;
- File size limit: maximum 100 MB for one file, maximum 150 MB for all files;
- Possible risk of information leakage;
- Require manually adjust conversion errors;
Steps to Make PDF Text Searchable for Free
- Click on “Select files” to upload files to the program;
- Choose output as searchable PDF and select file language;
- Click “Convert” to make PDF in searchable PDF format;
- Then download the searchable PDF file to your Mac or Windows PC.
#2 Make PDF Text Searchable Free with Google Docs
Google Docs, a part of Google office suite, is an online, free tool to open and edit PDF or image easily, it builds in the OCR feature to recognize text from scanned PDF or images. In other words, it can make a PDF searchable for free too.
Advantages:
Edit Pdf On Macbook Air
- Make PDF and image in searchable PDF format;
- Export PDF as Word, ODT, RTF, TXT, HTML and ePub;
- Recognize 100+ languages;
- Edit PDF files;
Disadvantages:
- Cannot well maintain the original formatting;
- Don't support batch conversion;
Steps to Make PDF Text Searchable Free
- Login into your Google Account and go to Google Drive;
- Click New>File upload to import the PDF file into Google Drive;
- The uploaded PDF file will appear in the right panel, right click to open with Google Docs;
- A OCR is performed automatically on the PDF, you will find the PDF file can be edited and searched in Google Docs;
- Go to File>Download as>PDF. A searchable PDF is made for free.
Things You Need to Know about Make PDF Searchable online, free
- The processing may be stopped or slowed down due to unstable internet connection;
- There are file size limit
- Features are limited (input format, output format, toolbars to customize)
- Conversion quality vary due to different files
Make A PDF Searchable in Adobe
If you have installed Adobe Acrobat, you don’t have to bother yourself to find another tool for making PDF searchable. Adobe Acrobat offers OCR, it can auto detect a non-searchable PDF and convert it to a searchable one. Since Adobe offers both Mac and Windows versions, here we take Adobe for Mac as the demonstration.
Steps to Make PDF Searchable in Adobe
- Open the scanned file in Adobe Acrobat (eg.Adobe Acrobat Pro DC).
If the file is scanned PDF, open it in Adobe directly;
If the file is an image, run Adobe first, then select “Create PDF” in the wizard, choose the image file and it will be imported into Adobe. - Go to Tools>Enhance Scans>Recognize Text>In This File.
Click Recognize Text and Adobe will start to process OCR on the document. - Go to File>Save, you will find the PDF is searchable on mac.
If you need to perform Adobe OCR in other Adobe versions to make a PDF searchable, go to the details and try.
Can We Make PDF Searchable on Adobe Acrobat Reader DC?
Mac Preview Pdf
No ,you can not.
Same as in Mac Preview, you can search PDF text in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, but if the original PDF file is not searchable, you cannot make it searchable in any Adobe reader. Adobe Acrobat reader can only open, view, fill & sign, comment and highlight, you have to pay for its Adobe Acrobat to get the OCR feature to make a PDF searchable.
Summary
Type On Pdf Mac Free Download
It is not as difficult as you thought to make a PDF searchable if we find a tool. You may feel interested in making your PDFs searchable with free tools, but if you want to obtain accurate PDF text and maintain the original PDF formatting, a dedicated PDF OCR program would be the best option.