A PDF needs to be searched for text but it is just an image so it's not aware of the characters. I've been trying to do OCR to the PDF but am not skilled in the programs required. I tried Foxit Reader but the latest version I can't find the option for OCR? Yes, I did Google search but all the instructions are for a totally different UI.
I also tried Omnipage 18 but it just hangs and I couldn't find clear instructions for it either. The PDF is over 800 pages long so it's quite big. Not all of it's text, so I would like to preserve things such as tables and pictures that aren't supposed to be converted to text. I don't care what the output format is, may as well be PDF.
In short: where do I click FoxIt Reader to do OCR?
Best Answer
Microsoft OneNote (included with many MS Office suites) has an OCR function. Open the image file (not PDF) in OneNote, right click on the image and select "Copy text from picture." Now the text is on your clipboard and you can paste it elsewhere.
Another way to get the image into OneNote is to take a Screen Clipping of it and send it to OneNote: Open the PDF with the image, Go into your start menu -> MS Office -> "Send to OneNote," choose "Screen Clipping" and you'll get a gray overlay on your screen.
Select the portion of the image you want to find the text in. Once the image is in OneNote, the text is automatically recognized and you can also just press ctrl + F and search the text in OneNote as in the screenshot below.