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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
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    London
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    Default Can Xara Designer Pro do OCR on PDFs? How can I create a 'searchable' PDF file?

    Hello

    I am told that nowadays "most" PDF sofware can do OCR on .PDF files, and then save a PDF file that is "searchable". i.e. The text inside the PDF can be searched.

    FWIW my new Espon printer also comes with free scanning software ("Espon SmartScan") which allows you to create and save searchable .PDF files when you scan documents. So if I start with a non-searchable PDF, print it and then scan it, I can create a .PDF file whose text is searchable. This is incredibly useful, but it's obviously a waste of paper and ink!

    But am I correct in thinking that Xara Designer Pro (v18) does not come with any ability to do OCR when it opens up a .PDF file?

    If so, how can I create "searchable" PDF files - for free - if I start with a PDF that just contains an image?

    With thanks

    J

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    SW England
    Posts
    17,746

    Default Re: Can Xara Designer Pro do OCR on PDFs? How can I create a 'searchable' PDF file?

    shipen, if you paste a PDF that is an image into your XDA, you get just that.
    It does not have any OCR capability.

    To get a searchable PDF document from an image, you could try https://products.aspose.app/ocr/pdf-to-searchable-pdf.

    Acorn
    Acorn - installed Xara software: Cloud+/Pro+ and most others back through time (to CC's Artworks). Contact for technical remediation/consultancy for your web designs.
    When we provide assistance, your responses are valuable as they benefit the community. TG Nuggets you might like. Report faults: Xara Cloud+/Pro+/Magix Legacy; Xara KB & Chat

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
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    London
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    461

    Default Re: Can Xara Designer Pro do OCR on PDFs? How can I create a 'searchable' PDF file?

    Quote Originally Posted by Acorn View Post
    shipen, if you paste a PDF that is an image into your XDA, you get just that.
    It does not have any OCR capability.
    Yes, I could find no mention of OCR connected to Xara so I feared as much. It's just that I find myself using XDP increasingly often to edit and save PDFs.... but they DO need to be text-searchable.

    Since asking the question I have also found PDF2Go.com, which also seems to work...
    ...although you have to wonder what exactly is the 'business model' of such websites, if not to harvest our data and basically spy on us like WhatsApp, Facebook, Google et al ??

    J

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    UK
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    21,283

    Default Re: Can Xara Designer Pro do OCR on PDFs? How can I create a 'searchable' PDF file?

    OCR is a mixed bag - if you are lucky enough to have very clean, high contrast, legible images where the font[s] are not too fancy, you may get good results; but they still need proof reading for errors which can be time-consuming

    I have used paperport and abby fine reader, both good but not free unless you get them bundled with hardware

    I doubt you would do better for free than acorn's suggestion, or similar web based apps
    -------------------------------
    Nothing lasts forever...

 

 

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