How to Combine PDFs, Use OCR, and Get Acrobat Education Discounts
Question details
A university tutor wants to merge image-based PDFs, perform OCR on photographed pages, and find information regarding Adobe educator discounts and trial conversions.

- Product
- Adobe Acrobat
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Combining image PDFs, digitizing text via OCR, and navigating education pricing.
- Observed behavior
- The user needs a tool to merge and apply OCR to PDFs, alongside guidance on determining eligibility for Adobe education trials and discounts.
Before subscribing or applying OCR, ensure your photographed or scanned documents are clear, well-lit, and properly oriented to guarantee the best text recognition results.
Combine PDFs and Apply OCR in Adobe Acrobat
Use Acrobat's built-in tools to merge multiple image PDFs and recognize text.
Adobe Acrobat natively supports merging multiple files into a single PDF document and features a robust OCR engine to make image-based text searchable and editable.
Open Adobe Acrobat, navigate to the 'Tools' menu, select 'Combine Files', add your image PDFs, and click 'Combine'.
To make the text searchable in your new document, go back to 'Tools' and select 'Scan & OCR'.
Select 'Recognize Text', choose 'In This File', and click the 'Recognize Text' button to process the images.

Apply for Adobe Education Trials and Discounts
Explore trial options and verify your eligibility for educator or student pricing.
Combine PDFs and Perform OCR Easily with WPS Office
WPS Office provides a highly capable, affordable built-in PDF editor that allows you to easily combine image PDFs and extract text using advanced OCR technology, making it a perfect tool for educators and students.
- 1. Open PDF Tools: Launch WPS Office and navigate to the 'PDF' tab on the main dashboard.
- 2. Merge PDFs: Click on 'Merge PDF' to easily combine your photographed pages or image documents into a single PDF file.
- 3. Run OCR: Open the newly merged PDF, navigate to the 'Tools' tab, and select 'OCR' to recognize and extract the text.
- 4. Save or Export: Save the newly searchable PDF, or choose to export the extracted text directly to a Word document for easy editing.

Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use OCR on poorly lit photographed pages?
OCR accuracy drops significantly on low-quality, blurry, or poorly lit images. It is highly recommended to use good lighting and keep the camera steady when capturing documents to ensure the text is recognized correctly.
Does Adobe offer student and teacher pricing for Acrobat only?
Adobe frequently bundles education pricing with the entire Creative Cloud suite rather than a standalone Acrobat subscription. Always check the official Adobe website for the most up-to-date plans.
Is there a free or more budget-friendly alternative to combine PDFs and use OCR?
Yes, alternative office suites like WPS Office offer built-in PDF tools that include powerful file merging and OCR features, providing a very budget-friendly solution for educators and students who do not need full creative design suites.




