Fix Acrobat Says the PDF Does Not Contain Editable Text
Question details
The user is unable to edit a PDF document because the application states there is no editable text found in the file.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Attempting to edit a PDF document, often after an update or when opening a file created from a scanner.
- Observed behavior
- Adobe Acrobat displays an error message reporting that the PDF contains no editable text, preventing the user from modifying the document's content.
Verify if the PDF is a scanned document or an image file; if you cannot highlight individual words with your cursor, the file lacks an embedded text layer and requires Optical Character Recognition (OCR).
Run Recognize Text using Scan & OCR
Use Acrobat's built-in Scan & OCR tool to convert image-based text into a readable and editable text layer.
When a document consists of scanned pages or outlined fonts, Acrobat treats the entire page as an image. Running the text recognition tool analyzes the image and creates editable text.
Open your problematic PDF in Adobe Acrobat. Go to the 'Tools' pane on the right side or the top menu and select 'Scan & OCR' (labeled as 'Enhance Scans' in some older versions).
In the secondary toolbar that appears, click on 'Recognize Text' and choose 'In This File' from the dropdown menu.
Click on 'Settings' to ensure the correct document language is selected. Click the 'Recognize Text' button to start the OCR process.
Once the OCR process finishes, close the Scan & OCR toolbar and select 'Edit PDF'. You should now be able to click into the text and make modifications.
Export the PDF to a Word Document
Exporting the PDF to Microsoft Word forces the software to process the document through its conversion engine, which often recognizes and extracts text automatically.
Use WPS Office to OCR and Edit Scanned PDFs
WPS Office features a robust, built-in PDF editor with highly accurate OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology. You can easily extract, recognize, and edit text directly from scanned documents or image-based PDFs without needing expensive software.
- 1. Open the PDF in WPS Office: Launch WPS Office and open your scanned or uneditable PDF document.
- 2. Access the OCR function: Navigate to the 'Tools' tab on the top ribbon and click the 'OCR' button to start analyzing the document.
- 3. Extract and Edit: Choose whether to extract the text to a new document or convert the file to an editable Word document, then proceed to make your edits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my PDF say there is no editable text?
This usually occurs when the PDF is a scanned image, a photograph of a document, or when the original text was converted into graphical outlines before saving. Because there are no digital fonts embedded, the software cannot directly interact with the text.
What is OCR and why is it required?
OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is a technology that analyzes the shapes of letters in an image or scanned file and translates them into machine-encoded, selectable, and editable digital text.
Does Acrobat automatically recognize text in scanned PDFs?
In recent versions of Acrobat Pro DC, opening a scanned document and selecting the 'Edit PDF' tool usually triggers an automatic OCR process. However, if it fails or if you are using an older version, you must manually run the Scan & OCR tool.
Are there free alternatives to make a scanned PDF editable?
Yes, you can use WPS Office's PDF tools which provide excellent OCR and conversion capabilities, or you can utilize various free online PDF-to-Word converters that feature built-in OCR.
