How to Use Adobe Acrobat OCR Alternative

Audrey Goodwin

2021-11-29 13:54:11 • Filed to: Comparison of PDF Software • Proven solutions

Wondering how to use Adobe Acrobat OCR? However, Acrobat OCR is much more expensive. So in this article, we will introduce the Adobe Acrobat OCR alternative with a cheaper price - PDFelement, which includes OCR feature to help you work with scanned documents easily.

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How to Use Adobe Acrobat OCR Alternative

PDFelement as the best Adobe Acrobat alternative, it not only has the OCR feature, but also supports to edit PDF, convert PDF, create other file formats to PDF, annotate PDF and encrypt PDF, and others.

Step 1: Open Scanned PDF

If you have not scan document yet, you can use PDFelement to create PDF from scanner directly. If you already have the scanned PDF document, you can click the "Open File" button to open it with PDFelement.

Step 2: Use OCR

After opening your scanned PDF in it, you will get a notice to ask you to perform OCR. So you can click the "Perform OCR" button in the notice, you need to download and install the OCR first if you have not installed yet, then it will perform OCR automatically.

In the new popup window, you can choose "Editable Text" mode, and click the "Change Language" button to choose the correct language of your document content.

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Step 3: Edit PDF (Optional)

After performing OCR, a newly created PDF file will be opened in PDFelement automatically. You can click the "Edit" button to edit PDF text as you need. Then click the "File" > "Save As" button to save it on your computer.

Video on How to OCR PDF with Adobe Acrobat Alternative

PDFelement is a pretty easier to use for individuals looking to edit or convert scanned files. It also offers a fully-featured trial period without cost or time limitation.

It can extract data from hundreds of identical PDFs forms into a single Excel sheet within seconds.
It offers more than 8000 PDF form templates to help you create your PDF form.
The OCR supports more than 20 languages to help convert scanned documents that are written in different languages to selectable, editable and searchable PDF files.
The tool supports conversion of PDFs from more than 300 document formats.
You can merge, or split documents from a PDF document.
You can use a 256 bates password to protect your PDF from unauthorized users.

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How to Use Adobe Reader OCR

1. Edit Document with Acrobat Pro OCR

To edit a scanned document in Adobe Reader, you must first download Adobe Acrobat DC Pro. You can do this by heading over to the Adobe Acrobat site, selecting your plan for the paid version (Standard for $12.99 or Pro for $14.99 per month), then download the application to your computer. Adobe gives you a free trial period for the Pro version, which gives you a general feel for the application before committing.

Once you have downloaded the application, the installation wizard will usually take you through the rest of the installation process until you have the application installed. To edit your scanned document, follow this guide:

Open the scanned PDF file using Adobe Reader. There are many ways you can do this, but the quickest way is by right-clicking the file icon on your document and selecting "Open with Adobe Reader" on your Windows PC.
Once the file opens, navigate to the right pane and click “Edit PDF.” This should launch the OCR module together with other editorial features on Adobe Reader, which should transform your scanned document into an editable copy.
You can then click anywhere within the document to insert and edit text. The new text should match up to the existing text in terms of font size and type.
Once you have finished editing, save the file.

2. Disadvantages of Acrobat Reader OCR

Adobe Reader is one of the most common PDF tools currently used. Its popularity is largely due to the fact that it is the default PDF tool on many Windows PCs and Mac devices. The free version of Adobe Reader allows you to play around with text, print, and add comments and annotations quite easily.

However, Adobe Reader doesn't include an OCR module, meaning you can't just upload a scanned PDF and activate OCR. Instead, Adobe Reader offers automatic text recognition that usually tries to detect the content in scanned documents – which can sometimes be inaccurate.

Plus, you will need to commit to paying at least $12.99 every month in order to use text recognition with Adobe Reader, and sign up for an annual subscription.

While it makes sense to invest in a big brand name for editing PDF documents, they don't always live up to the hype. Adobe Acrobat, for instance, requires users to commit to monthly payments to get access to services that are sometimes available online for free. So why not try a cheaper and better alternative? Try downloading PDFelement for free today!

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