Batch Conversion of image PDF's to PDF Searchable Image
(Exact) format

Hi,
I have several hundred large PDF's that have been compiled from image files. I
would like to set up a workflow to convert these PDF's into the Searchable Image
(Exact) PDF format. I have been able to convert PDF files one by one using Adobe
Acrobat 6.0. As each file may take an hour or more to convert I was hoping that
it may be possible to set up a multiple file conversion process that I can leave
to run overnight, possibly using Adobe Capture. I have Capture 3.0.

I have tried setting up workflows to do this in Capture, but have not been able
to get Capture to accept a PDF as an acceptable input document (PDF selection
check boxes are 'greyed out' when I try to select them).

I suppose one option is to convert my PDF's back to individual images and then
set up workflow's to compile these image files into Searchable Image (Exact) PDF
documents, but this would be a very time consuming exercise.

I am a very inexperienced user of Capture, so may be missing something simple.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Regards

Hey there....

I am in the same boat did you get any clues?

Hi Sebastien,
Yes, I found I could do batch conversion using Acrobat 6.0 Professional (other
versions may be able to do it too).

To do multiple conversions:

Click Advanced on the menu bar
Click Batch Processing
Click New Sequence
Give the new sequence a name
Click Select Commands
Click Paper Capture (under Document options)
Click Add to add this to the sequence
Click Edit and set your conversion options
Click OK
Select desired option from Run commands on
Select desired output location and output options (change file name, storage
location etc.
Click OK.
Then run sequence.

I was very happy with the processing and output.

Hope this helps with your work.

Cheers

Capture processes OCR on image files, not PDF. The beginning of your workflow
should include the steps of Split PDF, and Convert PDF to Image - this gives you
single-page TIF files for the OCR process. The end of your workflow should
include Bind PDF - which rolls it back up to the multi-page PDF equivalent to
what you had to start with.

Note that if your PDF had any text added to the image (pagination, etc.) prior
to your OCR processing, it will probably fail to process through Capture. It is
a safety feature that precludes running recognition on text-based files that
might already include text of a better quality than that which might be
generated by OCR.