Image-based Documents/Scanned Documents

How do I know if my document is a scanned PDF?

There are two main types of PDF documents - those that are created electronically using PDF creation software and those that are created from a scanner or other photo-imaging equipment.  PDF creation software actually builds a PDF document that has an internal structure, denoting characters, fonts and position - although the raw information makes little sense to the human eye.  A scanned PDF is basically just a flat image of a document - hence, scanning a page of text results in a picture of words being represented on the screen.  In order to take information from this sort of scanned PDF, OCR technology is required so that each character can be optically recognized and then represented.  Click here to learn more about OCR. You can generally visually determine if a document is a scanned document by enlarging the picture on your screen and looking closely at the text.  A scanned image will appear to have much poorer resolution, when looked at closely, than a created PDF document.

Do I have the ability to convert scanned PDFs?

No.  Able2Extract version 6.0, Standard Edition does not contain the OCR engine required to convert scanned PDFs.  In order to do so, you will require Able2Extract Professional which enables users to convert scanned PDF files.  

Most users of Able2Extract will probably not need this functionality since most PDFs are generated and saved by computer applications.  These created PDFs that are generated and saved by a computer application can be handled by Able2Extract.  However, in cases where a user scans a paper document using a scanner and then saves it as a PDF, it is a scanned PDF or an image PDF.  In these cases, Able2Extract Professional is able to lift the textual information off the PDF and make the conversion.