Easy Ways to Make a PDF Searchable

by Daniel Raymond · August 27, 2024

Unsearchable PDFs make collaboration and document review difficult because adding PDF annotations or comments is often impossible. This results in tedious workarounds, like retyping text or using complicated markup tools.

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However, as the need for digital accessibility and efficiency grows, making PDFs searchable has become necessary. Searchable PDFs enable us to quickly find and annotate specific information using advanced technology or a PDF editor and viewer.

This article will explore easy and practical methods to convert your documents into searchable ones, saving you time and effort and streamlining your workflow.

Is PDF searchable?

Yes, PDFs are searchable if they contain machine-readable text. Otherwise, they won’t be searchable unless OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology is applied.

When you create a PDF document, it typically consists of text data along with images. PDF tools with OCR can then index the text data, allowing you to search for specific keywords or phrases within the document. If your file contains searchable text, you can easily find what you want without manually sifting through every page.

However, if the PDF consists only of scanned images without any OCR applied, it won’t be searchable—it’s essentially a picture, not a text. In such cases, you can use a PDF modifier online to convert the scanned images into searchable text.

How to make PDF searchable

Depending on the type of PDF and the tools available, you can make your files searchable in several ways. Here are four different methods:

1. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Software

OCR software uses advanced pattern recognition algorithms to analyze and convert images of text into actual selectable and searchable text data. With OCR, you can transform scanned PDFs and image formats like TIFF and JPEG into searchable and editable documents.

The process is straightforward:

Open or import your scanned files into the OCR software
Run the OCR function to analyze each page and recognize the text
Adjust the output quality settings as needed
Save the file as a searchable PDF

Most modern OCR tools offer high accuracy, though manual proofreading may still be necessary for complex layouts or unusual fonts.

Once you have a searchable PDF, you can use a PDF highlighter online to highlight and annotate text, streamlining review and collaboration.

Lumin, for instance, offers both OCR and online highlighting capabilities in a user-friendly platform. To use it, you sign up for a free account, upload files to the OCR tool, and download the searchable PDFs.

2. Built-in PDF search features

Many PDFs created from text sources like Word documents or websites already contain searchable text data embedded during conversion.

In such cases, many PDF editors online come equipped with built-in search capabilities that allow you to locate specific information quickly.

By entering terms into the search box, the PDF tool will scan through and highlight all instances of that text appearing anywhere in the document’s content.

This search functionality takes advantage of the inherent searchable text data, making it easy to pinpoint and navigate to particular information within long or text-heavy PDF files.

Suppose your PDF file consists solely of scanned images or unsearchable data. The built-in search tool won’t work effectively since the content is an image instead of selectable text.

3. Mobile apps

When making your files searchable, mobile applications and editing PDF-free software offer a convenient and efficient solution.

Nowadays, there are tons of PDF editor apps available for mobile devices that allow you to view and edit PDF pages online and make your files searchable.

They also provide OCR scanning that detects and “reads” text from images, photos, or scanned documents you import into the app.

To make your files searchable with mobile apps, you can follow these simple steps:

Open your preferred PDF editor or mobile app
Select the OCR scanning tool
Upload your PDF or scan a document
Run the OCR tool to extract text from the image
Then save the new file as a searchable document

This capability is convenient and time-saving. It allows you to quickly scan documents on the go and edit PDFs online without needing to wait until you’re back at your desk.

Whether you’re a professional, student, or just someone who needs to digitize and search through online materials, mobile apps are a helpful solution.

4. Google Lens

Google Lens is an image recognition tool developed by Google that uses OCR technology to extract text from images or scanned documents.

Although it is not a traditional PDF-to-editable PDF converter, Google Lens can be a creative solution for making PDFs searchable.

Here’s how you can use Google Lens to make a PDF searchable:

Open the Google Lens app (available for Android and iOS devices) or access it through the Google App or Google Photos.
Point your camera at a page of the PDF displayed on your screen.
Google Lens will automatically detect and ‘read’ the text in the image or scan using its OCR technology.
Once it captures the text, you can copy and paste it into a new document as editable, searchable text.
Repeat this process for all the pages to convert the unsearchable PDF into a searchable text file.

So, if you have one of those PDFs for which the average search doesn’t work, Google Lens is a convenient way to convert it into searchable text easily.

Conclusion

Being able to search PDFs comes in handy when dealing with a lot of documents. The practical steps mentioned above are pointers to achieving searchable documents.

Lumin is an easy-to-use online PDF editor with complete features that make it great for creating searchable PDFs using OCR technology and versatile for your various document needs. Lumin can also handle all other PDF-related tasks like editing text, adding e-signatures, and more!

Get started with Lumin today for free and enjoy a smooth, precise, and trouble-free experience. And while you’re at it, check out our entire toolkit and see how we can supercharge your documents for your team or organization.