A PDF that looks like the image but reads like text
Putting a photo into a PDF on its own gives you a picture of words. You can look at it, but you can’t search it, select a sentence or copy an account number out of it. A searchable PDF keeps the picture on each page and adds the recognized text as an invisible layer lined up with it. The page still shows your image; the text underneath is what makes it searchable.
If all you wanted was to put some JPGs into a PDF, this does that too. The text layer comes along without any extra work.
What the hidden text layer is good for
- Finding things. Press Ctrl+F (or ⌘F) in your PDF reader and jump straight to a name, date or reference number instead of scrolling through pages of scans.
- Copying. Select a paragraph, an address or an order number and paste it somewhere else without retyping.
- Archiving paper. Scanned letters, contracts, manuals and records are easier to find later, since search tools that index PDF text can see what’s inside them.
- Accessibility basics. Screen readers and read-aloud tools need real text to work with, and an image-only PDF gives them nothing. A text layer is a useful first step, though it isn’t the same as a fully accessible PDF with tagged headings and a defined reading order.
Turning a stack of images into one PDF
Add all the images at once, whether they’re phone photos of a multi-page letter, a folder of scans or a set of screenshots. Each image becomes a page. Drag the pages into the right order, remove any you don’t need, and read a page again if it came out poorly.
The Whole document view shows every page together, in your order, with search across all of them, and exports a single PDF. A multi-page TIFF brings in every page, so scanner output in that format works directly. A workspace holds up to 50 images, and each file can be up to 25 MB.
Searchable PDF or text-only PDF
There are two PDF downloads, and they do different jobs:
- Searchable PDF keeps the original look. Signatures, stamps, notes in the margin, logos and photos all stay as they were. Choose it for records, forms, receipts and anything where the appearance matters.
- PDF contains just the recognized text, without the image. It’s handy when only the words matter, for example to print or share a clean copy. Because the original isn’t there to compare with, any misread word is exactly what the reader sees, so check the text first.
If you need to change the wording rather than just search it, image to Word gives you an editable .docx instead.
Getting a better text layer
The text layer is only as good as the recognition behind it. Because the words are invisible, a mistake won’t show on the page, but it will stop a search from matching. Someone searching for “Henderson” won’t find a page where the name was read as “Hendersen”.
Clear printed pages usually read very accurately, and a few habits help with the rest:
- Crop away desk edges, fingers and neighboring pages.
- Straighten pages photographed at an angle so the lines run level.
- Leave Auto improve on to even out shadows and boost contrast, and check the list of steps it took.
- Pick the right language, or several, if the page isn’t in English.
There’s more in how to get accurate OCR results. If you’re starting from a scanned PDF and only want the words out of it, PDF to text is the quicker route.