Why do I have to select the language when I convert a scanned PDF?

When converting scanned PDF files, we need to activate OCR function and select the OCR language. It is because different languages have different writing systems, then we have to select the correct language to ensure the accuracy of recognition.

What is OCR?

Optical Character Recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text.

Why use OCR?

OCR is widely used to convert different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, PDF files or images captured by a digital camera into editable and searchable data. In some professional environments (such as libraries, offices), thousands of books and documents are scanned regularly for back-up and archive. A scanner merely takes photographs of the original paper documents, resulting in image-based scanned documents in PDF format. The major issue with processing and storing such large volumes of scanned documents is the inability to search for a specific phrase or name inside a file. Also no text can be highlighted, copied, or modified, because the document contains one big image file as opposed to individual text characters.

Before performing OCR, the entire area on the page is selected and highlighted and no text can be searched and edited.

After performing OCR, text on the page can be selected with selecting tool, you can search and edit character, word, and paragraphs easily.