Bulk OCR conversion in existing devonthink database?

DEVONthink Tips
1

I have a database with close to 10,000 documents, probably 20% have been converted to searchable pdf.

There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to convert my entire database. I have nested folders, and right clicking on a folder name doesn’t give me the option to do an OCR conversion.

Is there another option?

I don’t mind doing the conversion outside of Devonthink, I’d be willing to buy software (or use the existing software that comes with devonthink if that’s possible), and have it run through the devonthink folder on my mac.

Ideally it would be something that would scan each pdf to see if it’s already been converted since many have.

2

Using DEVONthink Pro Office, you can create a Smart Group with criteria:
Kind is PS/PDF
Word Count is 0

This will yield any PDF file without a text layer (ie. no OCR).

You can right-click > Convert > To Searchable PDF.

However, I would NOT try and process the entire batch at once. I would do much smaller batches throughout the day.

(A nice byproduct is the PDF will disappear from the Smart Group after conversion if Preferences > OCR > Original Document: Move to Trash is checked.)

3

Thank you! Perfect solution.

4

No problem. Happy OCR’ing! :smiley: