# Can not convert PDF to searchable PDF

**URL:** <https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461>\
**Category:** Tips\
**Created:** [December 28, 2016, 10:08am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461 "2016-12-28T10:08:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![m.g](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/m.g/32/8918_2.png) [@m.g](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/m.g)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 10:08am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/1 "2016-12-28T10:08:45Z")

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Hello all,

I just scanned a few pages directly to DT Pro and experience the problem that this PDF can not be converted to a searchable PDF. Other PDFs work this one not. “Scanning” again with the iPhone and ScannerPlus yields no problems in converting. Has anyone an idea what happened there?

Greetings from Germany

Mike

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**Author:** ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/2 "2016-12-28T15:56:06Z")

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There’s a severe bug of 10.12.2. Scanning/converting TIFF/PNG/JPEG documents instead of PDF documents should work around this. In addition, please disable the option to enter metadata after the recognition (see Preferences \> OCR).

The upcoming version 2.9.9 will include workarounds for this major bug of 10.12.2 but this bug affects also other PDFkit applications like Preview.app.

PS You can’t compare an iOS app’s functioning to macOS’s. They’re two entirely different OSes. It’s a bit like saying, “This works on Windows, but not on the Mac."

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**Author:** ![m.g](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/m.g/32/8918_2.png) [@m.g](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/m.g)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/3 "2017-01-01T16:03:16Z")

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… thank your for the fast answer. So I know this and keep on waiting on the bug fixes and workarounds 😉

Surely iOS and MacOS apps con not be compared as my post could be read as. I know about this differences and prefer working on my Mac.

Greetings from Germany

Mike

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**Author:** ![rubenfonseca](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/rubenfonseca/32/6898_2.png) [@rubenfonseca](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/rubenfonseca)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/4 "2017-01-01T22:08:31Z")

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Can you please provide us with an update of when 2.9.9 will be available to fix this problem? I have a huge pile of PDF to process now because of this bug.

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**Author:** ![Bill\_DeVille](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bill_deville/32/18_2.png) [@Bill\_DeVille](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Bill_DeVille)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/5 "2017-01-01T22:42:46Z")

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We don’t predict release dates.

But you can configure Preferences \> Update to check for an update. 🙂

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**Author:** ![rubenfonseca](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/rubenfonseca/32/6898_2.png) [@rubenfonseca](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/rubenfonseca)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 8:55am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/6 "2017-01-02T08:55:01Z")

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Ok let me put this on another way then: macOS 10.12.2 has been in beta for a long time, and from what I’ve seen little or no effort was done during the beta to see if any problems would arise. Is this the kind of support I can expect from Devonthink in the future?

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**Author:** ![Bill\_DeVille](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bill_deville/32/18_2.png) [@Bill\_DeVille](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Bill_DeVille)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/7 "2017-01-02T15:36:57Z")

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> [@rubenfonseca](#):
>
> Ok let me put this on another way then: macOS 10.12.2 has been in beta for a long time, and from what I’ve seen little or no effort was done during the beta to see if any problems would arise. Is this the kind of support I can expect from Devonthink in the future?

We’ve been tearing out our hair trying to fix the many bugs Apple introduced by ill-advised changes in PDFKit in Sierra. Ill-advised, certainly, in the sense that those changes were not ready for prime time.

During Sierra’s prerelease period we and other developers commented on the problems introduced in Sierra, as did many users of the public betas. Apple seems to have paid no attention. IMHO, that’s bad quality assurance on Apple’s part! Indeed, MacOS 10.12.2 introduced still more bugs.

Some of those bugs afflict even Apple’s own PDF creation/viewing/editing app, Preview. I’m sure the Apple personal responsible for Preview were commenting to the PDFKit coders, and some of those comments were apparently ignored.

We appreciate the patience of our users while we are trying to fix bugs. But please understand that this situation has strained our patience, as well. ![:mrgreen:](https://devontech-discourse.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/original/1X/442e459c5ced45cb70e8a05e77e07cea6fee4928.gif "Mr. Green")

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**Author:** ![m.g](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/m.g/32/8918_2.png) [@m.g](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/m.g)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 8:35am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/8 "2017-01-10T08:35:32Z")

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Workaround: There are no problems in converting PDF in searchable PDFs with Adobe Acrobat. Just open the file, use text recognition and save. For me this works fine.

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**Author:** ![cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/cgrunenberg/32/7172_2.png) [@cgrunenberg](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/cgrunenberg)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/9 "2017-01-10T15:48:30Z")

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Seems to be resolved by the third public beta of 10.12.3.

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**Author:** ![georgesandre](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/georgesandre/32/4956_2.png) [@georgesandre](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/georgesandre)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2017, 10:46pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/10 "2017-01-14T22:46:53Z")

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Hi,

OCR was working fine under Sierra 10.12.2 for me’ I was using ScanManager 3.2 with Sansnap s1500. Installed ScanSnap Manager 6.3 after buying the new ix 500 and OCR not working even using convert commnand.  
Found a work around until the anticipated upgrade!  
Using OCR fonction in PDFpen/PDF pen pro by SmileOnMyMac. Great PDF viewing and editing software.

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**Author:** ![system](https://devontech-discourse.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/original/2X/4/4e6ff70c96be2eb307a274d890bba8d71ba671b3.png) [@system](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2022, 11:47am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/can-not-convert-pdf-to-searchable-pdf/21461/11 "2022-01-21T11:47:00Z")

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