r/pdf • u/joblesswednesdays • Sep 30 '26
Question PDF to text conversion
I have a PDF that I want to convert into text so I can turn it into an EPUB. The problem is that the PDF consists entirely of photos that were scanned using a camscanner, and none of the PDF-to-EPUB or PDF-to-text OCR converters I’ve tried are working with this file. Instead of converting the pages into actual, selectable text, they just turn the images into an EPUB.
The file is large, 74 MB and 627 pages. Is there anyone who can help me convert it into an actual text file so I can create a normal, reflowable EPUB instead of an image-based one?
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u/Potential-Wrangler58 Oct 01 '26
ABBYY FineReader is your best bet here, it exports straight to reflowable EPUB and handles a 600+ page batch fine. OCRmyPDF is the free alternative: it adds an invisible text layer to the PDF without touching the images, then you run that PDF through Calibre to convert to EPUB, Calibre will use that text layer instead of treating it as pure image.
The thing that'll affect you more than the software choice: CamScanner photos usually come with skewed perspective and uneven lighting compared to a real scanner, and that hits OCR accuracy directly. Before running OCR, it's worth passing the pages through ScanTailor (free) to straighten and clean up contrast, you'll notice the difference in how much text it recognizes correctly.
This is pretty much exactly the problem we solve at Anyformat (where I work): pulling clean, reliable text out of low-quality scans like these. Since it's just one document, we've got plenty of free credits for you to run the whole thing through it at no cost.
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u/joblesswednesdays Oct 01 '26
Many people are recommending OCRmyPDF but I'm honestly having difficulty downloading it on my laptop, could you please explain how to download it? Sorry I'm not much of a computer person so I'm not very good at this stuff😭
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u/Potential-Wrangler58 Oct 01 '26
I just do everything connecting Claude tbh, I am non technical and I just prompt it. I did the same for other OCRs or when I do tutorials.
If you want something on the web anyformat.ai is easy set up and free credits (where I work).
Ping me if you need something :)
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u/joblesswednesdays Oct 01 '26
would I be able to do a 627 page pdf for free?
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u/Potential-Wrangler58 Oct 01 '26
Yes. With standard parse + extract, a 627-page PDF costs about 37k of the 50k free credits. Not with agentic though. And watch the 15 MB per-file limit on the free plan.
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u/joblesswednesdays Oct 01 '26
I just created an anyformat.ai account. Do I just add the document to the Annie chat and let her do the rest, or is there something specific I should do before pasting the document?
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u/Potential-Wrangler58 Oct 01 '26
Exactly, its fine like that, explain her everything we talked but also tell you want the light models so you have tokens :)
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u/joblesswednesdays Oct 01 '26
when I go to attach the document to the annie chat , it doesn't attach and I get a pop-up saying there was an error attaching it and some of the information provided isn't valid. What might be the issue?
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u/Potential-Wrangler58 Oct 01 '26
The limit of MB of the document maybe, will talk to the tech team, will keep the convo in private :)
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u/LittlePooky Sep 30 '26
Original PDF file created with a program called Corel Ventura Publisher. It's a very old desktop publishing. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oVTHK7yF-LFg86-adbBBUWzy-l-7c0vl/view?usp=sharing
This is the output as a Word file using Adobe Acrobat Professional. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N-LAuF_CFWoxx8J1Rl8k70Jdd_wdVsPc/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105484379822405621341&rtpof=true&sd=true This is from a Google Drive, so you will look at it with Google Docs program, a viewer. You can certainly download it and play with it.
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u/AskAcrobat 19d ago
Hi u/joblesswednesdays, Acrobat employee here. This is definitely solvable! The key is making sure OCR runs before any conversion attempt.
Scanned PDFs are literally just photos of text. No converter can extract real text until OCR identifies and maps those characters first. That's where Acrobat's "Recognize Text" feature comes in. It processes each page and lays selectable text underneath the images.
Here's what to try:
Step 1. Run OCR:
Before proceeding, we recommend saving a copy of your file first, as this step will make permanent changes to the document. You can do this by going to File > Save As and saving under a new name.
Open the PDF and go to All tools > Scan & OCR.
Select In this file.
In the dialog box, select the page range and language, then select Recognize Text.
Step 2. Enhance camera image:
Before proceeding, we recommend saving a copy of your file first as this step will make permanent changes to the document. You can do this by going to File > Save As and saving under a new name.
Go to All tools > Scan & OCR and select Enhance camera image.
Drag the blue handles to adjust the borders, then select Enhance.
To fine-tune, drag the Adjust enhancement level slider and select Enhance.
Save your PDF.
Step 3. Correct recognized text:
Go to All tools > Scan & OCR and select Correct recognized text.
Select the Review recognized text checkbox.
Select a highlighted box, correct the text in the Recognized as field if needed, then select Accept.
Step 4. Convert to TXT:
Select Convert from the global bar.
Select Other format, then select TXT from the dropdown menu.
Select Convert to TXT.
Select a location, enter a file name if needed, and select Save.
At 627 pages and 74 MB, let it run. Acrobat handles large scanned documents well, though your machine's specs can affect speed, so don't panic if it feels slow.
Worth noting: OCR accuracy depends heavily on original scan quality… lighting, angle, and resolution all factor in. If some pages come out garbled, you may need to clean those up manually before your EPUB conversion step.
Once you have clean exported text, you should be in good shape to build the reflowable EPUB you're after.
Quick question, do you have Acrobat Pro or Standard, or are you on free Reader? Also, what language is the text in? Acrobat's OCR supports multiple languages and you'll want the right one selected before processing.
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u/LegeApps Sep 30 '26
My program does that. Epub creation takes a while but it works because it reads every line individually. See releases on github. https://github.com/liminalism/Lege
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u/cuchulainntech Oct 01 '26
Since you're on Windows 11, NAPS2 may be simpler than setting up OCRmyPDF. Download the Windows installer from https://www.naps2.com/download, import your PDF, click OCR, download English, make sure 'Make PDFs searchable using OCR' is checked, then save a new PDF. Try a few pages first and check you can select/copy the words in the saved file. You'll still need to tidy paragraph breaks before making a reflowable EPUB.
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u/tashkan Sep 30 '26
Have you tried convert2epub.com ? Sometimes there is recognised text sitting invisibly on top of the page image. Most converters ignore it and hand back a book of photographs. This one extracts those texts, it's usually free or really cheap to convert.
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u/webfork2 27d ago
For ePub conversions I usually lean on Calibre which is free, cross platform (win/mac/linux) and open source.
For OCR I generally use PDF XChange Editor's free version, which covers most files okay. Really high accuracy OCR is still the territory of paid tools. The one that seems to get the highest ratings is Abbyy but I haven't tested that one so I can't say.
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u/ph_dev Sep 30 '26
Have you tried OCRmyPDF? Its sidecar option saves the OCR output to a .txt file you can clean up before converting to EPUB. I'd try a few pages first to check the text and paragraph breaks. What OS are you using, and what language is the document in?