Steps to creating a .pdf file from a text document

  1. Scan your text into an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software program such as OmniPage Pro or TextBridge for text recognition.
  • If any photos or line art are included, I suggest scanning them separately as a picture image through a graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop.
  • If any complex mathematical equations or tables of information are included, I also suggest scanning them separately as a picture image.
  • Simple tables that just contain text can be recreated in your word processing program. The OCR program may or may not recognize the table frame; but it will recognize the text.
  1. Export your document into a word processing program for editing.
  • Edit your document by selecting the margin settings, fonts, font sizes, Bold or italicized text, etc.
  • You may need to recreate tables and drag the text into them.
  • At this time also bring in any picture images that you scanned.
  1. When you are satisfied with the look of your document, have done a spell check, saved your document once again, then you will convert it to a .pdf file.
  • Adobe Acrobat is required for you to be able to create .pdf files. Only Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to read .pdf files. The Reader is free to download off of the Adobe website.
  • To save as a pdf file: Press the icon on the toolbar of the pdf image or if it is not located on the toolbar - Select FILE and choose SAVE AS PDF.
  • You will be prompted to either save the file before it will convert it to a pdf or you will have to save it later once it is in Adobe Acrobat.
  • There are many options you can select, most of which are too complex. I would just make sure that the fonts are embedded (which allows everyone to see the document as you have created it even if they don’t have that particular font on their computer) and that you select the option to view the results in Adobe Acrobat (this just saves you time from having to open Acrobat plus you’ll see any parts that may need adjusting before you close your word processing program)

About 20% of your time will be spent scanning your document, 75% of your time will be spent editing it in a word processing program, and only 5% of your time will be spent clicking a button to convert it to a pdf file.

Step-by-step document with screenshots: How to create a pdf file using OmniPage Pro.