OCR changes English font to illegible characters

[philjv]

Support request for PDF-Xchange PRO Editor Plus Version: 10.1.2, build 382 (Enhanced OCR) software.

After performing OCR on a PDF document, it:
• changes characters, letters, alphabets, and font
• changes formatting of font
• changes formatting of sentences
• changes the line spacing with some lines disappearing, randomly
• changes font to illegible characters (not in English language)

Happened on multiple documents. Please support.

[Paul - Tracker Supp]

Hi, philjv

there are so many variables involved in the OCR process it is hard to say exactly what is happening. The most likely cause is the font on the original may not be available on your system and so a "font substitution" must be done.

May we see a sample PDF before OCR is performed please?

Kind regards,
Paul - Tracker Supp

[philjv]

As an example, please see attached files before and after the OCR where the font changed after OCR.

TxDOT Spec Item 512 Portable Traffic Barrier ORIGINAL BEFORE OCR.pdf

TxDOT Spec Item 512 Portable Traffic Barrier CHANGED AFTER OCR.pdf

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello, philjv

I cannot seem to locate the illegible characters of which you speak here... with the exception of a few bullet points, that are not converted to more uniform objects, and some table lines that are partially removed, the OCR'ed version looks overall considerably more legible than the original does, below are a few "blink test" gifs for comparison

PDFXEdit_e71wc9F6kc.gif

PDFXEdit_hu7DGWibNE.gif

PDFXEdit_WgsIQG5wqn.gif

Kind regards,

[philjv]

Hello Dan,

Thank you for your response. In the examples that I provided yesterday, those examples were provided to show only the font changes after OCR. And along with that, some table properties also got changed. Those examples were not for any others.

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello, philjv

I see, in that case, from a font perspective, this is well within an acceptable margin of error. The original document font is "stretched" in height, and in all cases I see from comparison, taking that height stretch into account, this does appear to be the same font. OCR is not able to apply distortions to the text (yet), it simply finds the closest font available, and places characters in that location, while trying keep the same relative position to its neighbors.

Regarding the missing table lines, this is an issue that our Devs are working on, but it is a long term, gradual improvement kind of task.

Kind regards,

[philjv]

Return of Service - Texas Underground Facility Notification Corp (Texas 811) OCR - AUTO-CHANGED BY PDF-X SOFTWARE.pdf

Return of Service - Texas Underground Facility Notification Corp (Texas 811) ORIGINAL BEFORE OCR.pdf

Here are examples of another original signed document before OCR, and the same document after OCR. The OCR in PDF-Xchange PRO Editor Plus Version: 10.1.2, build 382 (Enhanced OCR) software changed the font making the OCR'd document unusable because the changes were not approved by the author of the original signed document. This document is required by the rules of most courts to be OCR'd before filing into a court's electronic filing system, but a document with unauthorized changes made in any manner after its signature cannot be filed with a court.

This is a standard usage expected of any OCR functionality whether it is with PDF-X or others. Especially, it is definitely expected in a software with "Enhanced OCR."

Please support on how to maintain the original font and properties after the OCR without making any unauthorized changes to the document.

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello, philjv

If you are performing OCR on a document for the purpose of submitting it to the courts, you should never be using the "editable" option, as this can and will make changes to the document content, invalidating any signatures present.

You will need to use the "searchable text" OCR option instead, which leaves the original page intact, and adds invisible text content overlayed on the respective area of the page. Do note that, as I have already mentioned in this thread, OCR is not a perfect system, mistakes can be made, and this document has a number of blemishes, as well as handwritten text, which can confuse OCR systems further. All of this means that even for searchable purposes, there may still be mistakes.

Kind regards,