How to Convert Image PDF

You have probably experienced it before. After a long search, you finally find a PDF file with the content you are looking for, open it in Adobe Acrobat 9 11 Pro, and start to click your way through the conversion process, only to find that it cannot be converted. What went wrong?

Chances are the file is scanned. Depending on the type of PDF you have, either a native or a scanned PDF, the conversion process will differ.

Scanned material does not have the underlying data structure commonly found in electronically generated content, such as a document created in MS Word 2007. Converting a scanned PDF, also known as an Image PDF, thus, requires one extra step when converting.

To get your image PDF file converted, you need to run the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine on the file which will transform your scanned document into an electronic character-based file which can then be converted as usual.

If you prefer free online tools for simple PDF conversions, you can use our free online PDF converter. This tool is simple because the whole process takes a few steps. It is free and without hidden costs. However, it has OCR technology so you can convert even scanned image PDF files.

Start by choosing a conversion type and uploading a file from your computer or a mobile device. You can drag and drop the file or click on the upload area and select the file to convert. If you store files in the cloud, you can click on Google Drive or Dropbox and import the file from there.

The conversion starts immediately after the upload, and when it is done, just click on “Download file”. The process is the same for both native and scanned image PDFs, no need for additional actions.

Our free PDF converter online works on every device and operating system, Windows, Mac, Linux.