How to save time with OCR and Batch Link
Applies to:
- Revu 21 & below
Two features in Revu, OCR and Batch Link, can save much of your time spent searching and navigating your PDFs. OCR transforms your scanned documents into searchable PDFs by detecting any text present on the page and translating those characters into searchable data. Batch Link can then take these searchable PDFs and automatically add navigational hyperlinks to them based on criteria that you define. Combined, these two features result in quick searching and instant navigation between all your relevant documents.
Turn scanned documents into searchable PDFS with OCR
When a PDF is created by a scanner, it becomes what is known as a raster PDF. A raster PDF uses a series of square dots, known as pixels, to create an image of the original document that was scanned. When you're viewing a raster PDF you're looking at pixels that represent text and lines, but there is no actual text data contained within the file. This means that Revu's search functionality will not work on this type of document.
OCR fixes this problem. Running OCR on a PDF automatically translates raster and vector images to searchable text. To use OCR, go to Document > OCR. Check out the Revu Help to learn how to use this feature.
AutoMark your PDFs
After the OCR process is complete, but before running Batch Link, it's best to run Automark on your document. This process automatically generates a page label for each sheet in your PDF. Page labels are a great way to maintain organized document sets with hyperlinks to the relevant section of a document set whenever it's page label is mentioned in the text. To access Automark, open the 
Thumbnails panel and select the 
Create Page Labels button. Additional information on the Automark feature is available in the Revu Help.
How to integrate OCR with Batch Link
Now that your documents have searchable text and page labels, you can take your PDFs one step further by using Batch Link to make navigating your documents a breeze. Batch Link searches groups of PDFs for text specified by the user and then creates hyperlinks from that text to user-defined destinations. Here are some practical examples of how Batch Link can be used:
- Automatically hyperlink an entire index sheet
- Link elevation callouts directly to the elevation details
- Create a table of contents with links to relevant sections.
To access Batch Link, go to Batch > Link > New. For a deeper dive into Batch Link and all of its features, take a look at the Revu Help.
How-To
Revu 21
Revu 20
Document Processing
PDF Management
OCR transforms your scanned documents into searchable PDFs by detecting any text present on the page and translating those characters into searchable data. Batch Link can then take these searchable PDFs and automatically add navigational hyperlinks to them based on criteria predefined by you.
