How to search text in unsearchable pdfs
introduction: do you lose all motivation to complete your assignments when you're faced with a pdf that you can't search? would you like a rather simple and 100% free solution to make the text in any pdf searchable? well read on :)
step 1: download onenote. did you know onenote is 100% free for everyone? yes even mac users! just go to https://www.onenote.com/downloadand click download
step 2: open your pdf. (sometimes when i try to do step 3 using my pdf reader or the firefox browser it crashes but it never fails with microsoft edge this might be the only issue with this procedure.) in the image below i've demonstrated that the pdf is open in microsoft edge and i've used the search feature to search a word that is visible in the pdf but the search doesn't return any results
step 3: click the print button/icon and select onenote (desktop) n.b. the max. file size you can print is 100 mb my file here has 35 pages and is bigger than 100 mb so i printed 6 - 20 first then 21 - 35 and that worked so for larger documents you'll have to split the pages which might be a bit inconvenient and admittedly lengthen the process but in the name of academia sacrifices must be made
step 4: once the pages are ready which will take a while depending on how many pages you're printing this dialogue box will appear in onenote. just select wherever you want the file to be printed and click ok
step 5: the file will appear and now it's searchable. below i demonstrated searching a word in the pdf and the search results do find it this time!
bonus tip: you can also copy the text from the document by right clicking and selecting copy text from the page / all pages of the printout. the results aren't always accurate and for larger images and pdfs i find it easier to screenshot the a smaller area and extract the text from that rather than the entire document or page
conclusion: onenote has a searchable text option that makes the text in images, file inserts and handwritten notes searchable so yeah you can also do the same thing with pictures. when you download onenote it comes with a few pages outlining what you can use it to do so it's helpful to familiarize yourself with its abilities. i'm only familiar with doing this on a laptop so i can't say for sure if it's possible on the android or apple app but i presume if your device can print it would probably also work.
