Non-searchable scanned PDFs are essentially image files within a PDF container. Unlike text-based PDFs created from Word documents or websites, they contain no actual selectable or searchable text data. Scanning paper creates a picture of the document, which the computer treats purely as an image until Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software processes it to extract and embed text. You can't search them internally because the software sees only pixels, not letters.

You frequently encounter these when receiving documents scanned via common office photocopiers or multifunction printers (MFPs) without OCR enabled. Archivists or librarians dealing with legacy paper collections often have such image-only PDFs, and users might create them inadvertently using basic scanning apps or settings. Tools like Adobe Acrobat/Reader (look for a "Scanned Document" notification on opening) or a PDF viewer's inability to highlight text usually indicate this type.

While creating image-only PDFs is simple and fast, the lack of searchability severely hinders accessibility, content reuse, and finding specific information within large document sets. Converting them to searchable PDFs requires OCR software, which is widely available (often built into scanning tools like Acrobat, dedicated OCR apps, or online services), though accuracy depends on scan quality. Implementing OCR workflows improves document management significantly.