Question
I am getting the error that my PDF is not searchable and therefore my invoice cannot be processed. How do I fix this?
Answer
At a high level this is typically caused by a file being saved so that the letters are no longer coming across as letters, but more similar to an image. When the invoices are being processed, it cannot see that the items on the page are letters, and not an image. Similar to if you were blindfolded and had a bunch of ingredients put in front of you, you might be able to identify some of the ingredients using your other senses, but say the difference between a kiwi and a strawberry might be confusing without the ability to see the items themselves.
It used to be searchable, what happened?
This is usually connected to how the PDF is being generated or saved. One of the most common things we hear is people switching from save as PDF (searchable) in word to print PDF (non-searchable) in word. If the supplier is using adobe, these would be the steps to ensure the PDF is searchable:
- Open the document
- Click on Tools and select Recognize Text
- Press PDF Output Style Searchable Image, then select OK