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One of the features of our Virtual Printer Driver is the ability to print to searchable PDF format. In this article, we will explore the advantages and disadvantages of searchable PDFs, as well as the situations where printing to searchable PDFs is not possible.
What is PDF?
PDF, or Portable Document Format, is a widely-used file format developed by Adobe that preserves the layout of a document across different platforms. It’s popular for sharing documents in a way that ensures they look the same regardless of the device or software used to view them.
What is searchable PDF?
A searchable PDF contains embedded text data that allows users to search for specific words or phrases within the document. This feature enhances document accessibility and usability, making it easier to locate information within lengthy or complex documents.
Features of searchable and non-searchable PDF files
- Searchable PDF files: facilitates quick and efficient information retrieval, improves document accessibility for users with disabilities, enhances document indexing and organization.
- Non-searchable PDF files: limited search functionality, decreased accessibility for users who rely on screen readers or assistive technologies.
Here are some examples of searchable PDF documents:
- Legal contracts and agreements
- Research papers and academic journals
- Business reports and financial statements
When is it not possible for a virtual printer driver to create a searchable PDF file?
While Virtual Printer Drivers offer advanced functionality for printing documents to various formats, there are limitations to creating searchable PDFs in certain scenarios:
· Handwritten or scanned documents
If the source document is handwritten or scanned without OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, the Virtual Printer Driver may not be able to extract text data for embedding into the PDF.
· Encrypted or protected documents
Documents with encryption or copy protection may restrict the Virtual Printer Driver from accessing and extracting text data for conversion into searchable PDFs.
· Technical limitations in printing application
The ability to search for text in a PDF file obtained using a virtual printer depends on the printing application. The printing application uses WinAPI functions when printing a document to the printer. The Windows operating system generates a print job file as a result of printing. The print job file includes several print pages. For each print page, the virtual printer extracts an EMF file. Thus, the EMF file contains the commands with which the document was printed. If the printing application outputs text using text output commands, then this text can be found in the output PDF file.
When printing a PDF document, different programs can use different algorithms. For example, if you print a PDF document from Google Chrome, it can draw individual words as bitmaps and output them as pictures. Adobe Acrobat Reader has a large number of printing settings. However, in some cases, regardless of the settings, it can also output text as bitmaps. When printing some fonts, special glyphs may be used, which leads to difficulties when writing text to the output PDF document.
Thus, printing a PDF document depends on many factors: which application is used for printing, which fonts are used in the document, and which fonts are installed on the PC. Rendering a PDF document to a print job file and then extracting commands and forming a new PDF document is quite a complicated process. In this regard, when printing a PDF document, you will receive a document different from the original one.
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Our Virtual Printer Driver will help you / your customers enhance document management, empowering your software with seamless printing to searchable PDFs. Experience improved document accessibility, efficiency, and organization today.
A searchable PDF file generated by the Virtual Printer Driver may contain:
- Text (.ttf and .ttc font support, embedded fonts support, vertical/horizontal writing modes)
- Images (JPEG encoding, masked images for watermarks)
- Encryption (RC4 with 40 and 128-bit key length, AES with 128 and 256-bit key length)
Download the demo version of Virtual Printer Driver and explore printing to pdf and the other features!
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