Microsoft Excel Tips & Tricks for CJA Cases: Formatting Tables

Posted on January 6, 2023 by ARoberts

This post is part of an ongoing series of videos on how Microsoft Excel can help CJA practitioners (including attorneys, paralegals, investigators, and mitigation specialists) in their CJA cases.

Previous Post: Filename Lists
Today’s Post: Formatting Tables

CJA panel attorneys and federal defenders frequently receive some of their discovery in spreadsheet or Excel format. Call detail records and indices listing information regarding discovery productions (often called document indexes) are two examples. Having the files in Excel format instead of PDF is advantageous as spreadsheets are designed to sort and filter information, either by a single or multiple criteria. With voluminous information, this ability to sort and filter by multiple criteria can speed up review and allow you to identify the information you are interested in. For example, if you have telephone call records in Excel format, it is easy to filter by a number of phone numbers and quickly narrow the entries to review with several clicks. If the same information is in PDF format, it would have to be done manual and take much, much more time.

For those experienced with Excel, it is a welcome sight to see the data in Excel format. However, for the neophyte Excel user who only reviews PDF files, it can be frustrating to navigate Excel and review the data. This post provides quick and easy formatting options that are available within Excel that can save you review time.

Let’s look at a mock discovery document index as an example. Often the document index starts as a simple list of files with some basic information. As these lists become longer and include more document details (frequently in the form of additional columns), they can be hard to read and work with unless formats are applied. The video below demonstrates quick and simple options within Excel that can help to transform a basic list into a better looking, more functional table that include easy to use sort and filter features.

Video:

Some of the topics covered in the video above are:

Column Width
It often helps to be able to adjust the width of columns to better fit important information on your screen. To adjust the width of a column:

Move the cursor in between the column headers until it becomes a black line with two arrows.
To manually adjust the width of a column left-click then drag the black line to the right or left.
To automatically adjust a column, double left click and the column width will become as wide as the longest text entry in that column.
Multiple columns can be adjusted at the same time by selecting them before making a manual or automatic adjustment.

Wrap Text
Automatically resizing row heights helps to make the words within longer text cells visible. Select the cells, rows or columns to be adjusted then choose the “Wrap Text” button from the Home menu.

Cell Alignment
Adjusting cell alignments can sometime help make items more uniform and easier to view. By default, Microsoft Excel aligns numbers to the “Bottom-Right” of cells and text to the “Bottom-Left”. A common adjustment is to change cells that are “Bottom” aligned to become “Top” aligned, as that is generally easier to read. To do this: select the cells, rows or columns to be adjusted then choose the “Top Align” button from the Home menu. “Right” aligned cells can be adjusted to “Left” alignment through a similar process.

Freeze Panes
Selecting certain columns and rows to always be visible greatly increases the readability of longer lists. To freeze panes:

Left click on the cell to the right of, and below the rows and columns you wish to always be visible.
From the View menu, click on the “Freeze Panes” button and select the “Freeze Panes” option.

Data Filter
Data filtering is a powerful formatting option. It unlocks the ability to easily sort, filter and search within columns. To turn on filtering:

Select all of the data including any column names.
From the Data menu, select the “Filter” button.
Once data filtering has been enabled, items can be sorted, searched and filtered on by choosing the filter button from the columns.

Format as Table
Alternatively, data can be filtered by selecting a “Format as Table” style. “Table” styles are a quick way to make the data visually pleasing and they automatically include the data filtering feature. To turn a list into a “Table” style:

Select all of data including any column names.
From the Home menu, click on the “Format as Table” button and select your desired style (I like the “Medium” styles personally).
From the “Create Table” dialog box select the “My Table has headers” option then click the “OK” button.

Note: Be aware that these format changes are modifications to the original Excel file. If preserving an original copy of the file is important make sure to choose the “Save As” option when saving changes.

Electronic Exhibit Sticker

Posted on October 7, 2022 by carladamsnlst

Preparing exhibits for trial or court hearings, though not glamorous, is an essential task in the practice of courtroom litigation. Depending on the volume and type of exhibits, this necessary task can quickly turn tedious if you must print each exhibit, affix a physical sticker, fill out the exhibit and case information by hand, then scan and submit the stickered exhibit. In the heat of trial where last minute changes take place frequently, it is easy to make mistakes. However, with the right type of technology, such as Adobe Acrobat Pro (or Standard), this process can be done more smoothly, help reduce opportunities for making errors, and done more quickly than the old school method of stickers and paper If you have Adobe Acrobat*, we suggest considering using digital (electronic) exhibit stickers for your next case.

*Acrobat Standard or Pro, not the free “Reader” version.

This post will walk you through how you can create digital exhibits on your own, including the process of installing a sticker that takes the form of a custom Acrobat stamp. The stamp will allow you to quickly fill in the exhibit and case numbers for your case, and will automatically remember your previous entries the next time you use it.

First, follow the instructions below to install the electronic exhibit sticker.

Installation

Download and copy the exhibit_stickers.pdf file to a location that is easily accessible, such as your Desktop. (NOTE: You can delete this PDF file once we are finished with the installation.)

exhibit_stamps Download

Open Acrobat and press CTRL-K to open the Preferences menu. Scroll down on the left to “Security (Enhanced)”. Click the “Add File” button, which will open a file explorer window.

Type %appdata% into the address bar and press enter.

This will open a new folder. Open the “Adobe” folder, then the “Acrobat” folder. You may see folders for the different versions that have been installed like a “2017”, “2020” or a “DC” folder. Open the “DC” folder if you have that, or else the highest folder year you have. Open the “Stamps” folder. Find the “exhibit_stamps.pdf” file you saved and drag or copy and paste it into the Stamps folder. Select the file and click “Open.”

This will take you back to the Preferences screen. Verify that exhibit_stamps.pdf is listed inside the box. If the file is there, click “OK”. Then close out of all Acrobat windows.

Usage

Open the PDF that needs an exhibit sticker. Select the “Comment” tool from the list along the right side of the screen.

This will open a new toolbar. Click on the Stamp tool icon, navigate to the “Exhibit Sticker” menu, then click on the Exhibit sticker image.

The first time you use the sticker, it will pop up this window. Check “Don’t show again” and click “Complete.” There is no need to enter any information.

Your cursor will now become a floating exhibit sticker. Click where you would like to place the sticker. Do not worry if the initial placement is not perfect; you can move the sticker to a different part of the page and even resize the sticker after you have placed it.

When you click to place the stamp, a window will pop up asking you to enter an Exhibit Number. Enter the Exhibit number in the box and press OK.

Next, a window will pop up asking you for a Case number. Enter the Case number and press OK.

This will place an exhibit sticker on your PDF that contains the Exhibit Number and Case Number. You can move and resize the sticker if needed. If you need remove or change any of the information on the sticker, you can right click on the sticker, select “Delete” and create a new sticker.

To permanently affix the sticker to the document, you will need to print the document to a new PDF. Go to the File menu and select Print. Now change your printer to “Adobe PDF”, change the “Comments & Forms” selection to “Document and Stamps”, then press print and save your new copy to the location of your choosing.

That’s it. You will now have a permanently stamped PDF document. The next time you want to stamp a document, Acrobat will pre-fill your last enter Exhibit Number and Case Number, so it will be easier to keep track of your exhibits if you are marking multiple documents in one sitting, and you will not have to re-enter the case number each time.

If you need any assistance with installation, you can contact me at carl_adams@fd.org.

Microsoft Excel Tips & Tricks for CJA Cases: Filename Lists

Posted on December 16, 2020 by nlsblogadmin

By Alex Roberts

This post is part of an ongoing series of videos on how Microsoft Excel can help CJA practitioners (including attorneys, paralegals, investigators, and mitigation specialists) in their CJA cases.

Today’s Post: Filename Lists

When working with discovery, investigative documents, or other case-related materials, it is often helpful to have a list of filenames in an Excel table.

There are times when the government produces to defense counsel digital files where the name of the file indicates something about the file content without a user having to open each file individually.

For example, the government may produce a list of investigative reports in PDF format which, as part of the file name, has the date of the report, the type of report (e.g. FBI 302) and the author. In those instances, it can be beneficial to create a spreadsheet of the filenames and information about the files for later review and organization. Even in instances where the filename is only the Bates number of the file, it can be useful to have a spreadsheet of those numbers.

Microsoft Excel is a useful tool for generating such a filename list. When properly setup, Excel allows users to sort, filter and search for specific files based on different criteria. Fields can be created and associated such as comments, document type, review status, dates and related issues. Additionally, hyperlinks to a specific file or folder can be created for quick and easy access to an item. We will examine these functions in greater detail in future videos.

This video will demonstrate how lists can quickly be created and recommendations to follow when setting up a file list. The video looks at three methods for creating filename lists:

Method 1: Creating a query table by running the “Get Folder Data” process that is currently available in the newer “Office 365” version of Excel.

Method 2: Using the “Copy Path” process available in Windows File Explorer.

Method 3: Using a “File List Program” specifically designed for creating a list of files in Excel format (ex: Directory List and Print).

Three Types of PDFs

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Sean Broderick

PDFs (portable document format files) are a common file format in federal criminal discovery. But are all PDFs created equal? As you all have experienced, the answer is no, they are not.

Think about PDFs in three distinct categories:

True PDFs;
Image-based PDFs; and
Made-searchable PDFs.

For discovery review, these distinctions are important because it impacts whether the PDF is searchable and the accuracy of your text searches within the PDF file. With voluminous discovery, the ability to search and review PDFs is critical for organizing and reviewing it.

True PDFs (also known as text-based or digitally created PDFs). These PDFs are created using software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, or using the “print to PDF” function in those programs. They consist of both text and images. We should think about these PDFs having two layers – one layer is the image and a second layer is the text. The image layer shows what the document will look like if it is printed to paper. The text layer is searchable text that is carried over from the original Word file into the new PDF file (the technical term for this layer is “extracted text”). There is no need to make it searchable and the new PDF will have the same text as the original Word file. An example of True PDFs that federal defenders and CJA panel attorneys will be familiar with are the pleadings filed in CM/ECF. The pleading is originally created in Word, but then the attorney either saves it as PDF or prints to PDF and they file that PDF document with the court. Using either process, there is now a PDF file created with an image layer plus text layer. In terms of usability, this is the best type of PDF to receive in discovery as it will have the closest to text searchability of the original file. Click here to see an example of a True PDF.

Image-based PDFs (also known as image-only PDFs). Image-based PDFs are typically created through scanning paper in a copier, taking photographs or taking screenshots. To a computer, they are images. Though we humans can see text in the image, the file only consists of the image layer but not the searchable text layer that True PDFs contain. As a result, we cannot use a computer to search the text we see in the image as that text layer is missing. There are times when discovery is produced, it will be in an image-based PDF format. When you come across image-based PDFs, ask the U.S. Attorney’s Office in what format was that file originally. Second, ask if they have it in a searchable format and specifically if they have it in a digitally created, True, Text-based PDF format. They may not, as they often receive PDFs from other sources before they provide them to you, but you will want to know what is the format in which they have it in, and what is the original format of the file (as far as they know). Click here to see an example of an Image-based PDF.

Made-searchable PDFs (also known as “OCRed” PDFs). Image-based PDFs can be made text searchable by applying optical character recognition (OCR). CJA panel attorneys frequently use Adobe Acrobat Pro (or other PDF editor software) to make image-based PDFs searchable. During the OCR process, the software program interprets each character on the image as text and adds a text layer to the image layer. Made-searchable PDFs are like True PDFs, but the searchability of the OCRed document will depend on the quality of the image, or the recognizability of the writing. They are often not 100% accurate when you do keyword searches of the text. Click here to see an example of a Made-searchable PDF.

The ESI Protocol (formally known as the Recommendations for Electronically Stored Information (ESI) Discovery Production in Federal Criminal Cases) noted the limitations of OCR process on scanned paper.

“Generally speaking, OCR does not handle handwritten text or text in graphics well. OCR conversion rates can range from 50 to 98% accuracy depending on the underlying document. A full page of text is estimated to contain 2,000 characters, so OCR software with even 90% accuracy would create a page of text with approximately 200 errors.”

People ask how accurate software programs are in the OCR conversion. That is important, but the biggest factor for how searchable your OCR PDF will become is the underlying quality of the scanned image. A clean copy of a pleading will have high accuracy; a twice photocopied school paper record from the 1950s will be less accurate.

A quick way to see what the quality of the text is compared to the image is to select the text in question in a PDF file (you can use Control + A in Windows or Command + A in Mac to copy all the text on a page), and then copy and paste the text into a Word document. Put the two files side by side and visually compare them.

Dealing with Encrypted Discovery

Posted on March 26, 2020 by nlsblogadmin

Whether it is on media (CD Rom, USB drive, or hard drive) or through the internet (email or USAfx) it is becoming common practice that discovery files will be “encrypted.” Encryption adds a layer of protection by scrambling the data, so files cannot be seen unless a digital “key” (password) is provided. The goal is to protect the data while it is being shipped in case it is lost or stolen.

“Decryption” is the process of unscrambling an encrypted file so it is readable. The first step you should take when you receive encrypted files is to create a decrypted copy of the files. The decrypted copies will allow you to search, review and work with them on your computer that the encrypted files will not, and you will not need to enter a password each time to open them.

When receiving encrypted case related materials:

Look for cover letters and associated correspondence that mention password protection or encryption. Often the sender will tell you that the files are encrypted and provide instructions on how to obtain the key (password). If the media contains encrypted files you cannot work with them unless you have that password.
Use a Windows computer. Most decryption programs included on the media are designed to work with Windows computers. Sometimes decryption can be done on Mac computers, but often it requires additional software not included with the media.
Insert the media and look for either a “password” prompt or a decryption program. Certain encryption programs (like Microsoft “Bitlocker“) will automatically prompt for a password when the media is inserted. Other times the media will include Windows-based software programs that needs to be run.
Create decrypted copies of the files. When you open a file that is encrypted a computer will typically only temporarily decrypt it. The file may be in a “read-only” mode that will not work well with most software programs and will continue to need a password when reopening. Making a decrypted copy of the file will allow it to be correctly recognized by the programs on your computer and will no longer need a password when opening the copy.

McAfee Removable Media Protection

“McAfee Removable Media Protection” is a common encryption program used by the USA’s when delivering discovery on thumb drives and CD/DVD discs. The media usually includes an executable file that when run will allow users to make decrypted copies of the files. To create decrypted copies:

Create a destination. Open File Explorer (the file browser on your computer) and navigate to a destination on your computer (or external drive) with enough room to hold a copy of the files. Create a folder that will keep the decrypted copy of the files.
Open McAfee. Insert the media and look for a McAfee program executable file (the file is usually called “MfeEERM” and will have the “.exe” extension).
Run the executable and look for a dialog window prompting for a password. Enter the password and click “OK”.
Copy the files or folders. From within McAfee:
1. Select the “Top Level” folder from the left-hand navigation pane.
2. From the main window (on the right side), select all the files and folders listed, right-click on them and choose “Copy”.
Paste the copies into the destination. Switch back to File Explorer. Right-click on an empty space within the destination location and choose “Paste”. For larger sets of data (over 10,000 files/folders), try dividing the copy process into smaller batches of about 1,000 files / folders each. Verify the copied files can be opened by closing McAfee and opening a few of the copied files.

Here is a quick video demonstration of the process:

“Encrypted Discovery” PDF file download

dtSearch User Preferences

Posted on January 4, 2017 by nlsblogadmin

When you first open dtSearch the window layout and user preferences will be using the programs default settings. We’ve found that modifying certain settings will increase the search capabilities and will make navigating and working with the program easier. The system will remember your preferences so you only have to modify these settings once.

By default, the program is set to search document content, but not file or folder names and there are times when searching file and folder names can be helpful. Additionally, the search results screen uses a top-bottom layout (the list of results will be on the top with a document preview on the bottom). Since most documents have a portrait orientation, a side-by-side layout is generally easier to work with. With Adobe Acrobat documents, there is an additional plug-in needed to be able to navigate through search results within the same document.

To change the user preferences, go to the “Options” menu and choose “Preferences”.

In the Preferences window, under “Indexing Options” place a check next to “Index filenames as text” (leave “Include path information” checked as well).

Next, go to “Search results” within the “Search Options” section and place a check next to “Checkbox” and “Type” within the “Items to include in search results” section. Then under the “Window layout” section, select “Vertical split”.

Finally, select “PDF view options” in the “Document Options” section. Look in the “Highlighting hits in Adobe Reader” area. If the screen reads “A plug-in is needed…” then select the “Configure Plug-in” button and follow the screen prompts to install (if the screen reads the plug-in is installed then there is nothing more you need to do).

Once you have made the changes, click “OK”. You will receive a message notifying you that the new window layout won’t appear until you close and restart dtSearch.

To see the changes, close dtSearch and re-open it. You will see the window layout is in the side-by-side “Vertical split” view. When you run a search, your search results will now appear on the left, with checkboxes and the document viewer on the right. Within PDF documents you will now be able to use the hit navigation buttons.

Going forward, any new indexes you create will include the ability to search file and folder names. If you wish to add this feature to any of your existing indexes, run “Update Index” from the “Index” menu.

For additional help with dtSearch, please use the “Help” menu or visit dtSearch.com.

Acrobat DC New Features

Posted on September 20, 2016 by nlsblogadmin

All of you use Adobe Acrobat on a daily basis. Whether it is Adobe Acrobat Reader, Standard or Pro, it is an excellent tool for legal professionals for everything from saving pleadings to file with the court’s case management/electronic case file system to reviewing discovery. Some of you have been using Acrobat for a while and know that Adobe comes out with new versions every couple of years. The latest version of Acrobat stopped using the number of release to distinguish a new version (like Adobe Acrobat XI), but now calls itself DC, which stands for Document Cloud, and labels the version by the year of the release (Adobe Acrobat DC 2016 the most recent version). Like many other software companies, Adobe is moving to a cloud based service giving users the option of working on multiple devices seamlessly if they choose to store their files online. Though designed for cloud use, users do not have to store their documents remotely, and they can continue using Acrobat DC as a desktop program as they always have.

Acrobat DC has a new look compared to previous versions, has been designed to be tablet and cell phone friendly, and gives users the ability to work on a document from different devices seamlessly. The addition of a user friendly tabbed tool bar makes switching from one document to another that much easier.

The “Home” tab shows the most recent files you have worked with. You can also search for a file in the search bar, open a file by navigating to it by clicking on “My Computer” or going to the File Menu and selecting → Open.

Once you open a document, the “Document” tab appears at the top of the screen, allowing you to easily navigate from the Document to the Tool Center to the Home page.

The “Tools” tab, otherwise known as the DC Tool Center centralizes all the features of Acrobat in one place for easy access. Now you can quickly find the tool you need without having to remember which menu in the tools section to navigate to.

The “Search Tools” option in DC is intuitive and easy to use. If you want to OCR a document, type OCR in the “Search Tools” section of the Tool Center and all the toolsets related to recognizing text will appear.

The tool pane that users see when looking at a document can be customized. You can add a tool to the tool pane by selecting “Add Shortcut” from the Tool Center or by right-clicking in the Tool Pane when searching for a tool and adding it there.

When Tool Groups are opened, they are automatically pinned to the top of the screen. The Tool Group stays open until you close it or open another tool.

DC gives you multiple ways of accessing the tools you are looking for and then quickly going back to working with your documents.

The new tabbed tool bar is just one feature of Acrobat DC that makes upgrading worthwhile. More features will be highlighted in upcoming posts so stay tuned.

dtSearch Desktop Demonstration Video

Posted on March 28, 2014 by ARoberts

dtSearch is a popular search and retrieval program. Here is a brief 12 minute video that demonstrates how to setup a new dtSearch index and how to run searches within an index.

As mentioned in the dtSearch Desktop post, we have been able to obtain a limited number of licenses that will be made available to CJA panel attorneys with current, active cases. To request a license go to the dtSearch Desktop post and fill out the request form on the bottom.

Note: like most litigation software programs, this program was developed for Windows-based operating systems and does not work with Macintosh operating systems.

dtSearch Desktop

Posted on March 25, 2014 by ARoberts

Limited licenses of dtSearch Desktop Available for CJA Panel Attorneys

We are pleased to announce that we are able to offer a limited number of dtSearch Desktop software licenses for CJA panel attorneys with current, active cases at no cost (a $200 value).

*PLEASE NOTE: dtSearch only works on Windows-based operating systems. It will not work on Mac computers unless you are running a virtual Windows operating system.*

dtSearch is a popular search and retrieval program that can be a useful tool for searching discovery and creating brief banks. It can be helpful in viewing different file types (including non-PDF files) even if you do not have the associated program installed on your computer. dtSearch is the search engine utilized in many familiar litigation support programs including Adobe Acrobat Pro, CaseMap and Forensic Tool Kit (FTK, a computer forensic tool).

dtSearch allows users to search native files as well as scanned paper documents that are in a text searchable format. It generates a search index for each folder of materials the user designates and allows one to search the contents of an entire folder regardless of the amount of data or the number of varied file formats. As electronic discovery in federal criminal matters continues to grow in volume and in the variety of formats. dtSearch is a great resource for CJA panel attorneys faced with the daunting task of organizing and searching through their case material.

To obtain your free license of dtSearch, simply fill out the dtSearch Request Form below. Once you complete all of the fields, click on the “submit” button at the bottom of the form. This will automatically send an email with your completed form attached to Joe Wanzala, the National Litigation Support Paralegal in charge of dtSearch licensing. You will then receive an email within 5 business days with download instructions and an activation code. Each user license can be installed for that user on two machines.

You must have an active appointed case to utilize this license. If you are no longer on the panel and don’t have an active appointed case, we request you return the license to the National Litigation Support Team (NLST) by contacting Joe Wanzala so the license can be used by other CJA panel attorneys.

For technical support or if you have any questions regarding the utilization of dtSearch within your office, please contact either Alex Roberts, Joe Wanzala or Carl Adams. If you want to learn more about dtSearch, you can go to dtSearch.com.

dtSearch Desktop Request Form:

Adobe Acrobat: “Renderable Text”

Posted on March 10, 2014 by ARoberts

When working with PDF documents you may encounter a “renderable text” error message. This message will sometimes occur when trying to make a scanned paper PDF file text searchable (also know as adding OCR to a document).

Depending on the version of Acrobat you have, the message may read something like:

“Renderable text” is typically text that has been added to an scanned paper image (like a header, footer or bates number), through a non-Acrobat program. The way this text is encoded into the page can cause Acrobat to disallow additional searchable text (OCR text).

This message can certainly be annoying and it can also be significant as it can limit your ability to run searches. In Acrobat, you will be unable to add new searchable OCR text, or improve the quality of the existing OCR, until the error is fixed.

If you’ve seen this message before, and have tried to fix the document without success, you are not alone! We spoken with a number of people over the years who have come up with some creative solutions. Though we have yet to find “one solution” that will always fix this particular error, here are a number of possible solutions (results will vary depending on the cause of the error):

Solution 1: Obtain a version of the document with OCR.

It may seem simplistic, but if you receive documents without searchable OCR, ask for it. Often the person or organization that gave it to you will want to search the files themselves and may already have a copy that has been OCR’ed. Even if the documents they give you generate “renderable text” error messages, you will still be able to search any of the existing OCR text within the files.

Solution 2: If the files are from PACER / ECF, download a new copy.

The default download settings in PACER / ECF will add “purple” headers with the case number (which will cause a “renderable text” error message). If you can find the document again in PACER / ECF, download it with the header option turned off.

Solution 3: Run “Add Tags to Document” (available in Acrobat Pro).

If you have Acrobat Pro installed there is a special “Accessibility” menu where you can run “Add Tags to Document”. For certain PDF’s, running this option will clear up the issue and allow the document OCR to be run.

Solution 4: Print the document to PDF (available in Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro).

If you have Acrobat installed (Standard or Pro) you’ll probably also have access to an “Acrobat PDF” virtual printer. By printing the document to this virtual printer, the new PDF that is created will often avoid having the renderable text issue.

Solution 5: “Sanitize” the document then rerun OCR (available in Acrobat Pro).

From the “Protection” menu run “Sanitize Document”. This will remove all of the document metadata including some of the rendered text that might be causing the error.
Re-run the OCR process.

Solution 6: Convert to TIFF files and back, and then re-run OCR (available in Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro).

Open the PDF document in Acrobat and choose “File > Save As“.
In the “Save As” dialog box, choose TIFF (*.tif, *.tiff) from the Save As Type (Windows) or Format (Mac OS) pop-up menu. Specify a location, and then click Save. Acrobat saves each page of the PDF document as a separate, sequentially numbered TIFF file.
Combine the single pages back into a multipage document and re-run the OCR process.

Solution 7: Convert to XPS file format and back, and then re-run OCR.

If your computer has the “XPS” virtual printer installed (it comes with many version of MS Office) then print the file using the “Microsoft XPS Document Writer” printer.
- The XPS printer will ask you to save the file.
- Convert the saved XPS file to PDF.
- Re-run the OCR process on the new PDF.

Solution 8: Try running the OCR using a different program.

Other OCR programs (like Nuance OmniPage or ABBY FineReader) have OCR options that will incorporate the existing “rendered” text.

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