We’re excited to announce a major update to the Adobe PDF Library that brings expanded Optical Character Recognition (OCR) functionality to C++ developers, making it easier than ever to turn images into fully searchable, text-extractable PDF documents.

What’s New

Transform Images Into Searchable PDFs

A brand-new feature enables developers to convert images into PDFs with extractable text using OCR directly in C++. This enhancement integrates OCR technology into the core workflow, so applications can generate high-quality, searchable PDF output from image sources.

New OCR Sample for C++

To help developers get started quickly, we’ve added a dedicated OCR sample illustrating how to use the new APIs and workflows.

New OCREngine Plugin

A new OCREngine plugin introduces a suite of OCR APIs designed to give you full control over recognition settings, languages, performance tuning, and preprocessing options.

New C++ OCR APIs

Developers now have access to powerful new tools, including:

PDEForm Creation with OCR:

• PDOCRCreateForm: Convert a PDEImage into a PDEForm containing extractable text.
• New APIs for creating and manipulating OCR parameters and recognition behavior.

OCR Options & Performance Control:

• PDOCRDefaultParams and PDOCRReleaseParams for managing OCR parameter objects.
• Fine-tuned control over speed vs. accuracy, page segmentation modes, and preprocessing options like deskewing and denoising.

Language & Font Configuration:

• Query installed OCR languages and configure which languages the engine should recognize.
• Manage candidate fonts to enable more accurate text matching.

Plugin Management

To ensure smooth operation, two new APIs manage the lifecycle of the OCR engine:

• OCREngineInitialize — Initialize the OCR engine (required before use).
• OCREngineTerminate — Clean up engine resources after processing.

To get started with the latest version of Adobe PDF Library, visit the Datalogics website and start a free trial.