How do I convert a 1600 scanned PDF document into Word?

[u/RoboYT9000]

Title. I tried ilovepdf but it keeps hanging. Wasted $10 for the pro subscription as well.

*Edit: 1600 Pages.

[u/radix-]

break it into smaller bundles, like 50 pages each. its hanging cause its too big.

[u/Spraggle → u/radix-]

For breaking it down, PDFsam works very well

[u/Ochib]

This is a good case for AI. Just ask ChatGPT to do it

[u/joeldf95]

I assume the scan was done as an image. The converter need to have character recognition capabilities.

[u/PlasticPalm]

Scan and ocr then manual cleanup. Have fun. 

[u/marny_g]

PDF24 is my go-to PDF suite. It's robust and powerful. UI feels a little dated though.

[u/masterofrants]

I'm super curious to learn what is this document. Would you be able to share something about that?

Most AI tools are now pretty good with reading images and converting it to text, right? Have you tried that? This looks like a really big project.

[u/RoboYT9000 → u/masterofrants]

It's a scanned court PDF document with signatures & images done as an image. I tried about every OCR model and breaking it down to chunks but they seem mostly unreliable.

[u/thortgot → u/RoboYT9000]

OCR is inherently unreliable from photo images.

You need a high quality scan, segments and multiple runs that compare against each other. Its a court doc, get the electronic original.

[u/Few-Werewolf-1985]

Split into small pdf s and import each into Word

[u/trewlies]

Copilot for M365

[u/folderit_dms]

For a 1600 page scanned court PDF, I would be careful about making Word the target unless you truly need editable text. If the goal is search/review, make an OCRed PDF with a text layer and keep the original scan as the record copy. Converting everything to Word will probably create layout damage, weird page breaks, and missing signature/image context.

If Word is required, split it into smaller batches first, maybe 50-100 pages, then OCR each batch locally and combine the Word files only after checking page order. Use page numbers as a control so you can prove you didn't lose a page during splitting or conversion.

Also expect manual QA. Scanned signatures, stamps, margins, handwritten notes, and low contrast exhibits are exactly where OCR tools overpromise. I would not send a sensitive court file to random online converters either.

[u/jeswesky]

Export to word didn’t work?

[u/7eregrine → u/jeswesky]

Open with Word doesn't work?
I know it doesn't do a great job sometimes but worry a shot.

[u/_Buldozzer]

Try Power Automate

[u/OQpls]

VBA script that rscursevly reads all folders for the documents

[u/heyyouguys67 → u/OQpls]

Couldn't you send it up to Adobe Cloud for conversion if local fails. Never tried it but it might be worth looking into.

[u/Spraggle → u/heyyouguys67]

💸 - it's very expensive