Bluebeam Tip: Prep Scans for Better OCR in Bluebeam Revu

Improve OCR accuracy in Bluebeam Revu by prepping your scans before you click OCR—small tweaks up front prevent hours of cleanup later.

• Start with the right scan
  • Scan, don’t photograph. Use 300–400 DPI for text documents; 600 DPI if the font is small or the print is faint.
  • Prefer grayscale over color; avoid heavy JPEG compression. If possible, create PDFs directly from your scanner rather than from images.
  • Ensure pages are clean, flat, and aligned; remove staples and creases to minimize skew and shadows.
• Preprocess in Revu before OCR
  • Document > Color Processing: convert to Grayscale or Black & White to boost contrast and reduce halftones.
  • Gently adjust brightness/contrast to darken text and lighten backgrounds; remove light tints that “confuse” OCR.
  • Document > Crop Pages: trim black scanner borders and uneven margins so the text region is centered.
  • Document > Rotate Pages: make all pages upright and consistent; avoid mixed orientations in a batch.
• Dial in OCR settings
  • Document > OCR (or Batch > OCR for multiple files): choose the correct language; limit to one language when possible.
  • Enable orientation detection and skip vector text to focus on raster content.
  • Use “Searchable Image” output to preserve drawing linework while adding a hidden text layer.
• Sequence matters
  • Preprocess → OCR → then Reduce File Size (compression before OCR can lower recognition quality).
  • Batch similar page types (e.g., light halftone plans vs. crisp specs) for tailored settings per group.
• Quick QA
  • Spot-check with Ctrl+F for common misreads (0/O, 1/I, S/5). Re-run OCR on problem pages with higher DPI or stronger contrast.

Standardize this preprocessing checklist across your team to keep search, hyperlinking, and data extraction reliable. For Bluebeam licensing, upgrades, or guidance, talk to NOVEDGE or explore Bluebeam solutions at NOVEDGE.