5 Final Ways to Rid Your Life of Scanned PDFs

Welcome to our third and final blog post about why scanned PDFs are the worst. Worse than your ex from college, worse than the haircut your mom gave you in the 5th grade, and worse than standing in an endless security line at the airport. 

In parts one and two, we covered some of the basic reasons why scanned PDFs are bringing your legal team down. In addition to creating hours of manual tasks and complicating review cycles, they also increase liability risk thanks to the unsearchable image format. 

Once you’ve established a digital process, it’s time for the real work. Optical character recognition, or smart OCR technology, lets you convert different types of documents, like scanned PDF images, into editable and searchable data. This way, you can create a centralized contract repository with searchable terms to easily find and identify at-risk contracts. No crying over scanned PDF images required.

Here are some best practices when implementing smart OCR:

 #1: Assess the Source Material

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) applications rely on lexical data and existing modern-language dictionaries. But for special terminology or historical language, the required lexical data may not exist. Make sure you identify any unique language or characteristics that could make digital conversion more difficult.

 #2: Create a Workflow

Develop a smart OCR conversion project plan to set yourself up for success. Without it, you risk jeopardizing the implementation process.

#3: Avoid a One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Files are just like people-each is unique (and sometimes frustrating.) Avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach allows you to focus on the parts of your data that must be treated as unique.

#4: Be Aware of Common OCR Technology Mistakes

Some of the best smart OCR tools are only about 95% accurate. Be on the lookout for common misspellings of words during document conversion, including common ones like:

• tenns —> terms
• Sirategic —> Strategic
• perfonn —> perform
• Miscelianeous

#5: Consider Outsourcing Your Previous Conversions

Converting scanned PDFs to a digital process takes a lot of strategy, planning, and time. If you’re considering a smart OCR conversion project but are unsure if you have the bandwidth or patience, let LinkSquares help.

In this series, we've established that scanned PDFs inevitably lead to frustration, wasted resources, and legal debt. Understanding the risks they present and taking the necessary actions is crucial for business success.

LinkSquares OCR is 99% accurate. If you want to learn more about centralizing your contracts with a contract management solution, schedule a demo today.