Google announced that they are now using OCR technology to index and show an HTML version of a scanned PDF document. In the past, Google only showed an HTML version of PDF's created with text enabled formatting. But now, if a document is scanned as an image, Google can create an HTML version using OCR.

For example, this PDF is a scan of a cooperative agreement between Google and Regents of the University of California. You cannot copy and paste the text from the PDF document. But now, with Google's OCR capabilities, you can view the HTML version and use this text in your own agreements, saving you the expense of starting from scratch on your own agreements.

Ever find that perfect document that you wanted to reuse for contracts, marketing material, how-tos, and so on? But you were unable to reuse it because it wasn't copy and paste friendly? Well, now you can use Google to get to it. From now on, when searching for documents like this, try filetype:pdf in the search box along with your search query.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

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