# Bluebeam Make PDF Searchable: Running OCR in Revu

- Author: Schema Law (https://www.schemalaw.com/)
- Published: 2026-10-06T22:36:53Z
- Updated: 2026-10-11T19:22:20Z
- Category: OCR in everyday software
- Canonical: https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/bluebeam-make-pdf-searchable

> How to make a PDF searchable in Bluebeam Revu: which plans include OCR, the steps under Document > OCR, the options to set first, and tips for drawings.

To make a PDF searchable in Bluebeam Revu, open the scanned file, go to Document > OCR, pick the pages and language, and select OK. Bluebeam says the command turns scanned PDF documents into searchable data. It will not run on a PDF that has been certified or digitally signed.

That is the whole job for a clean letter-size scan. Drawing sets, plan tiers and a handful of settings make it less simple in a construction or real estate practice, so the rest of this post walks through each of them using Bluebeam's own support pages.

## Can Bluebeam Revu make a scanned PDF searchable?

Yes. Bluebeam Revu has an OCR command that reads the page image of a scanned PDF and adds text the program can search. Bluebeam's manual describes it as text recognition that "allows for the translation of scanned PDF documents into searchable data".

You need it because Revu's ordinary search has nothing to work with on a scan. Bluebeam's page on the [Search panel in Revu](https://support.bluebeam.com/user-manual/menus/window/search-panel.html) puts it plainly: scanned PDF files are images, they contain no text, and a text search will not find anything in them until OCR has been run.

Two limits appear in Bluebeam's own description of the [OCR command in the Revu manual](https://support.bluebeam.com/user-manual/menus/document/ocr.html):

- **Signed files are excluded.** OCR cannot be run on PDFs that have been certified or digitally signed. If the contract you were sent carries a digital signature, work on a copy that predates the signature or ask the sender for one.
- **It works on PDFs.** The dialog takes PDF files. A stack of TIFF or JPEG scans has to become a PDF before the command applies.

The manual does not describe where the recognized text is stored or what happens to the page image. If the picture of the page must stay untouched, for instance for a recorded plat or a stamped drawing, run OCR on a copy and compare the two.

## Which Bluebeam plans include OCR?

For Revu 21, Bluebeam's plan pages say OCR comes with every subscription: Basics, Core, Complete and Max. For Revu 20, Bluebeam says OCR was limited to eXtreme edition licences. One page of the current manual says something different, so check your own menu before you count on it.

Here is what each Bluebeam page says, so you can show the right one to whoever buys your licences.

| Bluebeam page | What it says about OCR |
| --- | --- |
| [Subscription features for Revu 21](https://support.bluebeam.com/revu/subscription/subscription-features.html) | "OCR for turning scanned images into text-searchable PDFs" is ticked for Basics, Core, Complete and Max |
| [Revu 21 system requirements](https://support.bluebeam.com/revu/resources/compatibility-system-requirements-21.html) | "OCR is included with all Revu subscription plans." |
| [Bluebeam's OCR and Batch Link article](https://support.bluebeam.com/revu/how-to/save-time-with-ocr-and-batch-link.html) | For Revu 21, OCR is available to all plans. For Revu 20, OCR is exclusive to eXtreme edition licences |
| [Document menu page of the Revu manual](https://support.bluebeam.com/user-manual/menus/document/document-menu.html) | The OCR entry is described as "Available with a Complete and Max plan only" |

Three pages agree and one does not. This post cannot tell you which is out of date. The subscription page adds that with a Basics subscription or a read-only account, some tools and menu items are grayed out. So the practical test takes ten seconds: open a PDF, open the Document menu, and see whether OCR is there and clickable. If it is gray, send your Bluebeam administrator the table above and ask which plan your seat is on.

The same system requirements page lists 64-bit Windows 11 and Windows 10 as the operating systems for Revu 21.

## Running OCR on a document in Revu

To run OCR in Revu, open the scanned PDF, choose Document > OCR, confirm the file and page range in the dialog, set the options and select OK. Bluebeam documents the same dialog under Batch > OCR, where you can queue many files in one run.

The steps below follow Bluebeam's manual page for the OCR command.

1. **Save a copy first.** Keep the scan as it arrived under its own name. The manual does not promise an undo for a whole OCR run.
2. **Open the PDF in Revu and go to Document > OCR.** The active PDF is added to the list automatically.
3. **Add more files if you need to.** Select Add, then choose Files, Open Files, Open Set, Folder, or Folder and Subfolders. Folder takes the PDFs in one folder. Folder and Subfolders takes everything beneath it as well.
4. **Set the pages.** Each file has a Pages dropdown: All Pages, Current, Selected, Custom, Even Pages, Odd Pages, Landscape Pages or Portrait Pages. For a custom range, a dash covers a run and a comma separates pages, so `1-3, 5, 9` means pages 1, 2, 3, 5 and 9.
5. **Set the options.** They are covered in the next section.
6. **Select OK** and let it finish.
7. **Test the result.** Search for a word you can see on a page in the middle of the file, then try to select a line with the text tool.

A single search hit does not prove the whole file took. The guide to making a scanned PDF searchable has a fuller routine for [confirming that a PDF is really searchable](https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/how-to-make-a-scanned-pdf-searchable#how-do-you-confirm-the-pdf-is-really-searchable), page by page.

Bluebeam also notes that the OCR dialog opens automatically when you use Revu's function for creating a PDF from a scanner or camera. If your office scans straight into Revu, recognition can happen at the moment of capture.

## Which OCR options does Revu offer before a run?

Revu's OCR dialog offers ten options: Language, Document Type, Optimize For, Correct Skew, Detect Orientation, Detect Vertical Text, Detect Text in Pictures and Drawings, Skip Vector Pages, Page Chunk Size and Max Vector Size. The descriptions below paraphrase Bluebeam's manual.

| Option | What Bluebeam says it does |
| --- | --- |
| Language | Sets the languages the OCR process uses. More than one can be used on the same PDF |
| Document Type | Tunes the process for the kind of document. The CAD Drawing setting tends to ignore text formatting. The Text Document setting does not |
| Optimize For | Chooses between accuracy and speed |
| Correct Skew | Corrects angular deviations in scanned documents |
| Detect Orientation | Detects pages turned 90, 180 or 270 degrees and corrects them if needed |
| Detect Vertical Text | Detects text that runs vertically |
| Detect Text in Pictures and Drawings | Detects text inside graphics |
| Skip Vector Pages | Skips pages that hold vector content |
| Page Chunk Size | Sets the most pages sent to the OCR engine at one time. A larger chunk can be faster and uses more of the computer's resources |
| Max Vector Size | Sets the largest vector that will be analyzed. Lowering it can speed things up and may cause larger text to be ignored |

For a scanned lease, a geotechnical report or a bundle of change orders, Text Document is the setting Bluebeam's wording points to. Pick the language the document is written in, and add a second only when the pages really mix two.

Two of the options change the page as well as reading it. Correct Skew and Detect Orientation both alter how a page sits. That is useful for a crooked scan. Think twice before using them on a document where the exact appearance of the page is evidence.

On the searchable copy, search for the contract number, an invoice amount, and the exhibit label on a sheet title. When the file is a discovery production, also search a pleading caption scanned into the same set. Confirm each hit sits on the sheet you can see before you pass the file along.

## Plan sheets and large-format drawings in a construction file

For drawing sets, Bluebeam recommends turning on Page Chunk Size and setting it to 1. Its manual says this suits OCR jobs on PDFs with many pages, large file sizes or large-format drawings, and that a run which returns no results can often be fixed by repeating it with a chunk size of 1.

Drawings differ from letters in ways the options are built for:

- **Text runs in several directions.** Dimension strings and sheet titles along a border are the reason Detect Vertical Text exists.
- **Text sits inside linework.** Callouts, room tags and title-block entries are the target of Detect Text in Pictures and Drawings.
- **Some sheets are not scans at all.** A PDF plotted from CAD holds vector content. Skip Vector Pages leaves those sheets alone, which matters in a set that mixes plotted sheets with scanned as-builts.
- **The CAD Drawing document type** tells the process to care less about text formatting, which a title block does not need.

A worked example. A construction litigation team receives a 240-sheet as-built set for a parking structure, scanned at full size, plus a 60-page specification section. A reasonable first pass is two runs. The drawings go through with Document Type set to CAD Drawing, vertical text and text-in-drawings detection on, and Page Chunk Size at 1. The specification goes through as a Text Document with defaults. Then someone searches each file for a sheet number and a defined term they can see on screen.

Bluebeam's OCR article describes what the firm gains next: once sheets are searchable, Revu's Batch Link can add hyperlinks between them, although that feature is limited to Complete and Max plans in Revu 21.

OCR in Revu gives you a searchable PDF. If the task is different, such as pulling a pay application's schedule of values into [a spreadsheet](https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/scanned-pdf-to-excel) or turning a scanned subcontract into an editable Word file, look first at Bluebeam's [subscription features page](https://support.bluebeam.com/revu/subscription/subscription-features.html), which lists "Export scanned PDFs as Microsoft files" and marks the plans that include it. A browser converter is another route to the same output. Schema Law reads uploaded PDFs, PNGs and JPEGs into text and tables and exports them in the [formats listed on the homepage](https://www.schemalaw.com/#formats). Its uploads are capped at 20 MB, so a full-size drawing set stays in Revu.

If your office has Acrobat as well, the same job there is covered in [how to make a PDF searchable in Adobe Acrobat](https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/how-to-make-a-pdf-searchable-in-adobe). For everything else already on your computer, see the guide to [making a PDF searchable without Acrobat](https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/make-pdf-searchable-without-acrobat).

## Try it on a real document

Upload a scanned PDF and export it as Word, a searchable PDF or plain text on the free plan. Your documents are never used to train an AI model. [Start free](https://www.schemalaw.com/api/auth/google)