# OCR for iManage: What iManage Says About Scanned Files

- Author: Schema Law (https://www.schemalaw.com/)
- Published: 2026-10-10T08:40:18Z
- Updated: 2026-10-11T19:22:20Z
- Category: OCR in everyday software
- Canonical: https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/ocr-for-imanage

> OCR for iManage is a purchased cloud feature with a 150-page limit on image-based documents, per iManage's documentation. How to test a scan and what to ask.

OCR for iManage exists as a feature of iManage Work in the cloud, but only for customers who have purchased it. iManage's documentation says image-based documents of up to 150 pages are then indexed and searchable. If your firm has not bought the feature, or the scan is longer, the words inside may not be found by search.

The public record on this is thin. This post relies on one page of iManage's administrator documentation and one iManage news release, both opened on October 9, 2026. The documentation points to a fuller article titled "OCR for cloudimanage.com" on iManage's help center, which sits behind a customer sign-in and could not be opened for this post. Your firm's administrator can read it; ask them to.

## Does iManage OCR scanned documents?

iManage can OCR scanned documents in the cloud, if your firm bought the feature. iManage's administration help for Insight+, on a page of [useful information about operational limits](https://docs.imanage.com/cloud/insightplus-admin-help/en-US/iManage_Insight+_useful_information.html), states: "iManage Work at cloudimanage.com supports OCR using Azure Document Intelligence, and iManage Insight+ supports OCR on the same basis."

The same page explains why it matters: "OCR is required for any image-based document that doesn't contain embedded text, to make it searchable." Put plainly, a scan saved into iManage with no text of its own depends on this feature before anyone can find it by a word on the page.

That sentence is about iManage Work at cloudimanage.com. The page does not describe an on-premises installation, so if your firm runs iManage on its own servers, nothing here tells you what it does with a scan. That is a question for your administrator.

## What iManage's documentation says its cloud OCR covers

The documentation gives three facts: the kind of file, a page limit and the engine. It says "image-based documents up to 150 pages" will be indexed and searchable, gives PDFs and JPEGs as examples, and names Azure Document Intelligence as the technology.

| Point | What iManage's page says |
| --- | --- |
| Which documents | Image-based documents that do not contain embedded text |
| Examples given | PDFs and JPEGs |
| Page limit | Up to 150 pages |
| Result | The document "will be indexed and searchable" |
| Engine named | Azure Document Intelligence |
| Where | iManage Work at cloudimanage.com, and Insight+ "on the same basis" |
| File types, languages and constraints in full | Referred to the "OCR for cloudimanage.com" article, not opened for this post |

An [iManage news release from its ConnectLive 2025 event](https://imanage.com/resources/resource-center/news/ai-innovation-takes-center-stage-at-imanage-connectlive-2025/) describes the same service as "iManage Work OCR" and says it "makes image-based documents searchable." The release also makes speed and accuracy claims, which are the vendor's own and are not repeated here.

Notice the words the documentation chooses: indexed and searchable. It describes what search can find. It does not say, on the page opened, that the PDF you later download or email carries a text layer. Whether it does is something to test, and something the sign-in-only article may answer.

## Is OCR part of every iManage Work subscription?

No, going by iManage's own wording. The documentation says: "This feature is available to customers who have purchased OCR with iManage Work cloudimanage.com." The news release speaks of "all subscribed iManage Cloud Work OCR users". Both describe OCR as something a customer has or does not have.

Neither page gives a price or says how the feature is sold. What they establish is that owning iManage Work in the cloud is not by itself proof that your scans are being read. Three questions for the person who manages your firm's iManage account:

- Has the firm purchased OCR with iManage Work at cloudimanage.com?
- If so, since when, and were documents saved before that date processed?
- Which file types and languages does the help center article list, and are there constraints beyond the 150 pages?

## Why a long scanned PDF may stay out of iManage search

A long scanned PDF may stay out of iManage search because of the page limit. iManage's documentation says image-based documents "up to 150 pages" will be indexed and searchable. It does not say what happens to a 151-page scan, so treat any image-based document over that length as one that may not be found by its contents.

A litigation or transactional file can hold scans far longer than that: a deposition transcript with exhibits, a set of medical records, a closing binder scanned as one file. A 400-page records production saved as a single PDF is well past the documented figure.

### How to test a file

1. Pick a scan already saved in iManage whose page count you know. Start with one under 150 pages.
2. Choose a distinctive phrase you can see on a middle page, such as a claim number or an unusual surname.
3. Run a full-text search for that phrase.
4. If the document is not returned, search for it by name to confirm it is there and that you are permitted to see it.
5. Repeat with a scan of more than 150 pages.
6. Open one of the scans from iManage in your PDF viewer and try to select a word. This tells you whether the file itself has text or only the index does.

Write down the results with the document numbers and send them to your administrator. A file found by name but not by a phrase inside it is the pattern that points to missing text.

Two other causes can look the same and are worth ruling out with your administrator: the feature was never purchased, or the document was saved so recently that indexing has not caught up. The page opened for this post gives no timing.

After you save the searchable PDF, try the workspace search on the caption of the complaint, an exhibit number inside the file, and the date printed on the deposition cover. On a long medical record from discovery, try one more search for a date you can read near the last page. Write down which of those searches return the document.

## Giving a scan its own text layer before you file it to iManage

Run OCR on the scan first and save the searchable PDF into iManage. iManage's documentation says OCR is required for an image-based document "that doesn't contain embedded text". A PDF that arrives with its text already embedded is outside that description, and the text travels with the file wherever it goes.

That second point is the practical one. A system that indexes a scan helps people who search inside that system. It does not necessarily change the file, so the copy you email to a client or attach to a filing may still be a picture. The difference between [an index entry and a text layer in the file](https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/dropbox-ocr#dropbox-search-finds-the-scan-but-the-pdf-itself-stays-an-image) is explained in the post on Dropbox, where the same split appears.

A workable routine:

1. Scan the paper, or collect the image-only PDF you were sent.
2. Make it searchable with whatever tool your firm has approved. If the document is over 150 pages, this is the step that removes your dependence on the documented limit.
3. Open the result and search for a word on the first and last pages.
4. Save that searchable PDF into the matter workspace in iManage by your normal method.
5. Keep the original scan if your firm's practice is to preserve it, and name the two so nobody confuses them.

How the text layer gets built, and how to check it, is covered in the guide to [how to make a scanned PDF searchable](https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/how-to-make-a-scanned-pdf-searchable).

Schema Law is one tool for step 2. You upload a PDF, PNG or JPEG of up to 20 MB in the browser, it reads the pages into text and tables, and you export a [searchable PDF](https://www.schemalaw.com/#formats) to your computer. From there you save the file into iManage yourself. There is no connection between the two products, and page limits per document depend on the plan, as the [pricing page](https://www.schemalaw.com/pricing) shows.

Other document systems publish more about their own OCR than iManage does in public. The post on [NetDocuments OCR](https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/netdocuments-ocr) works from that vendor's support articles, and the post on [Dropbox OCR and its scanned document search](https://www.schemalaw.com/blog/dropbox-ocr) does the same for Dropbox. If your firm is comparing systems, read each vendor's own limits side by side and ask iManage for the article this post could not open.

## 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)