Text PDF vs scanned PDF — how to tell
Open the PDF and try to select a transaction with your cursor. If text highlights, it's a text PDF and converts easily. If nothing selects (you only get a box around the whole page), it's scanned and needs OCR.
Why scanned statements need OCR
There's no underlying text to read, so the tool has to 'see' the page and recognize characters from the image — the same way you read a photo. AI-based OCR handles real-world scans, photos, and slightly skewed pages well.
Converting a scanned statement
Upload the scanned PDF to an OCR-capable converter, let it read every page, then review the extracted transactions before exporting to Excel, CSV, or an accounting format. Reviewing matters more here — OCR is accurate but not infallible.