Take Control of How Vantage Processes your PDFs with PDF Processing Mode

Not all PDFs are created equal. Some arrive as clean, digitally-born files exported straight from an ERP or accounting system. Others show up as scanned images of paper documents, with no machine-readable text underneath. That difference matters more than you might think, because it directly shapes how accurately and efficiently your documents get processed.

The new PDF Processing mode in ABBYY Vantage gives you explicit control over how the platform handles each type. You still keep the smart, automated option that lets Vantage decide when optical character recognition (OCR) is necessary, but now you can also lock in a specific method when your workflow demands it. Here is what that means for you.

Key takeaways

• The new PDF Processing mode in ABBYY Vantage gives you control over how documents are handled, ensuring better alignment with your workflow needs.
• You can choose between automated processing or locking in a specific method, depending on the incoming documents.
• By tailoring processing methods, you can minimize errors and achieve consistent results when processing PDF documents.

Why the type of PDF matters

Before we get to the new setting, it helps to understand the two kinds of PDFs you are likely working with.

• Digitally-born PDFs contain an embedded text layer. This is searchable text written directly into the file, usually generated by the software that created it. Because the text is machine-generated, it is accurate and fast to read, no OCR required.
• Scanned or image-only PDFs have no text layer. They are essentially pictures of a page. To pull data from them, Vantage runs OCR to recognize the characters in the image.

The tricky part is the middle ground. Some PDFs carry a text layer that looks fine on the surface but is actually low-quality or corrupt. When that happens, relying on the embedded text can introduce recognition errors that degrade your extraction results. Being able to choose how Vantage treats each file is what makes the difference between predictable results and unexpected surprises.

The new PDF Processing mode

PDF Processing mode gives you three options. Each one fits a different situation.

Default (recommended)

The Default mode is the standard, intelligent Vantage behavior. It uses the embedded PDF text layer when one is available and supplements it with OCR as needed.

• Best for: General use and mixed document sets that combine text-layer and image-only PDFs.
• Why it works: Vantage automatically decides whether OCR is necessary, so you do not have to configure anything per document. Clean files process quickly, and image-only files still get full OCR.

Use text layer only

Use Text Layer Only extracts text exclusively from the embedded PDF text layer. If a file has no text layer, Vantage still falls back to OCR automatically, so nothing gets skipped.

• Best for: High-quality, trusted text layers where you want faster extraction without running full OCR.
• Why it works: When you know your source files are reliable, such as machine-generated invoices exported from a vendor's ERP system, this mode delivers speed while treating the existing text layer as the authoritative source.

Use OCR only

Use OCR Only ignores any embedded text layer and performs full OCR on every page.

• Best for: Documents with text layers you know to be unreliable or corrupt.
• Why it works: If a legacy scanning system embedded a poor-quality text layer full of recognition errors, this mode bypasses it entirely and extracts clean text directly from the page image.

Quick takeaway: Stick with Default for everyday flexibility. Switch to Use Text Layer Only or Use OCR Only when you need a single, predictable processing path every time.

Where to configure PDF Processing mode

You will find the setting in two places inside the Skill Designer:

• OCR Skill settings, on the General tab under Image Processing.
• OCR activity settings within a Process skill, on the General tab under Image Processing.

One requirement to note: PDF Processing mode is supported for skills using Technology Core 3. It is not available for earlier Technology Core versions, so make sure your skill is on the right core before you configure it.

Get started with PDF Processing mode

PDF Processing mode brings a simple but meaningful improvement: you decide how Vantage reads your PDFs. Keep the intelligent Default for everyday mixed workloads, or take explicit control with Use Text Layer Only and Use OCR Only when reproducibility, auditability, or legacy data quality are on the line. It is a small setting with a real impact on accuracy, speed, and confidence in your results.

Discover the full potential of the ABBYY Document AI platform and explore all of its robust capabilities by visiting abbyy.com/ai-document-processing/.