Why a scan can’t be found by its words
A PDF made from a document, such as an invoice from a website, has a text layer: the words are stored as text, so search can read them. A scanned PDF often has no text layer at all, only an image of the page. Finder and most search tools read text, not pixels, so they may not find the scan by any of its words. And the file name, something like scan0007.pdf or Scan 2026-09-12.pdf, doesn’t help either.
Check whether a PDF has text
Open the PDF in Preview. If you can select a single word, or Command-F finds a word you can see on the page, it has a text layer and search can find it. If you can only select the whole page as a picture, or the search finds nothing, it’s an image.
Option 1: add a text layer with OCR
OCR (optical character recognition) turns the picture of the words into real text and saves it into the PDF. Many scanner apps can do it while scanning, and PDF editors can do it afterwards. It works well, but it’s one file at a time, and it doesn’t help with the scans already sitting in Downloads unless you go through them.
Option 2: let Lisorto read them
Lisorto reads scans and screenshots on your Mac with Apple’s text recognition as it files them. Then you find any of them from the menu bar:
- Click the Lisorto icon in the menu bar and type a word you remember: a company, an amount, a booking code.
- Every result shows the Space it’s in and the line that matched, so you know it’s the right file before you open it.
- Scans also get filed by what they say: a scanned electricity bill goes to Bills and receipts, a boarding pass to Travel.
Search is free. It covers everything Lisorto filed into your Spaces, by name and by the text inside. More on how search works and how scans are read.
Tips for scans that read well
- Scan in good, even light, with the page flat and straight.
- Use at least 300 dpi on a scanner. A phone’s document scanner is usually fine.
- One document per PDF makes it easier to file and to find.