term

PDF text layer

Characters stored alongside the page image — search and copying rely on it.

A PDF text layer holds the characters of the page separately from its picture. With the layer present the text can be selected, searched and copied.

Optical character recognition: turning a picture of text into editable text.

PDF file format: extension, MIME type and available conversion directions.

A PDF that contains only page images: the text cannot be selected or searched.

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