# Make already-captured documents text-searchable

The Catalog Manager backfill that OCRs a whole catalog of image documents — the options that matter, the support authorization it requires, and how to read its results, which report queuing, not completion.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: system-administrator · Time: 30 minutes to run; conversion continues in the background · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/search-and-find/make-already-captured-documents-text-searchable

**At the end of this guide, a catalog full of image-only documents — old scans, a bulk import, years of unsearchable TIFFs — is queued for OCR, and you'll know how to read the tool's output, because what it reports is *queuing*, and the conversion itself happens afterward, in the background.**

First, confirm this is your problem: [Why text you can see isn't searchable](/content-central/search-and-find/why-text-you-can-see-isnt-searchable) covers the diagnosis. This page is the bulk cure.

## Run it

1. In **Catalog Manager** (on the server), select the catalog, choose **Make Searchable selected catalog** in the action drop-down at the bottom, and click **Go**. (**Make Searchable all catalogs** exists for the full sweep.)

2. The **Catalog Make Searchable Warning** dialog collects the decisions:
   
   - **Select the image types to make searchable:** — PDF, TIFF, JPEG, Bitmap, PNG, GIF, all checked by default.
   - **Select the processing method:**
     - **Convert to fully-searchable PDF (files may become large)** — the documents *become* searchable PDFs.
     - **Make fully-searchable, but leave file in original form** — the text goes into the search index; the files stay as they are. Choose this when the original format matters (or when "files may become large" gives you pause).
   - **Only process documents identified as not searchable** — on by default, and usually right: it pre-scans the index so already-searchable documents aren't redone. (The pre-scan itself takes time on a large catalog — that's the pause before progress moves.)
   - **Ademero Support Authorization Code:** — this operation is deliberately support-gated. Get the code from Ademero support when you're ready to run; it's time-limited, so same-day, not stockpiled.

3. **OK**, and let the progress dialog run to its summary.

## Reading the results — the part that trips people

The summary reports, per catalog:

- **"Documents newly added to the queue"** — what this run queued.
- **"Documents already waiting in the queue"** — queued by an earlier run, not yet converted.

And then the sentence that explains the whole design, straight from the dialog: the queued documents are converted by the **Capture Service** — "if this number is not going down, check that the service is running and look in the Content Central log for entries beginning 'Make Searchable:'."

So: **"finished" means queued.** Conversion proceeds in the background at the server's pace; each converted document gets a new version (its history reads **Make Searchable**), and the search index picks it up from there. Two readings to know:

| You see | It means |
| --- | --- |
| Newly added: 0, already waiting: 5,000 | An earlier run's queue is still draining — or the Capture Service is stopped. Don't re-run; check the service |
| Newly added: 0, already waiting: 0 | There was nothing to do — everything matching your type selections is already searchable |

**Success check:** pick one document you know was image-only, wait for the queue to drain past it, and search for a phrase on its page — it should hit, and the document's history shows the **Make Searchable** row.

## Keeping future captures searchable

The backfill shouldn't need a sequel. PDFs uploaded through the Capture page can prompt for a **PDF action** — **Capture As Is**, **Make Fully Searchable**, or **Make Searchable (Keep Original)** — and scanning paths OCR as they capture. If new unsearchable documents keep appearing, find the intake path that's skipping OCR rather than planning another backfill.

## What's next

- [Why text you can see isn't searchable](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/search-and-find/why-text-you-can-see-isnt-searchable)
- [Bulk-import existing files and folders](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/capture/bulk-import-existing-files-and-folders)