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OneNote 2013 PDF OCR issue with text scaling

I'm having issues searching through PDF documents that I print into OneNote 2013 (from any source - Adobe Reader, MS Reader, etc) when the system scaling is not at 100%.  It seems that if a document is printed into OneNote when the system is scaled to some higher value (say 150%, which is common for tablets), the search locations will all be offset and not in the correct places.


If this import/print is done with the system at 100% scaling, then the search works correctly.  If the OCR is redone (Make Text Searchable -> Disable, followed by do it in English), it will work correctly but only if the system is at 100% DPI scaling when the OCR was performed.  Any time it does OCR at a non 100% scaling, the search will not work properly in OneNote.  I've tested this on two computers so far so I'm beginning to think it's a bug in OneNote or something closely related to it.


This album demonstrates the issue: http://imgur.com/a/fMSUP


Does anyone else have this issue?  My current (very annoying, especially on a tablet like the Surface Pro) workaround is to use 100% DPI scaling in the control panel when I do OCR for a document.  It's very easy to test if this issue exists on your system as well - just change the text scaling in the control panel, print any PDF with text to OneNote, and then try to search that PDF inside of OneNote and it will highlight incorrect locations.


I imagine the issue is similar to this, but that was apparently fixed for the 2010 edition.

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Bo||ocks. There's just no financial incentive for them to fix it. Free software has that effect.

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Thanks everyone. We believe we’ve identified the issue and we’re working on a fix. We appreciate your patience!

Is there a patch number I need to install? I need OneNote on another computer and 2013 all I have and it is still not working. PLEASE, PLEASE - an update? 

There is no patch out yet and I'm starting to think there never will be. If we're lucky, it will be fixed in the May update set in a few days, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Hey folks. Rest assured it will indeed be fixed. I just don't have an ETA that I can provide you. Thank you for your patience!

Hi William,

Any chance there is an update on this issue? Rescaling text on my Windows 8.1 Surface Pro 3 doesn't seem to work for OneNote 2013 and PDF printouts.

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I have this too, I had it in onenote 2010 and 2013, and with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.   The search still works, but its not ideal as its highlighted in all the wrong places. 

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OK I'm sad this bug still exists, but as we all could see there was a lot work in OneNote on all the different platforms.

I think maybe it would help if everybody who has the same problem votes for my uservoice idea, so we can see how many of us really have the problem and get some attention.

Maybe Microsoft will prioritize fixing this bug then.

So please leave your votes:

https://onenote.uservoice.com/forums/256328-onenote-users/suggestions/9425844-repair-ocr-search-feature-in

Edit:

Please mark this post as helpful so it will appear next to the first posting.

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How many years will we wait to get a fix for an essential function.

I migrated from a Mac to SP3 because of Onenote and the stylus. Since I have started using Windows I have seen problem after problem, things just don't work like they are supposed to. This problem is just another one. It is very depressing the amount of time I have to spend online researching why there is a problem with this or that, and then trying to figure out all the different workarounds for it because no fix has been made.

This thread has been open for years. It took so long for a Microsoft rep. to even acknowledge. The attitude Microsoft has is just so foreign to me coming from Mac. I never had to do all this nonsense with a Mac. I may very well be turning to the iPad Pro instead of the SP3/4 and Evernote instead of OneNote.

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How many years will we wait to get a fix for an essential function.

I migrated from a Mac to SP3 because of Onenote and the stylus. Since I have started using Windows I have seen problem after problem, things just don't work like they are supposed to. This problem is just another one. It is very depressing the amount of time I have to spend online researching why there is a problem with this or that, and then trying to figure out all the different workarounds for it because no fix has been made.

This thread has been open for years. It took so long for a Microsoft rep. to even acknowledge. The attitude Microsoft has is just so foreign to me coming from Mac. I never had to do all this nonsense with a Mac. I may very well be turning to the iPad Pro instead of the SP3/4 and Evernote instead of OneNote.

wouldn't blame you a bit. this, combined with the now infamous issue the Surface devices are having with Windows 10 & taps turning into "right clicks" after about 20 minutes of pen use is incredibly frustrating. Bugs happen, it's understandable. This is lack of response from MS is... well, just pathetic. 

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Still not working on Office 2016. I've even tried disabling high dpi scaling on just OneNote, but that doesn't work :(

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Un-freaking-believable that this is still broken in OneNote 2016! ****!

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Unfortunately, I am not surprised. Microsoft has no idea how to fix the problem, but they will make sure to advertise it as a feature on their Surface lineup and Onenote.  It's pretty obvious they are clueless, otherwise It would have been fixed several years ago.

I'm not changing to a high PPI device until they figure it out. Deal breaker.

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Here's a tip to make the workaround a little more manageable:

1) Download Onetastic add-in found here

2) Download the macro select images

Now, if you click the button "select images" in OneNote it will select ALL the images on that given page. Then, once you've set your computer to 100% scaling, you can fix the highlight bug by disabling searching text in the images, and then re-enable it. It's not great, but it's a ton better than having to do it for every single image.

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Last updated October 1, 2021 Views 5,343 Applies to: