We distinguish 4 Types of PDF Statements
Bank statements you receive in PDF format may be one of the following PDF types.
Text based PDF's
Most PDF statements that you download from a bank are text based PDF's. The text for each transaction is selectable, and you can copy and paste it into a document or spreadsheet. These statements may also contain images, used for logos, check images, and advertisements.
You can process text based PDF's with any of our PDF Convert products.
Image based and scanned PDF's
Image based PDF's usually come from scanned paper statements, and are often called "scanned PDF's". Scanning is just like taking a picture and creates a large image for each page in the statement. A scanned PDF may look the same as a text based PDF, but you can only select a region. You cannot select lines of text, and so cannot copy/paste content into another document. Additionally, a small percentage of banks create image based PDF's where each page is composed of one or more images.
You can process image based/scanned PDF's with PDF Convert products that include the PDF+ AddOn, purchase the PDF+ AddOn separately, or use MoneyThumb Online.
Searchable PDF's
Searchable PDF's combine an image based PDF with a layer containing text characters. Searchable PDF's are frequently created by doing OCR on a scanned image and saving the text. The OCR process can be done by the scanner software, or by another program. You can select text in a searchable PDF and copy/paste the text into another document. If the OCR was completely accurate, then a searchable PDF can be processed just like a text based PDF statement. However, because the text characters are white-on-white, the only way you can validate their accuracy is to copy/paste into another document and check it carefully. In the example below the amount of cents was incorrectly recognized as 'so' rather than '50', and therefore the transaction would not be valid.
You can process searchable PDF's with any PDF Convert products, although depending on text accuracy you may need the PDF+ AddOn or use MoneyThumb Online to process the file as an image PDF.
Encrypted PDF's
Encrypted PDF's are text based PDF's, but when you copy/paste text from them into another document, you get what looks like gibberish characters, rather than what you expect. This is because the text has been internally encrypted. An increasing number of banks create these type of encrypted PDF's. Due to the fact the encryption is done with the actual text characters in the PDF statement, the encryption is different than password protection, and cannot be removed.
Encrypted PDF's can be successfully converted by processing them with PDF Convert products that include the PDF+ AddOn; purchase the PDF+ AddOn separately, or use MoneyThumb Online..