🧰 AIntake PDF Preparation Best Practices

🧰 AIntake™ PDF Preparation Best Practices

AIntake™ uses Azure-based OCR to extract text and structure from uploaded PDFs. Document quality and structure directly affect OCR accuracy.

🖨️ Always Upload a Flattened PDF

Before uploading, ensure the PDF is fully flattened.

• Flattening converts all layers, form fields, annotations, and objects into a single image layer per page.
• Prevents text overlap, missing fields, and unreadable form content during OCR.
• Ensures consistent page rendering across devices and viewers.

Best practice: Use “Print to PDF,” “Flatten PDF,” or “Optimize PDF” before upload. Avoid PDFs with interactive fields, embedded layers, or hidden objects.

How to flatten a PDF

Recommended tool: Adobe Acrobat is the most reliable option for flattening PDFs before upload.  Alternatively, using “Print to PDF” will also produce a flattened document suitable for OCR.

1. Open the PDF in your browser (Edge or Chrome recommended)
2. Click "Save as" and select a location to save your flattened PDF
3. Begin AIntake with the flattened PDF you just saved

📄 Use Standard Page Sizes Only

Clients may send a PDF with a variety of page sizes which can affect Intake performance. AIntake performs best when page dimensions fall within standard print sizes.

• Letter (8.5 × 11)
• Legal (8.5 × 14)
• A4

Avoid oversized scans, mixed page sizes, or uncropped scanner borders.

Best practice: Normalize page size and crop excess margins before upload.

How to standardize PDF page sizes
 

Option A — Standardize Page Size Using Organize Pages

This option works well for most PDFs with inconsistent or oversized pages.

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
2. Go to All Tools → Organize Pages.
3. Select Set Page Boxes.
4. In the Change Page Size section, choose a standard size (Letter, Legal, or A4).
5. Apply the change to All Pages.
6. Click OK and save the file using Save As.

Option B — Standardize Page Size Using Preflight

This option provides the most control and is recommended for scanned or mixed-size documents.

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
2. Go to All Tools → Print Production.
3. Select Preflight.
4. Click Select Single Fixups.
5. Expand Pages and choose Scale pages to specified size.
6. Enter the target dimensions (Letter, Legal, or A4).
7. Apply the fix and save the document.

🔏 Avoid Security Restrictions

Protected PDFs can block or degrade OCR processing.

• Password-protected PDFs
• Copy- or print-restricted files
• DRM-locked medical or billing exports

Best practice: Remove all security restrictions and confirm the document opens and prints without prompts.

How to Remove Security Restrictions from a PDF

Security restrictions such as passwords or permission controls can block or degrade OCR processing. These restrictions should be removed before uploading documents into AIntake™.

Using Adobe Acrobat

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
2. If prompted, enter the document password.
3. Go to File → Properties and open the Security tab.
4. Set Security Method to No Security.
5. Confirm changes and close the dialog.
6. Save the document using Save As.

The PDF will now open without restrictions and can be reliably processed by OCR.

Important Notes

• You must have authorization and the correct password to remove security restrictions.
• Password-protected, copy-restricted, or print-restricted PDFs can prevent accurate OCR extraction.
• After removing restrictions, follow standard page size and flattening best practices before upload.

❓Frequently Asked Questions (PDF Errors & Image Issues)

❓I see an error saying “The dimensions of page [#] are greater than the allowed limit.” What does this mean?

This error means one or more pages in the PDF exceed the maximum supported page size for OCR processing.

When a page is too large, it cannot be rendered or processed correctly.

How to resolve

• The document needs to be resized to a standard page size (Letter, Legal, or A4).
• Resizing ensures the page can be rendered and processed correctly.

Action: Resize and standardize the PDF page sizes, then re-upload into AIntake™.

❓My PDF uploaded, but a page looks distorted, cut off, or not rendered correctly. Why?

This usually happens when the PDF is not flattened and contains interactive layers, form fields, or hidden objects.

OCR systems cannot reliably interpret layered or interactive PDFs, which can cause visual rendering issues.

How to resolve

• Flatten the PDF so all layers and form elements are converted into a single image layer.
• This ensures consistent rendering and accurate OCR.

Action: Flatten the PDF, save it, and re-upload into AIntake™.

Note: If you send a screenshot showing a page that does not look correct, flattening the document is the recommended fix.

❓What’s the difference between resizing a PDF and flattening a PDF?

Both steps address different issues and are often required together.

• Resizing fixes pages that are physically too large or non-standard.
• Flattening fixes pages that look incorrect due to layers or interactive form fields.

How to know which one to use

• If you see an error about page dimensions → resize the pages.
• If a page looks wrong or a screenshot is provided → flatten the document.

Best practice: For best results, then flatten the PDF, then upload into AIntake™.

❓I uploaded a form, but some fields or text are missing. Why?

Interactive PDF forms often contain fields that are not part of the visible text layer. OCR systems cannot read interactive form objects.

Action: Flatten the PDF so all form fields are converted into visible content before uploading.

❓My PDF is password-protected or restricted. Will that cause problems?

Yes. Security restrictions such as passwords or permission controls can block or degrade OCR processing.

Action: Remove all security restrictions before uploading the PDF into AIntake™.

I fixed the PDF but still see issues. What should I check?

Before re-uploading, confirm the following:

• ✅ Page size is Letter, Legal, or A4
• ✅ Pages are correctly oriented
• ✅ PDF is flattened
• ✅ No security restrictions remain

If issues persist after these steps, contact Casefriend support and include the error message or a screenshot of the affected page.