Scanned PDFs & Images
A scanned contract, a photographed receipt or a screenshot has no text layer: search finds nothing in it, and the chat assistant knows nothing about it. DocGraph can read the text in those files on your computer and add it to search, so keyword search, the chat and Ask about this file reach it like any note.
Nothing is read unless you ask. A vault full of photos stays a vault full of photos.
Which files are scans
Section titled “Which files are scans”A PDF whose pages have no text but do have a picture is a scan: its format badge in the file tree reads Scan instead of PDF. A page with no text and no picture is just a blank page, not a scan. Images keep their IMG badge.
Once a file is in search, its badge shows where it stands:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Scan ✓ / IMG ✓ | Its text is searchable. Hover for the page count, the reader that read it, the date, and any pages that were hard to read. |
| Scan … / IMG … | Waiting to be read, or being read now. |
| Scan ! / IMG ! | Something could not be read. Hover for the reason. |
Make a file searchable
Section titled “Make a file searchable”Right-click a scanned PDF or an image in the file tree and choose Make Text Searchable. The text is read in the background; the badge turns to ✓ when it is done.
- Several files: select them (⌘-click or ⇧-click) and choose Make Text Searchable from the selection’s menu.
- A whole folder: right-click the folder and choose Make Scans in Folder Searchable — every scanned PDF and image below it.
- A screenshot in a note: click the image in the note and use Make Text Searchable in its toolbar. The screenshot’s text is then found as part of the note, so a search for something in the screenshot opens the note.
- From a chat answer or the viewer: when a question touches a scan whose text is not searchable, the answer says “report.pdf is a scan” with Make Searchable, then Ask again once it has been read. Opening such a PDF shows the same line at the top of the page.
A file over 200 pages asks first and tells you how long it will take. A PDF whose text is already searchable is left alone.
Remove a file from search
Section titled “Remove a file from search”Right-click it and choose Remove from Search. Its text leaves search and is deleted from your computer — DocGraph keeps no copy. Making it searchable again reads it again.
When the text looks wrong
Section titled “When the text looks wrong”Some scanners put their own, often poor, text layer inside a PDF. Read Text Again (right-click a file that is in search) throws away what was read and reads every page again, including pages that already had text.
Read new scans automatically
Section titled “Read new scans automatically”For a folder a scanner app writes into — Scans, Receipts — right-click it and turn on Make New Scans Searchable Automatically. Scans and images added to it afterwards are read without asking; the ones already there are not (use Make Scans in Folder Searchable for those). Remove from Search on one of its files keeps that file out.
To read every scan in the vault, choose Read all scans automatically in Settings (below). Folders you list under Skip folders are never read automatically, and files over 200 pages wait for you to start them.
Fast or Best quality
Section titled “Fast or Best quality”| Fast | Best quality | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Built into macOS 13 or later | Runs on your Mac as a separate download |
| Download | None | About 1.7 GB, once |
| Speed | Instant | About 1–3 seconds a page, in the background |
| Reads well | Clean printed text, receipts, handwriting, non-Latin scripts | Tables, columns, forms, poor scans |
Fast works even with AI turned off: it uses the text reader built into macOS. Best quality uses a document-reading model that runs on your computer, separate from the chat model, so a long read never takes the chat’s model away. On a computer with limited memory, it waits between chat turns.
Switching reader reads the files in search again with the new one; switching back reuses what the first one read, as long as it is still there.
Settings → AI → Scanned documents
Section titled “Settings → AI → Scanned documents”- Read scanned documents — on by default on macOS 13 or later.
- Which files — Ask me per file (the default) or Read all scans automatically.
- Quality — Fast or Best quality, with the model’s download and Remove model (which also deletes the text it read).
- Progress — pages read so far, Pause / Resume, and why reading is waiting (paused, on battery, or waiting for the chat).
- Pause on battery — on by default.
- Files in search — every file whose text is searchable, each with a remove button, and Read again for all of them.
- Skip folders — folders the automatic modes never read;
*and**match names.
The first time you set up AI, the setup asks about scans too — but only if your vault has scanned PDFs.
Privacy
Section titled “Privacy”Everything is read on your computer; nothing is uploaded. The recognized text is kept outside your vault, in DocGraph’s own data folder, like the search index, and Remove from Search deletes it. Encrypted files are never read. Citations in the chat say recognized text when a passage came from a scan, and recognized text, low confidence when the reader was unsure.
Limits
Section titled “Limits”- HEIC photos are read on a Mac with Fast only.
- Text inside Word or PowerPoint files’ images is not read.