Since that article was published, though, some things have changed, requiring an update to the scripts I provided. In particular, Adobe released (]), and I wanted to revise the scripts to be intelligent enough to use that new version, or a previous version, without forcing users to choose among different scripts or perform manual editing. Based on reader feedback, I also wanted to build in some additional error checking.

About the Scripts

If you're using Acrobat Standard, Acrobat Pro, or Readiris Pro for OCR, the easiest way to automate the process of OCR'ing new scans is with one of these AppleScripts.

Because Acrobat's support for AppleScript is limited (and Readiris's support for AppleScript is virtually nonexistent), these scripts use UI scripting for some tasks. That means instead of sending commands directly to the applications in the background, they must make the application believe that menu commands have been chosen, buttons clicked, and so on. Therefore, you can't be doing other activities while these scripts run, because that may prevent the right controls from being visible to the script at the right time.

In order for UI scripting to work, you must enable access for assistive devices. To do so, go to the Universal Access pane of System Preferences and make sure "Enable access for assistive devices" is checked at the bottom of the window. The updated scripts check for this setting and alert you if it's incorrect.