Before you can use either of these scripts, you must configure Acrobat's OCR settings as described in . Note that in Acrobat Pro 9, a new option is available in the Recognize Text - Settings dialog box. In lieu of my earlier recommendation to choose Searchable Image (Exact) from the PDF Output Style pop-up menu, you can opt for ClearScan, which may reduce file size by embedding one or more synthesized fonts in your document that approximate the look of its existing fonts, while storing a lower-resolution version of the scanned image itself. If you're unsure which you might prefer, try duplicating a scanned PDF and performing the text recognition with both settings, and then open the resulting files to see how they look.

As the name implies, OCR This (Readiris Pro).scpt works with Readiris Pro. It's been tested with version 11.6.3; I can't guarantee how well it will work with earlier or newer versions.

To use this script, you need to set up Readiris. In the Settings: Document Type menu, make sure Text is checked; if not, select it. Then, choose Settings: Text Format and, from the Format pop-up menu at the top of the window, choose PDF. From the pop-up menu next to it, choose Image-Text. Uncheck Embed Fonts and Create Bookmarks, and check Ask File Name and Location. Leaving the other settings as they are, click on OK. Finally, choose Settings: Save as Default. (That way, these settings should stick when you use Readiris Pro again.)

To implement these scripts, right-click (Control-click) on the folder you've designated to hold new scans and, from the contextual menu, choose More: Enable Folder Actions. Right-click again and choose More: Attach A Folder Action. In the window that appears, navigate to the AppleScript file you want to use, select it, and click on Choose.

Thereafter, whenever you scan a new document and it appears in this folder, the AppleScript will activate automatically, opening the scanned file in Acrobat or Readiris and activating the program's OCR function. If you're using Readiris, you'll be prompted to enter a name and select a location. After you save the file, Readiris creates a new document (which clears all the existing scanned pages from its list).