Extracting Characteristics Using Smart Extract You can use Smart Extract to extract characteristics in PDF or CAD files. Smart Extract is only available for PDFs that support Smart Extract. If the pdf does not support Smart Extract, you need to use the OCR extraction tools. To extract characteristics using Smart Extract: In a PDF or CAD file, click Smart Extract (Document ribbon) and click one of the following: Single Characteristic. Creates one characteristic using all of the text found in a box-selected area. Multiple Characteristics. Creates multiple characteristics for each annotation found in a box-selected area. Box-select an area that contains the annotations to extract. A balloon (or multiple balloons if you selected Multiple Characteristics) appears next to the extracted annotation, the image appears at the top of the Characteristic tab in the Properties/Preferences PropertyManager, and values appear in the Characteristics tab of the Table Manager. Parent topicCharacteristic Extraction