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Supported File Types

Essal Office can accept a wide range of document formats. All supported file types are processed through the OCR engine, indexed for full-text search, and stored with an archival PDF/A copy alongside the original.

Supported Formats

PDF

Standard PDFs are the most common format and receive first-class treatment. If a PDF already contains selectable text (a "digital" PDF), the text is extracted directly without needing OCR. PDFs that are image-only (scanned without text layers) are processed through OCR to extract their content.

Images

  • Format: JPEG / JPG
  • Notes: Standard photo and scan format


  • Format: PNG
  • Notes: Lossless image format


  • Format: TIFF / TIF
  • Notes: Common format from network scanners and copiers


  • Format: BMP
  • Notes: Windows bitmap images


  • Format: GIF
  • Notes: Supported, though uncommon for documents


  • Format: WebP
  • Notes: Modern browser image format

Images are processed through OCR regardless of whether they appear to contain text. The result is stored as a searchable PDF/A.

Microsoft Office Documents


  • Format: Word (.docx, .doc)
  • Notes: Letters, contracts, reports


  • Format: Excel (.xlsx, .xls)
  • Notes: Spreadsheets and financial data


  • Format: PowerPoint (.pptx, .ppt)
  • Notes: Presentations

Office document support requires the Apache Tika service to be active in your Essal Office deployment. If Office files aren't processing correctly, contact your administrator.

LibreOffice / OpenDocument Formats


  • Format: .odt
  • Notes: OpenDocument text


  • Format: .ods
  • Notes: OpenDocument spreadsheet


  • Format: .odp
  • Notes: OpenDocument presentation

Plain Text

.txt files are accepted and fully indexed. No OCR is needed — the text is read directly.

Email Files

.eml files (standard email exports) can be uploaded directly. The email subject, body, and any text attachments are indexed. Email import support requires the Apache Tika service.

Scan Resolution Recommendations

For physical documents scanned to image or PDF, scan quality directly affects OCR accuracy:


  • Resolution: 150 DPI
  • Recommendation: Minimum — acceptable for typed documents with large, clear fonts


  • Resolution: 300 DPI
  • Recommendation: **Recommended** — good balance of file size and OCR accuracy for most documents


  • Resolution: 600 DPI
  • Recommendation: Best for documents with small print, fine detail, or low contrast

Scanning in black-and-white or grayscale produces smaller files. Color scanning is fine but increases file size with no OCR benefit for most documents.

Unsupported Formats

Files in formats not listed above are still accepted by Essal Office, but their content will not be indexed (no text extraction is performed). The original file is stored and accessible for download, but it will not appear in full-text search results.

If you need to archive a file in an unusual format, consider converting it to PDF first using a conversion tool.