# Make PDF text selectable in Confluence

To make PDF text selectable in Confluence, turn on **Render Text Layer** in the **PDF embed (Capable)** macro's configuration. The viewer then lays the document's real text over each page, so readers can select and copy it. The same switch helps when some text in the PDF does not appear. It is off by default.

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## Before you start

* You can edit the page, and the macro already has a PDF.
* The PDF contains real text. A scanned document is a picture of text and has nothing to select.

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## Steps

1. Edit the page, select the PDF embed macro and open its configuration.
2. Turn on **Render Text Layer**.
3. If text still looks wrong, set **Types of render** to **Canvas**.
4. Close the configuration window and publish the page.

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## What happens next

Readers can drag across text to select it and copy it. Pop-out and fullscreen views keep the setting.

📝

Selectable text is not carried into a published Capable Site; there the text cannot be selected. See [this troubleshooting page](https://help.gocapable.com/pdf-embed/published-capable-site-has-no-pop-out-no-fullscreen-and-text-cannot-be-selected.html).

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## If it does not work

* Switching **Types of render** between **Default** and **Canvas** changes nothing you can see: that is normal for most files. See [this troubleshooting page](https://help.gocapable.com/pdf-embed/switching-types-of-render-between-default-and-canvas-changes-nothing.html).
* Nothing can be selected: the PDF is probably a scan. Run it through a text-recognition (OCR) tool first.

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## Related

### [Selectable text](https://help.gocapable.com/pdf-embed/selectable-text.html)

How the text layer works.

### [PDF embed](https://help.gocapable.com/pdf-embed/pdf-embed.html)

Every setting of the macro.

### [Capable Sites export](https://help.gocapable.com/pdf-embed/capable-sites-export.html)

What a published site keeps.

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_Text you can copy, not just look at._