Best way to open scanned editable pdf

Hi Ira!

As per @Jeffrey_Smith, I also recommend exporting the text out of the PDF and cleaning it up in Word—this includes confirming the italics remain in the document—and not opening the PDF in InDesign. Then create a new InDesign document, and use File > Place to import the Word file.

Plan on spending a fair amount of time on that first chapter, setting up parent pages, styles, etc with the understanding that you can use that first file as a template to speed up the layout of the second and subsequent chapters. I know I've mentioned this before but InDesign isn't intuitive and training isn't optional for most people.

To get up and running on InDesign basics: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/indesign-2025-essential-training/indesign-learn-the-fundamentals-24949206

To get up and running on InDesign books: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/indesign-creating-long-documents-13887227/creating-indesign-book-files

LinkedIn Learning is a subscription service, but my local library in Washington State offers it for free. It's worth checking with your local library.

~Barb

Open the scanned document in Acrobat, and save as Rich Text Format. Then import the rtf file into Indesign. This method can preserve italics, depending on the OCR's ability to recognize normal from italics.

OCR'ed text is going to require a lot of work. If you're looking for magic, stop now, it doesn't exist.