How can I remove text but not the image behind it; originally a pdf.

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
January 31, 2024
2 replies
4420 views

Can I open a pdf as a jpg and then remove text but save the image behind it?

I'm using PS 24.1.1 on Mac OS Ventura.

Thanks.

macOS

Correct answer Stephen Marsh

Ideally you would edit a copy of the PDF in an proper PDF editor (Acrobat Pro, Enfocus PitStop Pro plugin or Callas pdfToolbox plugin), removing the text.

As a fallback, you could open the PDF in Adobe Illustrator and remove the text (this may or may not be workable, depending on the PDF as Illustrator isn't a general PDF editor).

Finally, if you did rasterize a PDF into Photoshop where the text was rendered over the image, you would need to use content aware fill, A.I. powered generative fill or good old-fashioned retouching to "restore" the missing content.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Ideally, you've previously saved an unflattened PSD or TIFF with text and image on separate layers.

Hiding text is then a simple matter of toggling layer visibility on/off (eyeball icon).

Manually removing text from a flattened JPG without destroying the background could be tricky depending on how complex the image is. Content aware (Healing Brush Tool) works well in some but not all situations. Using the Patch or Cloning tools might be required to restore lost pixels.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

Stephen Marsh

Correct answer

Community Expert

Ideally you would edit a copy of the PDF in an proper PDF editor (Acrobat Pro, Enfocus PitStop Pro plugin or Callas pdfToolbox plugin), removing the text.

As a fallback, you could open the PDF in Adobe Illustrator and remove the text (this may or may not be workable, depending on the PDF as Illustrator isn't a general PDF editor).

Finally, if you did rasterize a PDF into Photoshop where the text was rendered over the image, you would need to use content aware fill, A.I. powered generative fill or good old-fashioned retouching to "restore" the missing content.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

I forgot to mention, when opening a PDF in Photoshop, one can rasterize the entire document as is, or one can also just import image content only – so this is another way to get the pristine image content without the text rendered over the top.

denised95612985Author

Participant

Ok, I'll save this when/if something similar occurs. Thank you.

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