Can't edit image

Question

I have a PDF that's a scanned document. It contains blotches from dirt on the scanner and staple holes that I wish to edit out. When I go to edit PDF, right click on the page, and select edit using MS Paint (Paint is the only option on the menu and is adequate for what I'm trying to do), I get the following error:

When I open preferences -> Content editing, it contains no such option:

So, what do I do, other than manually exporting the PDF to an image, opening it externally, and then turning it back into a pdf again?

Here is the version of Adobe I have on my PC. As this is a company machine, I have to work with what I have and can't just update or upgrade.

Thanks for your help!

gary_sc · Answer

Let me answer you from a photographer's point of view: If you take a photo that is out of focus, you cannot fix that to make a great photo in Photoshop. Or, more generally stated, Photoshop can make a bad photo "better," but never good. Photoshop can improve a not-good photo, but it will never be great. Only a good photo can be made great in Photoshop, and a great photo will always be great despite Photoshop.

What I'm saying is that you do have to control your expectations.

That said, the time to fix a bad document is not after you've scanned it, but it should be fixed as much as possible at the time of the scan. More specifically, the adjustments one can make in Photoshop can be done at the time of the scan, which improves the final document's quality BEFORE it goes into Acrobat.

I wrote a blog for Adobe that covers this in more detail.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/scanning-clean-searchable-pdfs/m-p/4785435#M89

Let me know if you have any other questions.

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