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patricia4550006
Participant
May 19, 2016
Answered

How to edit (erase) portions of a PDF scanned document?

  • May 19, 2016
  • 2 replies
  • 150340 views

I've just downloaded Acrobat DC and am trying to use it to edit a previously-scanned B&W document (the document is a PDF large-format scan of a sewing pattern -- just line drawings and text). 

What I want to do is delete (or at least mask out) a small portion of some of the detail on that scanned document in order to insert new text or make other corrections.  I can't seem to find a tool anywhere on Acrobat DC that will allow me to select a small section of the PDF image and erase that portion of the image within the selected boundaries, the way I can with Microsoft Paint for example. 

Is there an "eraser" tool I'm missing?  Or some other method to select and erase/delete a small portion of a PDF image?  I definitely do not want to change the overall dimensions of the image, or affect the rest of the image at all by erasing a portion -- just mask the section to white.

I'd be grateful for any help with this.  If I can't get this to work, I'm going to have to cancel my trial subscription to Acrobat, because it's useless to me otherwise.   Thanks!

Correct answer Bernd Alheit

Use the Redaction Tool.

2 replies

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Sherri Roth
Participant
November 21, 2022

I recently had a document that had some writing in the margins that I needed to erase. This is what I did:

Edit pdf - on sidebar, under OBJECTS, Select Edit Using...and then select Microsoft Paint - Select the ERASER and then hold mouse and scroll over the parts you want to erase. SAVE. CLOSE - you will return to your pdf with the parts erased GONE.

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    Steven Herrmann
    Participant
    December 21, 2023

    You Sherri deserve an AWARD! 🥇Thank you!

    THIS is the correct answer.

     

    Why can there only be one? Who decides this? Is it because he's a community expert?

    Even the correct answer has no upvotes. His answer needs to be redacted.

      Dave Creamer of IDEAS
      Community Expert
      Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 21, 2023

      There can certainly be multiple correct answers. Usually it's up to the OP to mark correct the answer that helped them. 

      David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
      Bernd Alheit
      Community Expert
      Bernd AlheitCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      May 19, 2016

      Use the Redaction Tool.

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      patricia4550006Author
      Participant
      May 19, 2016

      Thank you so much!  This was the solution.  I couldn't believe Adobe wouldn't have an editing tool to mask out portions of documents.

      I noticed that when I saved the document, the size automatically changed from the original PDF scan of about 1.5MB to about 9600 KB.  Would you have any idea why?  The file size change didn't appear to change the actual dimensions of the drawings within the scan.

      Karl Heinz Kremer
      Community Expert
      Karl Heinz KremerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 20, 2016

      When you modified the file, Acrobat may have changed the compression method that was used for your images and therefore expanded the file size. You can try to optimize your document via Tools>Enhance Scans>Enhance>Scanned Document - when you then click on the "Settings" button, you can specify how to compress images. When you select "Adaptive Compression", you will end up with a much smaller file. If image quality is important, make sure that you select only lossless compression formats.

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