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randyw57
Inspiring
March 15, 2022
Answered

Can I improve the look of a scanned pdf?

  • March 15, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 2615 views

I have a pdf of about 28 pages.
I believe the pdf was created by scanning. 
So the results aren't 28 pages of text. It is 28 images of pages. (I think. I may be wrong.)

The text on these pages (it is all text) is blurry. 
Is there a way I could improve the look of this? Or possibly export the text to some other format?
fwiw, the document is attached. 

Thanks for any help or advice!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer gary_sc

Hi Randy,

 

With a lot of work, you could open it in Photoshop and "help" it be better, but it will still not be good. The only way to fix this and make it "OK to good"would be to do a proper scan at the beginning of the process.

 

As you can see when you look at the pages, you have a lot of bleed-through where you can see the text on the other side of the page. To fix this you need to lighten the whites at the time of the scan so that this gray is white. Then also, take the darker grays and make them black to make the text stand out more. You can kinda-sorta do this in Photoshop but it will never be good.

 

Sorry

1 reply

gary_sc
Community Expert
gary_scCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
March 15, 2022

Hi Randy,

 

With a lot of work, you could open it in Photoshop and "help" it be better, but it will still not be good. The only way to fix this and make it "OK to good"would be to do a proper scan at the beginning of the process.

 

As you can see when you look at the pages, you have a lot of bleed-through where you can see the text on the other side of the page. To fix this you need to lighten the whites at the time of the scan so that this gray is white. Then also, take the darker grays and make them black to make the text stand out more. You can kinda-sorta do this in Photoshop but it will never be good.

 

Sorry

    R
    randyw57Author
    Inspiring
    March 16, 2022

    Thanks, gary_sc!

    Well, miracles happen sometimes. Maybe next time.

    The document was passed along to me.  I believe the source may be in an archive in Maryland.

    It has my dad's name in it. I'll think about trying to get over there and finding it.

    Again, I really appreciate you looking at this and laying out the options. 

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