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Peter.R
Participant
April 29, 2017
Answered

print darker from light pdf text

  • April 29, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 43038 views

How can I darken a light scan of book text or at least darken the print? All black and white.

Thanks!

    Correct answer Luke Jennings

    Do you have Acrobat and Photoshop? If so, open the PDF in Acrobat and go to Tools> Edit PDF> and click on the scanned image, right click and select Photoshop as the image editor, the scan will open in Photoshop where you can go to Image> Adjustments> Curves, where you can adjust the image as needed, then save. The PDF will automatically update with the adjusted image. If you are not comfortable with Photoshop, you may be able to darken the scan in Acrobat alone using Tools> Enhance Scans> Enhance- Scanned Document, choose Apply Adaptive Compression (on), High quality, Text Sharpen (high). The combination of the compression and text sharpening apparently changes cmyk black to Gray (or Device Gray) and also darkens it. If the sharpened text looks bad on your printer, stick with option #1. The screen shot on the right side is an Acrobat enhanced scan.

    2 replies

    C
    Chris25312416jy5d
    Participant
    July 19, 2022

    How are we to darken the scanned print with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, since the Enhance tool no longer has those options? It only lists Scanned Document or Camera image. I already have recognized text engaged, and don't have Photoshop.

    L
    Leslie22439698rnhx
    Participant
    January 27, 2025

    Under "Scan & OCR" is "Enhance scanned file" and it worked for me-- except the last page!

      Luke Jennings
      Luke JenningsCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      June 30, 2017

      Do you have Acrobat and Photoshop? If so, open the PDF in Acrobat and go to Tools> Edit PDF> and click on the scanned image, right click and select Photoshop as the image editor, the scan will open in Photoshop where you can go to Image> Adjustments> Curves, where you can adjust the image as needed, then save. The PDF will automatically update with the adjusted image. If you are not comfortable with Photoshop, you may be able to darken the scan in Acrobat alone using Tools> Enhance Scans> Enhance- Scanned Document, choose Apply Adaptive Compression (on), High quality, Text Sharpen (high). The combination of the compression and text sharpening apparently changes cmyk black to Gray (or Device Gray) and also darkens it. If the sharpened text looks bad on your printer, stick with option #1. The screen shot on the right side is an Acrobat enhanced scan.

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