Opened a scanned file in PDF with Illustrator

[rays64856105]

Hi folks,

I am very new to Illustrator, I have the 2023 version. I opened a what supposed to be a scanned document in PDF format, AI recognized there are multiple clip groups under layer 1 for just this one page, it seems AI is trying to say this is how the page was put together. I opened other pages from the same PDF file and AI treats the whole page as one piece as I thought it should have, they all are scanned documents.

Is there any reason AI would create/recognize so many clip groups just for this one page but not other pages from the same pdf? I am trying to find out if this page was digitally altered somehow, thanks in advance!

[rays64856105]

Sorry I can not include the whole page in question, attached photo is part of the page. The resolution of the first slash symbol and the letter "D" is not making sense to me, not sure how it is possible if this was not digitally altered. AI separates these kind of stuff into their own groups, and this is how I got so many clip groups for this page.

[Monika Gause]

Ever heard of the birth certificate issue?

When you scan something, then the scan software might actually alter the scan in order to compress data.

Here is the long explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0O6UXrOZJo 

The other thing that could have happened: when opening the scan in Acrobat, Acrobat tried and performed OCR on it.

[rays64856105]

Hi Monika, thank you for your help! I watched the video and thought about it, my document has a white background with very clear and sold ink and the birth certificate has a busy background. There are about 250 pages were scanned together, allegedly scanned with Xerox AtlaLink C8145 and Konica Minolta bizhub C308. Both copies of this page have this kind of issues at the exactly same places and only on this page. I was told this page might be digitally altered, not sure if that's a possibility. Thanks!

[Monika Gause]

I'm not an expert on scanning technology, but the guy in that presentation did thorough research and had his findings checked and acknoledged by the companies that produe the machines.

Apparently they have solved the issue with alteration of documents at least for ciurrent machines. But the technology for compression is still in place.