Do you want to edit a scanned PDF file? Is there any way to help make a scanned PDF file editable? If you wonder about that, you can focus on this post. Here, MiniTool PDF Editor tells you how to turn a scanned PDF file into an editable one in detail.

About Scanned PDF File

A scanned PDF file is a digital document that is created by scanning a physical paper document with a scanner or similar machine. By converting a paper document to a scanned PDF one, all the pages of the original document will be saved as images. It’s a convenient way to share, store, and modify paper documents digitally.

Since a scanned document is always saved in PDF format, there is no direct way for you to make changes to such a file. Fortunately, certain PDF editors in the market can help you make a scanned PDF file editable effectively. And in the following content, this post provides you with a detailed guide on how to make a PDF editable by using excellent PDF editors.

If you are considering making scanned files editable PDFs like others, you can pay attention to the guide below.

Tips:
When there is a need to straighten or deskew a scanned PDF file, you can follow this post: Is the Scanned PDF File Crooked? Try These Methods to Deskew PDF

How to Edit a Scanned PDF File

How can you edit a scanned PDF file? If you are curious about this question like others, you are at the right place. Here’re two effective ways you can try to make PDF editable. Just keep reading and pick one according to your preference. 

Way 1: Edit A Scanned PDF File with OCR

OCR, short for Optical Character Recognition, is a process that enables you to recognize scanned PDF files into editable and searchable ones easily and quickly. Therefore, when it comes to making a scanned PDF file editable, you are always advised to use a PDF editor containing the OCR tool first. Here, we highly recommend you try MiniTool PDF Editor.

It’s an all-in-one PDF manager that includes a wide range of features related to PDF editing. For instance, you can use this program to add/remove text in PDFs, split/merge/deskew/resize PDF pages, and convert PDFs to other formats as well as OCR PDFs. Below we list the steps for how to make a PDF editable with the OCR feature. Just follow them to edit a scanned PDF file.

Note:
OCR is only supported with the free trial and pro editions of MiniTool PDF Editor. If the 7-day free trial is expired, you have to upgrade this program to the pro edition to use OCR.

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool PDF Editor on your PC (32 or 64-bit Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP.). Then launch this program to enter the main interface.

MiniTool PDF EditorClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2: Click Open to select and add the target scanned PDF file to MiniTool PDF Editor.

Open the target PDF file

Step 3: Under the Home tab, click OCR from the toolbar to open the Recognize Document window.

Click OCR

Step 4: To make PDF editable, you should modify some settings in the prompted window. Once done, click OK to apply the OCR operation.

  • Document Language: Expand the drop-down menu and choose the language you prefer.
  • Output: Select the Document with Text and Images option so that you can edit the document later.
  • Page Range: Select All Pages, Current Page, or Page Range to decide which pages you want to OCR.
  • Optional: If there are any e-signatures and stamps in the scanned file, you can keep them original by not performing OCR for them.
Perform OCR

Step 5: After the process is completed, the new editable version of the scanned PDF file will be opened in a new tab automatically. Now you can go to the Edit tab to make changes to the editable PDF.

Way 2: Edit A Scanned PDF File with Conversion

In addition to OCR, you can also try converting the scanned PDF file to an editable format, such as Word, Excel, TXT, and so on. This way may help you edit a scanned PDF file as well. To do this, you can use MiniTool PDF Editor as a PDF converter. And the following is a step-by-step guide on how to convert PDF to an editable document with this program.

Step 1: Get MiniTool PDF Editor installed on your PC. Then launch this program and import the scanned file you want to edit.

Step 2: Go to the Convert section and then select PDF to Word, PDF to Excel, PDF to PPT, or other suitable conversions depending on your needs.

Perform a PDF conversion

Step 3: In the pop-up window, select Word(.doc) or Word(.docx) for Format. Then choose a location from the drop-down menu or by clicking the three-dots icon to save the converted file. After that, click Start to execute the conversion.

Tips:
If you want to adjust conversion settings, you can click Settings.
Choose the conversion format and output path

Step 4: Once you convert the scanned PDF file to Word successfully, you are able to open and edit this file.

Do you have any idea about how to edit a scanned PDF file? If not, you can read this post, in which two ways are provided to help you make a scanned PDF file editable with ease.Click to Tweet

Bottom Line

In this post, MiniTool PDF Editor summarizes two available ways that can help you edit a scanned PDF file. When you are trying to make some changes to a PDF file generated by scanning, you can choose one desired way from above. If you have questions about scanned PDF file editing, you can leave a message in our comment area below.

For any problems with MiniTool PDF Editor, you can contact us via [email protected]. We will reply to you as soon as possible.

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About The Author

Yamila

Position: Columnist

Yamila is a fan of computer science. She can solve many common issues for computer users by writing articles with simple and clear words. The very aspect that she is good at is partition management including create partition, format partition, copy disk and so on. When she is free, she enjoys reading, doing some excerpts, listening to music and playing games.