How to Edit a Scanned Document
Source: https://www.easepdf.com/pdf-to-word/
When we have a scanned document like a PDF file but want to make changes inside the document, it seems that this work can not be done without extra help brought by Adobe Acrobat. If you don’t want to download and install Adobe Acrobat but still want to edit the scanned document, this article will bring two methods to you. Now, let’s see how to edit a scanned document without using Adobe Acrobat but in a more convenient way.
Method 1. Convert the Scanned Document to Word
As we all know, unlike Word documents, scanned documents cannot be edited directly, and most scanned documents are saved in PDF format. Therefore, the easiest way to make a scanned file editable again is to convert it into a Word document, because Microsoft Word allows you to edit PDF files very easily. However, if you want to convert the scanned document to Word format, it is recommended to save the scanned document in PDF format first.
Step 1. First, you need to open Microsoft Word on your computer. Then open the scanned PDF file which you need to edit.
Step 2. When you select to add the PDF document in Word, the software will ask you whether you need to convert the PDF document into an editable Word document. So when you see this notification, you should click “OK” to continue your process.
Step 3. When Word has added the scanned PDF content and converted it into a Word document, all the content inside the scanned file can be edited now. Just edit it as you always do such as change the words, highlight important messages, add images or tables, and so on while using Word.
Tip: Online Tool to Convert PDF Document to Word
If you need to convert a scanned PDF document to Word, you need to use Microsoft Word or other services that provide built-in OCR technology. But if you just want to convert a PDF document with normal content to Word, then using an online PDF to Word converter would be more convenient. You can quickly get the Word document for editing offline. So based on whether the PDF document is scanned or not, you can use different options to convert it to a Word file.
Method 2. Use Online OCR services
Another method to edit a scanned document is to use the online OCR services. What is OCR service? Its full name is Optical Character Recognition. This is a technology that can turn the scanned documents into editable files. Many software can offer such service and Microsoft is also one of such software makers, as we have also introduced the function that Microsoft Word can offer to convert PDF to Word for editing above. But here, the way to use online OCR services would be introduced.
Step 1. When you have your scanned document in PDF format, you can directly open an online OCR service provider in your browser.
Step 2. Then you need to upload the scanned PDF document to the OCR tool. When the file is imported, the tool will scan it and offer the content for you to edit online. Also, it will provide format options for you to convert the scanned document to. You can choose the Word option from the provided menu.
Step 3. When the scanned document is downloaded in Word format, you can go to the download folder for finding this Word file and then edit it as you want offline easily.
Summary
Editing a scanned document is not a difficult thing because you get different methods to turn the document into an editable format. Such as the online PDF converters and also those free OCR services. This brings a very convenient way to help you manage the content on your computer very easily.
