How to Edit a Scanned Document

PDF download Download Article
An easy guide to converting scanned documents and images into text you can edit
PDF download Download Article

This wikiHow teaches you how to edit the text of a document that you scanned into your computer. The technology behind turning visual representations of text into actual text is called Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. You can use a website called "New OCR" to pull the text from your document without preserving the formatting, or you can sign up for a site called "Online OCR" for more advanced PDFs.

Things You Should Know

  • Free OCR converters transform text-heavy scanned files into editable documents.
  • You can convert any scanned document to a format you can edit in Word, Pages, or Google Docs.
  • While some OCR converters only accept PDF files, many support image files like TIFF and PNG.
Method 1
Method 1 of 2:

Using New OCR

PDF download Download Article
  1. Scan your document as a PDF . This is important, as many text converters don't recognize text in pictures as well as they do in PDF files.
    • If possible, scan your document using black-and-white settings rather than color settings. This makes it easier for text-editing programs to recognize the characters.
  2. Go to https://www.newocr.com in your browser. You can convert scanned documents into editable plain-text documents from here.
    Advertisement
  3. It's a grey button at the top of the page. Doing so will open a File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac) window.
  4. Click the scanned PDF file to do so.
    • You may first have to click the scanned PDF file's location folder on the left side of the window.
  5. It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. Doing so will upload your PDF to the website.
  6. This button is near the bottom of the page. Your uploaded PDF will be converted into text.
  7. It's on the left side of the page. Clicking it prompts a drop-down menu.
  8. This option is in the drop-down menu. Doing so will prompt a Microsoft Word version of your uploaded PDF to download onto your computer.
    • If you don't have Microsoft Word installed on your computer, you can download a .txt version by clicking Plain text (TXT) in the resulting drop-down menu. You can then edit the document using Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac).
  9. Double-click the downloaded Word document to open it in Microsoft Word, then edit any text in the PDF that's readable.
    • Some text in the PDF will be impossible to edit based on translation errors.
    • You may have to click Enable Editing at the top of the Word window before you can edit the text.
  10. To do so: [1]
    • Windows - Click File , click Save As , click the "Word Document" drop-down box, click PDF , and click Save .
    • Mac - Click File , click Save As , enter a name, click the "Format" box, click PDF , and click Save .
    11. Advertisement
Method 2
Method 2 of 2:

Using Online OCR

PDF download Download Article
  1. Scan your document as a PDF . This is important, as many text converters don't recognize text in pictures as well as they do in PDF files.
    • If possible, scan your document using black-and-white settings rather than color settings. This makes it easier for text-editing programs to recognize individual characters.
  2. Go to https://www.onlineocr.net/ in your browser. This site allows you to edit your PDF's text while still maintaining the visual formatting of the PDF, though you can only convert 50 total pages for free.
  3. It's in the upper-right side of the page. Doing so takes you to the account creation page.
  4. Creating an account on the Online OCR site is free, and it will allow you to edit multiple PDF pages at once. To create your account, enter the following details:
    • Username - Type your preferred username into the "Username" text field.
    • Password - Type your preferred password into the "Password" and "Confirm password" text fields.
    • Email - Type your email address into the "E-Mail" text field.
    • Captcha - Type the code that's in the code box into the "Enter Captcha code" text field.
  5. It's a green button at the bottom of the page. Doing so will create your Online OCR account.
  6. Click LOGIN in the top-right corner of the page, enter your username and password, and click the green Log in button. This will take you to the PDF converter page.
  7. Click the language of your PDF on the left side of the page.
    • For example, if your PDF is in English, you'd click ENGLISH on the left side of the page.
  8. It's in the middle of the page.
  9. You'll find this to the right of the "Microsoft Word" section.
  10. It's a blue button in the middle of the page. A window will open.
  11. Click the scanned PDF file to do so.
    • You may first have to click the scanned PDF file's location folder on the left side of the window.
  12. This is in the bottom-right corner of the window. Doing so will begin uploading your document to the website. Once the progress bar to the right of Select file... reaches 100%, you can continue.
  13. It's at the bottom of the page. This will take you to the converted file's page once Online OCR finishes converting your uploaded PDF into an editable Word document.
  14. You'll see the document's name appear as a blue link at the bottom of the page. Clicking it will download the document onto your computer.
  15. Double-click the downloaded Word document to open it in Microsoft Word, then edit any text in the PDF that's readable.
    • Some text in the PDF will be impossible to edit based on translation errors.
    • You may have to click Enable Editing at the top of the Word window before you can edit the text.
  16. To do so:
    • Windows - Click File , click Save As , click the "Word Document" drop-down box, click PDF , and click Save .
    • Mac - Click File , click Save As , enter a name, click the "Format" box, click PDF , and click Save .
    17. Advertisement

Community Q&A

Search
Add New Question
  • Question
    How do I edit documents on Android mobile?
    Community Answer
    Hold your finger on the screen, then move it to the place you want to edit. Then select the option to edit.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 2 Helpful 7
  • Question
    How do I change documents to PDF files?
    Community Answer
    If you are using MS-Word (and many other word processing programs, too), open the document and then save it as a PDF file. Don't forget to rename it first.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 4 Helpful 6
  • Question
    How do I edit documents on my iPhone?
    Community Answer
    You will likely have to download a specific program. iPhones will let you view documents easily (like through an email), but it doesn't give you editing capabilities like the program normally would.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 2 Helpful 0
Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
      Advertisement

      Tips

      • Scanned documents are typically saved as PDFs on your computer; if a scanned document is saved as a TIFF file, you can to convert the file into a PDF.
        Thanks
        Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
      Submit a Tip
      All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
      Name
      Please provide your name and last initial
      Submit
      Thanks for submitting a tip for review!
      Advertisement

      Warnings

      • OCR technology isn't perfect. Any scanned document that you edit will most likely have errors.
        Thanks
        Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
      Advertisement

      You Might Also Like

      How to
      Open BIN Files
      How to
      Install APK Files on Android
      How to
      Extract a GZ File on Windows, Linux, Mac, & Mobile
      How to
      Open DLL Files
      How to
      Open a DAT File
      How to
      Remove Unneeded & Unused Files in Windows 10 & 11
      3 Easy Ways to Protect a Folder With a Password
      4 Simple Ways to Scan and Save Documents
      How to
      Compress Large Files
      Quick Ways to Open JPEG Images on Windows, Mac, and Mobile
      6 Simple Ways to Play SWF Files Without Adobe Flash Player
      How to
      Use 7-Zip to Compress Files to the Smallest Size
      How to
      Open TMP Files
      How to
      Create a TXT File on Mac
      Advertisement

      References

      1. ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/968197/save-a-file-in-a-different-format-in-microsoft-office-for-mac-applicat

      About This Article

      In other languages
      Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 753,377 times.

      Is this article up to date?

      Advertisement