How to Edit A Scanned Document on MacOS and Windows?

As the awareness of creating a paperless office increases among more and more people, scanned documents (basically PDF files) has become a great part of our paper work in office. Yet, very often, we need to edit a scanned document to make changes. Here are multiple solutions to edit a scanned document on MacOS and Widows respectively.

Edit a Scanned Document with PDF Editor

As we all know, nearly all scanned documents are saved in PDF format because of its capability to retain and present original file elements, to be easily accessed on different platforms as well. Assuming you are working with PDF on a regular basis, you probably got a PDF editor installed.

For Mac Users Who Want to Edit a Scanned Document

When talking about PDF editor, is that Adobe product the one first comes to your head? Then, you can absolutely edit a scanned document on mac with Adobe.
Here we use subscribed Adobe Acrobat DC(price at $14.99/month), the latest Adobe Acrobat version to demonstrate how to edit a scanned document on mac.

1. Open PDF with Acrobat Acrobat DC
2. Go to “Edit PDF” on the right panel, Adobe will automatically perform OCR on the scanned document. The scanned document is editable now, go to toolbars to add text or image, or any other editing actions. To edit a specified part, click on the part and a text field appears for editing.
3. Once all the editing on the scanned document has done, go to file and save. 

For Windows Users Who Want to Edit a Scanned Document

Adobe Acrobat DC also gets the Windows version for users. But here we recommend another PDF editor to edit a scanned document on Windows, ABLE2EXTRACT PROFESSIONAL 11(price at $149.95). 
It is an all-in-one PDF editor, allowing users to convert native and scanned to Word, Excel, CSV, AutoCAD, etc, to annotate, to redact and edit PDF content. 

1. Open scanned PDF with ABLE2EXTRACT PROFESSIONAL 11.
2.  Go to “Edit”. The edit panel is on the right side. Click on the text to edit as you want to.
3.  Once editing finishes, click “Convert” to go back to the normal mode and go to  “File” to save or export your PDF. 

Edit a Scanned Document with PDF Converter

Yes, a PDF editor is not that affordable. So if you don’t have a PDF editor, or don’t want to invest too much money on edit a scanned document. You can wisely make use of PDF converters to make scanned documents editable for further modifications.

For Mac Users Who Want to Edit a Scanned Document

Cisdem PDF Converter OCR, a dedicated PDF converter for mac with OCR capability, to convert native, scanned PDF and images to 16 formats, while maintaining the original file quality (layout, format, image quality, etc). Differing from those PDF editors, Cisdem PDF Converter OCR can make scanned documents editable in batch and in abundant output formats. Even, its built-in creator allows users to create PDF from other files, and customize the PDF size & quality as needed.

1. Import scanned PDF document into the program.
   Once you have installed and launched the PDF converter on your mac, go to "Converter", drag and drop the scanned documents in PDF or click “+” to add single or multiple scanned files into the program.
2. Make the scanned PDF document editable.
   Turn the OCR function ON, select page range and language. Choose the output as PDF or any other supported editable formats. Finally click “Convert” to make the scanned document editable.For more accurate OCR results, you can click the "Settings" icon beside the language menu. A new interface will appear, with each part of the OCR applied zone marked as Texts, Images or Tables in different colorful boxes. You can check if all the contents are marked correctly, if not, manually adjust. For example, if you want a part recognized as Table, remove the defaulted mark box, click on "Mark Tables" under OCR Applied Zone toolbars, then drag a mark box to select the contents you want to recognize as Tables.
3. Edit scanned document on mac.
   If you have exported the scanned file as Word, open with Office and edit the scanned document on your mac now.

For Windows Users Who Want to Edit a Scanned Document

There are also several PDF converters for Windows, and here we recommend PDFMate PDF Converter Professional, a comprehensive PDF conversion tool to convert native and scanned PDF into Excel, Word, Text, ePub, Image, etc. It can also work as PDF splitter and merger, manager. 

1. Add scanned document with PDFMate.
   Once a scanned document is uploaded to PDFMate, following prompt will appear for you to enable OCR to convert scanned PDFs. Just check the box and click OK.
2. Convert scanned document for editing.
   Choose the output format and click ‘Convert” to make scanned documents editable. If needed, enable the merger function ON to merge all these scanned documents.
3. Edit scanned document on Windows.
   Once the conversion is done, open the file in its supported editor to edit the scanned document.

Edit a Scanned Document via Online Service

If you don’t work on scanned documents that often, you can use online free OCR software to save the money. The principle of using online free service is similar to that of PDF converter, do ocr on the scanned document to make them editable. The biggest benefit of using online service is that you can utilize this method both on MacOS and Windows.

1. Go to OnlineOCR.
2. Follow the instruction on the website.
3. Download the editable file and edit this original scanned document in the supported file editor.

Attention:

• Do not upload highly private file for conversion, in case of information leakage
• Do not upload file exceeding 5 MB
• Manually adjust the file due to suspected OCR errors

Conclusion

As for myself, I would like to turn to PDF Converter for help. PDF Editor always costs a lot, still gets limited output formats, while online OCR service may get you nowhere because of unstable conversion quality. However, a OCR PDF Converter for Mac or for Windows will enable scanned documents to be different editable formats, and you can edit a scanned document as you want to.