Guides

Plain answers to the questions people ask about documents and photos — editing a scan, getting a PDF under a size limit, passport photo rules, translating and extracting tables — with the steps, the limits and a dated source for every outside fact.

Can you edit the text in a scanned PDF?Yes, but not the way you edit a normal PDF.How to edit a scanned PDF without retyping itUpload the scan to a scanned-PDF editor and say what should change, for example "change 12 March to 14 March".How to compress a PDF to under 100 KBOpen the PDF in a compressor that targets a size, set the limit to 100 KB and download the result.Indian passport photo size and specificationsAn Indian passport photo is 4.5 cm high by 3.5 cm wide (45 × 35 mm), in colour, on a plain white background, with your head in the centre and both ears visible.How to change a date or an amount in a PDFIf the PDF has real text, an editor that replaces text runs can change the date or the amount in the same font and position.How to translate a scanned PDF and keep the layoutUse a translator built for scans: it reads the page with OCR, translates each block of text, paints out the original words and sets the translation in the same box, at the size and colour of the ink.How to extract a table from a scanned PDF to ExcelA scanned table has to be read with OCR and then rebuilt as rows and columns from where the text sits on the page.How to remove the background from a photo for freeOpen a background remover that runs in your browser, drop the photo in, and download a PNG with a transparent background, or put the subject on white or any colour.

Files to practise on

The free sample files are fictional scans, an invoice, a bank statement, a receipt and a fillable form, made for trying the steps in these guides without using a real document.