When handling PDF files in a professional or any other setting, we often need to perform various PDF-related functions. Among these functions is cleaning up a file by deleting text and images. This process helps you achieve a smaller file size and make room for more suitable information. This article features methods to clean up PDFs using an exceptional PDF tool, PDFelement

In this article
  1. Discussing Text Clean Up Using PDFelement
  2. Learning How to Clean Up Images in PDFelement
  3. How to Clean Up Scanned PDF in PDFelement?
  4. Reasons For Cleaning Up a PDF
  5. Useful Tips for Cleaning Up a PDF

Part 1. Discussing Text Clean Up Using PDFelement

While speaking of PDF files, the first tool to come to mind is PDFelement, an all-in-one PDF management stop. This PDF cleaner provides excellent editing tools that allow you to add or delete text, images, or URLs from a file. In addition to editing a file, this tool can also convert a PDF file to various other file formats.

To organize PDFs, you can merge multiple files into one or compress a document to achieve a specific file size or number of pages. If you want to edit a PDF file by cleaning its text, you must go through the following steps:

Step 1Begin the Clean Up Using PDFelement

To start the clean-up process, head over to PDFelement on your device, then use the main interface to press “Open PDF” from the top left corner. As the uploaded file opens in the new screen, click the “Edit All” drop-down arrow to tap the “Text” option from the list.

access text editing option in pdfelement

Step 2Use the Mouse and Keyboard to Clean the Text

Explore the document and take the cursor to the point where you want to clean the text. Click and drag the cursor, select the text you want to clean, and use your keyboard's "Backspace" key to clean the selected text.

edit the text in pdf pdfelement

Part 2. Learning How to Clean Up Images in PDFelement

If you have mistakenly added the wrong image to a PDF file, do not worry, as you can easily clean it up using this cleaner PDF. The following steps discuss the method of cleaning up an unsuitable image from a PDF document:

Step 1Use PDFelement to Clean an Image From a PDF

First of all, upload a PDF file into PDFelement using the main interface, refer to the toolbar and click the “Edit All” menu. From the extended menu, select the “Image” option and skim through the entire file to find the inappropriate image.

enable image editing in pdfelement
Step 2Remove the Image from the File Using Keyboard

As you select the image you need to delete, use the “Delete” button from your keyboard and remove the image from your file.

edit or remove image in pdf

Part 3. How to Clean Up Scanned PDF in PDFelement?

As we know, scanned PDF files are non-editable and require a third-party tool that makes it editable, PDFelement is a perfect platform for it. Follow the steps given below to learn how to clear PDF that is scanned:

Step 1Use PDFelement to Open a Scanned PDF

If you have a scanned PDF file that you need to clean through PDFelement, you can launch the homepage of this software. Now, click the “Open PDF” button to upload a scanned file in the new window.

import scanned pdf across pdfelement
Step 2Select the OCR Options Before Proceeding

From the toolbar, click the "OCR" button to download the OCR function on your device and head over to the "OCR PDF" window. In this window, you will be able to enter "OCR Options" and "Language Recognition" along with the "Page Range” option as required.

adjust ocr pdf settings
Step 3Apply OCR and Repeat the Steps

As you click the “Apply” button from the same window, you will have to repeat the above-mentioned steps to clean text or image from the PDF.

apply the ocr settings pdfelement

Part 4. Reasons For Cleaning Up a PDF

The reason why you make a PDF clear could be due to many factors ranging from security or file size issues. The following content features the situations where cleaning PDFs could be a lifesaver:

  1. Improving Legibility: Decluttering a PDF file can help you find the desired text easily, enhancing its readability. In addition, deleting the unwanted information will draw the reader’s focus on the intended text.
  2. File Size Reduction: Cleaning images from a PDF file can significantly reduce its size. It can also enable you to share the reduced file size across any platform that supports small files.
  3. Easier Editing: If the document has no unnecessary information, it can be easy to find the text or image you need to edit. Whether you are making minor changes or major ones, clean PDFs are easier to handle.
  4. Privacy Boost: Cleaning the sensitive data from a PDF file can help you make your file more secure and free of breaches. In this way, you can prevent unintended disclosure of private data from your files.

Part 5. Useful Tips for Cleaning Up a PDF

While it seems easy to clean up a PDF document, this task has its intricacies that should be considered. The following discussion is about the tips you should follow while cleaning a PDF:

  1. Use OCR: If you are dealing with scanned images and files, it is best to clean them up using OCR. Besides making the file editable, you will also be able to clean the text and images from this PDF file.
  2. Fix the Formatting: Ensure that the text is well aligned, and the headings are well formulated and readable. Furthermore, you must adjust the margins, paragraph alignment, and line spacing as well before you go.
  3. Remove Annotations: While finalizing the document, you should remove the unneeded comments and markings from the file. If needed, you can also remove faulty text or unsuitable images or videos.
  4. Secure the Document: When the PDF file contains sensitive information or digital signatures, you must protect it using a password. Despite that, you can also protect your file from selective tasks while allowing reading access.

Conclusion

Concluding the article, it can be said that cleaning a PDF file is an important task to perform while dealing with file size or any other issues. PDFelement is a great PDF cleaner that provides its users with unique features that can be used to clean text and images from scanned and unscanned PDF files.

Audrey Goodwin
Audrey Goodwin Sep 23, 24
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12 years of talent acquired in the software industry working with large publishers. Public speaker and author of several eBooks on technical writing and editing.