How to Remove OCR from PDF? (3 Ways)

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a great tool to convert a scanned PDF to an editable PDF file. However, it is not uncommon that after OCR the layout is changed. But sometimes you may not like the new layout, or the OCR process has erased or distorted the layout in such a way that the document has lost its esthetics. In these instances, you may want to remove OCR from PDF files or reverse the process.

UPDF is a great tool to work with PDF files and will be very useful for your purpose. It can help you remove unwanted layers, also when OCR processing is done using UPDF, you can actually revert the OCR back to the original, and remove the layers much more easily if you are not happy with the outcome. You can download UPDF right now and resolve your issue quickly by following the below methods.

Part 1. How to Remove OCR Layer from PDF?

The OCR process generates different layers of the content of the scanned file, for instance, the background layer, image, and text layer, etc. If you are not happy with your OCR outcome, it could be because the OCR layer is covering the content. In this case, you can remove the layer to see if that helps improve the output quality. Follow these steps to do so with UPDF.

Step-1. Open the UPDF app. Click on the "Open File" tab you will see on the screen to browse and open the PDF file after OCRed. Also, if UPDF is not the default PDF reader, you can right-click on the file and click on the "Open with > UPDF" option.

Also Read: How To Change PDF Default Viewer?

Step-2. Once you have opened the PDF file, you will see a list of tools on the left. Click to open the "Edit PDF" tools.

If you move your cursor over the page near the content or the objects are covered, you will see that there are several sections or layers that may not be very apparent at first. If you right-click on the side of the page, you will see a menu bar. You can click on the "delete image" to delete the unwanted objects. Once done, you can find the covered content.

Step-3. Once you are happy with the outcome, you can save the file using the "Save" option from the "File" menu.

Part 2. How to Remove OCR from PDF by Using OCR with UPDF

If you are not happy with the OCR results obtained with the other software and you want to improve the outcome, you can use UPDF to OCR the scanned file. First download the UPDF and then follow these steps to convert the scanned file into a text-recognizable file.

Step-1. Once you have downloaded the UPDF app, open it. You will see the "Open File" tab on your screen or alternatively, you can go to the "File" menu and then click on the "Open" option to browse the scanned file from your computer.

Step-2. Once you have the scanned PDF file opened, you will see a series of tools on the right side of the window. Click on the OCR to open the OCR popup window, which will allow you to custom OCR your scanned PDF.

Step-3. Now choose document type "Searchable PDF". In the "Layout", you will see three options. The first layout option "Text and Pictures only" saves recognized text and pictures. The outcome file with this option will be slightly different from the original file but the file size will be small. The second layout option is "Text over the page image". This option overlays the recognized text and saves the original background image and illustrations. The output files with this option are generally larger than the first layout option and are also a tad bit different from the original file. The Third layout option "Text under page image" saves the original esthetics of the scanned file and recognized text is saved under the original image layer. The document is almost identical to the original file.

You can also pick the "Language" which increases accuracy a lot. To obtain clarity, you can customize the "Image resolution" which will affect the resolution of the output file and depending on the resolution you pick will also affect the file size. Also, if you have several pages but you only want a selected few to undergo OCR, you can specify the "Page Range" and/or "Odd and Even Pages".

Step-4. Once you have customized the settings you can hit the "Perform OCR" button. Your scanned file will undergo OCR and you will be prompted to save the output file in the desired folder.

OCR is not the only feature that UPDF has. You can download UPDF right now by clicking the below button and watch this video on YouTube to learn more about UPDF.

Part 3. How to Remove OCR from PDF by Converting Back

If you need to remove OCR from PDF, you can use UPDF to convert the OCRed PDF back to scanned or image only PDF. With UPDF you can achieve it in two ways. You can use either method whichever suits you. Just download UPDF. Open the scanned OCR processed file with UPDF. Either right-click on the file in the folder and click on "Open with >UPDF", or Open UPDF app and use the "Open" option in the "File" menu, or the "Open File" tab you will see on the screen when you open the UPDF app. Once your file is open use one of the options below:

Way 1. Use Image Only Feature

From the panel of tool icons on the right, click on the "OCR" icon to open the OCR menu box. From the "Document type", select "Image-only PDF", which will not save the file with a text searchable feature. You can also select the image quality from low, balanced, or high. There is also an option to compress the image, tick this option if you want. Also, select the page range depending on your requirements and hit the "Perform OCR" button. Your file will be saved just like a scanned PDF file without text recognition.

Way 2. Print as Image

You can use the print feature. In the UPDF, open the "File" menu and choose the "Print" option. The print window will open. Select the "Print As Image" option. On the top right, select the printer as "Microsoft Print to PDF". You can also specify the page range and size if you want but generally, default settings are made suitable to save the file as PDF by itself. Then click on the "Print" button at the bottom and you will be prompted to save the file in the desired folder. The file will be saved as an image PDF file similar to the scanned file before OCR.

UPDF has many other features besides the OCR tool. It is a complete package of PDF reading and editing tools. Any PDF file text or scanned or OCR processed can be worked on with UPDF. You can edit text or images, annotate, add comments, redact, password protect, stamp, sign, fill forms, crop pages, change page settings, and merge or split files.

Even if the file size is too large to attach to an email, you can share by creating a link or QR code. Also, you get cloud storage with a UPDF subscription to save any files and access them from anywhere.

One of the coolest features is the integrated AI in UPDF. It is not just a chatbot but can also translate, summarize, and explain the PDF document.

To test all these features, download UPDF right now. And to enjoy all of its features, you can upgrade to UPDF pro at a big discount.

Final Words

Converting a scanned PDF file to a text editable file using OCR is easier and there are many apps to do so. However, removing OCR from PDF like removing OCR layers and converting the file back to its original status is a little difficult. However, this task is easier with UPDF. You can also use UPDF's OCR to OCR the PDF because you do not get the desired result with other tools, so that you want to remove the OCR from PDF. It is even easier as the OCR quality is much better with UPDF than other competitor software. Plus, you get a lot more with UPDF at a much lower price. Download UPDF right now and unhinge your ability to work with any PDF file.