Clean crooked and washed-out PDF scans
Auto-contrast, deskew and optional despeckling on every scanned page.
Clean Scanned PDF now — free →Bindery analyzes each rendered scan locally, lifts weak contrast, estimates small page rotations and removes isolated dust pixels when requested. The output rebuilds the document from cleaned page images, which makes inconsistent scans easier to read and prepare for OCR.
Cleanup rasterizes the pages and removes an existing text layer. Run OCR afterwards if the cleaned result must be searchable, and keep the original for archival or evidentiary use. Bindery runs entirely in your browser — your file is never uploaded, so there is nothing to delete from a server afterwards.
How it works
- Drop the scan and open Scan cleanup
- Choose auto-contrast, deskew and optional despeckling
- Clean the pages, inspect the output and run OCR if searchable text is needed
Questions people ask
How much rotation can deskew correct?
The current detector targets small scan errors up to about three degrees. Larger rotations should be fixed with page rotation before cleanup.
Will cleanup remove the searchable text layer?
Yes. Cleaned pages are rebuilt as images, so run the OCR tool afterwards to add a new searchable text layer.
Should I keep the original scan?
Yes. Cleanup changes pixels and is intended for a readable working copy. Keep an untouched original for records, evidence or archival use.