How to Darken Text in PDF Files and Make Them Readable
If you work on or read PDF documents often—be it books, magazines, or other files, you’ll surely have encountered occasions when some scanned copies were hard to read, likely due to smaller font sizes or darker backgrounds.
One way you may fix this is by turning up the brightness or contrast and adding some color, which will make it more legible and easier on the eyes. Let’s take a closer look at some of the effective methods to darken the text in a PDF file and make it more readable.
1. Adjust Colors and Background Settings in Adobe Acrobat Reader
Acrobat Reader has built-in accessibility features to fine-tune background and text settings. This helps to enhance print quality as well as make it more readable and scannable. Here’s how to do this:
Download:Adobe Reader forAndroid|iOS|Web(Free, subscription available)
We also recommend usingWebAIM’s free contrast checker toolto analyze the contrast ratios in your documents and images.
2. Export to Microsoft Word
You can convert your PDF file into a Word document and apply different font types, sizes, and colors to improve the legibility of text. To do this, follow the steps listed below:
Download:Microsoft Word forAndroid|iOS|Web(Free)
3. Windows & Mac: Use the Default Print and Scan Settings
When you’re printing out a document or file, you can adjust your printer’s settings to darken the text in PDF files. You’ll want to do this in cases where the prints are unclear or illegible. This can be done on Windows as well as on a Mac.
Increase Print Density For Windows
You can adjust the printer settings on your Windows device to increase or decrease the print density as required. Here’s how:
Apply Decrease Lightness Settings on Mac
it’s possible to apply similar settings when you’re trying toprint documents on your Mac. To do this, follow the steps below:
4. Use Free PDF Tools Online
As we mentioned earlier, you can make PDFs legible by altering text colors and adjusting font size.
Sejdais a free PDF editing software that allows you to change the font attributes of the document, or any other enhancements you may want. You will also find some useful functions that can help make your editing experience easier.
To get started, you’ll need to upload your PDF document. Select theTextoption in the upper-left corner. Once the fields become editable, select the desired area of text. It will bring up a mini-toolbar to adjust font sizes, colors, and more. You can then apply formatting changes as required.
5. Convert to Images and Apply Color Correction Tools
You can try and improve the legibility of your PDF documents by adding some color correction features like brightness and contrast, highlights, and more, where possible. To do so, you’ll need to convert your PDF files into images first. You can alsouse popular photo editing toolssuch as PhotoDirector.
Toedit your images in PhotoDirector, open the app and navigate toAdjustin the bottom menu. you could see a variety of image enhancement effects—Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Sharpness, and more. Select the filter you want from the list and move the sliders across the range as necessary.
You can also modify andchange image backgroundsusing Adobe Photoshop.
6. More Options: Use a Comprehensive PDF Editing Tool
PDFElementis yet another comprehensive editing tool that offers a suite of features that allow you to modify your default document settings—select fonts, backgrounds, and colors that suit your needs. you could sign up for a free trial and proceed with a paid subscription later. Here’s how it works:
Apply Highlights to Your Texts
you’re able to highlight a specific portion of text to add a touch of contrast. To do so,open the PDF editor, clickComment, tap themarkericon in the upper-left corner, and select the area you wish to highlight. Tap anywhere on the screen to apply the changes.
Use OCR Properties
You can select theOCRfeature from theToolssection to scan and “recognize” text from your PDF, in case it’s unclear. Here’s how to do this:
You can also export your PDF into Word or PowerPoint format and make the necessary changes.
Improve the Quality and Legibility of PDF Documents
Whether you’re simply hoping to add a little flair to your files or if you’re looking for more substantial ways to make them more legible, the suggestions above should help.
Getting the balance right between legibility and style can take some trial and error, but we hope that this list will help smooth things out a bit. Further, most of these methods are free. Go ahead and give them a try.
If you want to use Photoshop beyond making basic improvements to your pictures, try these interesting effects.
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