The six scan effects that matter
Real scanned pages are rarely perfectly straight. A tiny tilt makes the page feel physical.
Scanner noise adds subtle grain and prevents the page from looking digitally perfect.
Light blur softens text like an office scanner. Too much blur makes the PDF hard to read.
Contrast helps black text look like ink and makes faint pages easier to read.
Most scanned paperwork is grayscale, not perfect RGB color.
A slight warm tint can imitate older paper or lower-quality office scanners.
Subtle usually looks more real
Many people overdo scan effects. Heavy blur, high noise, and extreme rotation can make the PDF look fake. For forms, contracts, and signed paperwork, subtle settings work better.
Rule of thumb: if the reader notices the effect before reading the document, the effect is probably too strong.
Which preset should you use?
- Subtle: best for clean business documents.
- Office: best default for forms and contracts.
- Old Scanner: useful when the document should look older or copied.
- Heavy: use only when you intentionally want a strong scan effect.
Preview before exporting
PDF2Scan lets you preview the scan effect before using credits. This matters because every document is different: dense text, signatures, tables, and images need slightly different settings.
Create a PDF scan effect now
Open PDF2Scan, upload your PDF, choose a preset, and fine-tune the effect. New accounts receive 5 starter credits, and each export uses 1 credit.