Bluebeam Tip: Revu: Clean, Deskew, and Enhance Scanned PDFs for OCR

Quickly tidy up scanned PDFs and boost readability by using Revu’s Edit Image capabilities alongside Color Processing.

• Locate the image: Open the scan and choose Edit PDF (Edit Image). Click the raster scan on the page to select it. If your scan is a full-page image, you’ll see a single image object spanning the sheet.
• Crop noise and borders: Right-click the selected image and choose Crop Image to remove hole punches, borders, and binding shadows that interfere with takeoffs and OCR.
• Straighten and align: With the image selected, use the Properties panel to apply a precise rotation angle (e.g., -0.8°) for deskewing. This improves legibility and measurement accuracy.
• Preserve layout, swap quality: Use Replace Image to drop in a cleaner scan (or a higher-resolution export) without losing placement and scale on the sheet.
• Adjust tone globally: For brightness/contrast, grayscale conversion, or color cleanup, go to Document > Color Processing. Typical enhancements for scans:
  • Convert to Grayscale to remove color noise and reduce file size.
  • Adjust brightness/contrast to lighten backgrounds and darken lines.
  • Despeckle and clean artifacts to improve OCR results.
  Use Batch > Color Processing to apply these settings across a whole set.
• Make it searchable: Run Document > OCR after cleanup so text can be found, selected, and exported. Batch OCR saves time on large plan sets.
• Lock in scale: If you rotated or resized, recalibrate measurements (Tools > Measure > Calibrate) before takeoffs. Add a Scale symbol so reviewers know the drawing is verified.
• Optimize and secure: Use Document > Reduce File Size to compress, then Flatten markups prior to sharing.
• QA your results: Use Split View and Snapshot Compare to spot differences pre- and post-cleanup, ensuring geometry and notes remain intact.

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