Remove pen marks from a PDF

Common reasons to do this

Printed forms and drafts pick up pen marks over their working life: a correction crossed out and rewritten, a margin note to a colleague, a circled field, an initialing mark on each page. Once the document is finalized, those marks are often just clutter. This tool removes handwritten ink from a PDF's pages while leaving the printed form fields, text, and layout exactly as they were.

Digital markup is handled separately

A PDF can also carry pen marks as native annotation objects rather than pixels — for example, a freehand "Ink" annotation added with a stylus in a PDF app. Those are removed directly from the PDF's own annotation data, losslessly, before any image processing happens. Other annotation types (typed comments, highlights) are left alone, since they aren't handwriting and removing them could delete a legitimate comment. More on this on the how it works page.

Use this responsibly

This tool is built for cleaning up your own drafts, working documents, and personal paperwork — not for altering signed contracts, notarized documents, or other records where the pen marks (including signatures) are part of the document's legal or evidentiary content. Removing handwriting from an official record you don't have the right to modify can have real legal consequences; that responsibility is yours, not the tool's.