How to Straighten a Crooked Page

[Merkava_4]

2021 MacBook Pro
Sonoma 14.6.1

Dear MacRumors Friends,

I have learned how to fill out a PDF job application using Preview. My next step is to figure out how to straighten a page that has been copied crooked. If I fill out the application with Preview, all of my text is going to be perfectly straight.

Do you have any suggestions?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Use the free Pages app:

1. Open a new document in Pages
2. File (menu), Convert To Page Layout
3. Drop PDF onto page. Size it to full size (as necessary)
4. Over in the right margin, click the Arrange tab.
5. Down in the Rotate option, rotate it just a bit to get the page level again.
6. Then you can Print to PDF to end up with a "corrected" PDF again.

Else, if you don't have Pages, any image editor that can import PDFs can be used to "rotate" it.

Else, Export it from Preview as an image, open image in image editor, rotate it to level, then import the (now) image back into Preview- it will be an image instead of a PDF file.

 

[Merkava_4]

Is there any way to adjust the image editor to rotate the document in 1/2 degree increments instead of 1 degree increments?

With your information, I was able to get the document almost perfectly straight.

Thank you for your reply HobeSoundDarryl.

 

[JMB-]

https://raec.rocklinusd.org/documents/GradPortfolioFiles/Standard%20Application.pdf

 

[Merkava_4]

Thank you JMB. That seems like cheating, but then again, it's a guaranteed way to get it straight. 😀

 

[loadpony]

Is there any way to adjust the image editor to rotate the document in 1/2 degree increments instead of 1 degree increments?

With your information, I was able to get the document almost perfectly straight.

Thank you for your reply HobeSoundDarryl.

Hi- I know I'm late but if anyone else finds this, it seems like you can type in decimal increments. Like, erase the '1' and enter '0.5'. That seemed to work for me. And thanks to HobeSoundDarryl for all the useful info!

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Pages is quite capable... especially that Page Layout Mode. It's one of the best kept secrets on Mac... often underestimated vs. (over)loaded apps like Word but yet quite capable at many of the basics of DTP software. I've convinced a few clients to buy Macs solely to use Pages for DTP stuff.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I have an app on my iPhone, "Scanner Pro" by Readdle, that has a "Warp Correction" feature that does this automatically. I can Airdrop the PDF to Scanner Pro, make the adjustment, and then Airdrop it back to the Mac.

It's too bad that:

1. Preview doesn't have this, and
2. The Scanner Pro app doesn't run on macOS

Perhaps there's another app that has this feature.

EDIT: There is an online service here…

Deskew PDF Online

Automatically straighten and de-skew any scanned PDF. Online, no installation or registration required. It's free, quick and easy to use.

www.sejda.com