Any scanned PDF, rebuilt for your e-reader
A scanned PDF is a stack of photographs of paper. Open one on a Kindle, a Kobo or a reMarkable and the reader shrinks each photograph until the whole sheet fits, margins, page numbers, gutter shadow and all, so the text you wanted lands in the middle at two thirds of its printed size, on a background that scanned as grey rather than white. The device is not doing anything wrong. It was handed a picture of a page and it is showing you the picture.
↑ Upload and configure in our Studio
The large readers can crop a PDF’s margins themselves now, and if that is all your file needs, do that. This page is for the scans that need more. It treats every page as an image and rebuilds it: trims the margins and the page numbers, runs an auto-level pass that pushes a grey scan towards black and white, splits a two-page spread into two pages, enlarges a small scan up to the panel’s pixel count instead of leaving a border, renders the result at the exact resolution of the model you pick from 41 presets, and writes the file the device opens natively: EPUB for a Kindle, KEPUB for a Kobo, PDF for a reMarkable, CBZ if you want the cleaned pages for another app. The finished file waits on your Reader Shelf, so a Kobo or a Boox can download it in its own browser.
It is the same pipeline every comic page on this site goes through, which is why it already works: a scanned book page and a scanned comic page are the same kind of object. The pages linked below do the same job with presets and wording for one kind of document each; this one is the general case, and the place to start if yours is not listed.
- Files auto-delete after 24 hours
- No install, runs in any browser
- Free to use
- The genuine open-source KCC engine
How to convert a scanned PDF for an e-reader
Drop in the scan
A PDF from a flatbed, a phone, archive.org or a library portal, up to 1GB and 1000 pages per file and 20 files per batch. A ZIP or CBZ of page images is accepted too, so a book you photographed page by page is fine.
Margins, contrast and spreads are already set
This page presets margin cropping with page-number trimming, the auto-level pass for grey scans, spread splitting, enlargement of pages smaller than the screen, and left-to-right page order. The output is greyscale, which is what a greyscale panel shows anyway. Every one of these is a switch you can flip in the options before converting.
Pick your device
A large Kindle profile is preselected as a starting point. Every current Kindle, Kobo and reMarkable has its own preset that builds pages for that panel’s exact pixel count, so choose your model from the list. For a Boox, a PocketBook or any reader not listed, choose Custom conversion and type the panel’s width and height in pixels.
Check the preview, convert, download
The preview renders real pages at the device size, which is where you see whether the smallest print survived the scan. Convert, then download the file or pick it up on the reader from your Reader Shelf over Wi-Fi. Files auto-delete after 24 hours.
Pages for specific kinds of document
Sheet music
PDF scores cropped to the staves and levelled for e-ink, left-to-right page order, PDF output for a reMarkable.
Sheet music for e-readersOrchestral and choral parts
Single parts and lead sheets on a Scribe, an Elipsa, a reMarkable or a Boox, readable from a stand.
Orchestral parts for e-readersGuitar tabs and songbooks
Tablature and chord sheets with the fret numbers kept legible on a 6 inch Kindle or Kobo.
Guitar tabs for e-readersQuran and scripture scans
A mushaf page fitted to the screen with right-to-left page turns, no reflow and no translation.
Quran on Kindle and KoboTabletop RPG rulebooks
Dense two-column rulebooks with tables and sidebars, split and cropped for a large e-ink panel.
TTRPG rulebooks for e-readersBoard game rulebooks
Rulebook PDFs from the publisher’s site, rebuilt so the diagrams and the fine print both survive.
Board game rulebooks for e-readersTextbooks
Scanned textbooks and lecture notes, margins trimmed and small type kept readable on a Scribe or an Elipsa.
Textbooks for e-readersPuzzle books
Crosswords, sudoku and logic puzzles as full-screen pages you can write on with a reMarkable or Scribe pen.
Puzzle books for e-readersCookbooks
Recipe pages fitted to the screen so a whole recipe reads without zooming at the counter.
Cookbooks for e-readersOld magazines
Archive scans of magazines, with the grey paper levelled and the columns kept legible.
Old magazines for e-readersService manuals
Workshop and service manuals with wiring diagrams and exploded views, rebuilt for the garage e-reader.
Service manuals for e-readersKnitting and sewing patterns
Pattern PDFs with charts and tables, cropped and sharpened so a stitch chart reads on e-ink.
Knitting patterns for e-readersWhich e-readers work for scanned PDFs, by brand
| Device | Profile in the picker | Screen | Recommended output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kindle (any model) | A profile per model, from the basic Kindle to the Scribe | 6 to 10.2 inch depending on the model | EPUB, delivered by Send to Kindle, the Reader Shelf or USB |
| Kobo (any model) | A profile per model, from the Clara to the Elipsa | 6 to 10.3 inch depending on the model | KEPUB, copied over USB or downloaded from the Reader Shelf in the Kobo browser |
| reMarkable (any model) | A profile per model, reMarkable 1, 2 and Paper Pro | 10.3 to 11.8 inch depending on the model | PDF, loaded through the reMarkable app; you can write on it |
| Boox, PocketBook and other Android readers | Custom conversion | Type the panel’s pixel width and height | EPUB or PDF, downloaded in the device’s own browser from the Reader Shelf |
| Any 6 inch reader | Your model’s profile | Readable for a novel-sized scan once the margins are cropped, small for a two-column page | The brand’s native format, as above |
What this cannot do
No OCR and no reflow: the output is page images, so text is not selectable or searchable. No colour on a greyscale panel. No magic on a 6 inch screen: a page that is small on paper stays small on a small screen, cropping only reclaims the margins. A skewed or badly lit scan is cleaned up, not rescanned.
Rebuilt, not just cropped
Device-side cropping scales the same PDF on every page turn. A rebuild happens once, at the panel’s own resolution, with the contrast levelled and the spreads split, and the device then opens a native EPUB or KEPUB it can page through without thinking. That is the difference you feel after the first few pages.
One page per kind of document
Sheet music, orchestral parts, tabs, scripture, rulebooks, textbooks, puzzles, cookbooks, magazines, manuals and knitting patterns each have a page below with presets and advice for that document. They all run this same pipeline; the presets and the wording are what differ.
Frequently asked questions
My Kindle Scribe or Kobo already crops PDF margins. What does this add?
Cropping is one of six things this does, and the device’s crop keeps the page a PDF the reader still has to scale on every turn. A rebuild also levels a grey scan to black and white, splits spreads, enlarges small pages, renders each page once at the panel’s own pixel count, and writes EPUB or KEPUB, which the reader pages through faster than a PDF and which Send to Kindle accepts. If your scan is clean, evenly lit and already sized for the screen, the device crop is enough; most scans are not.
Why is the PDF so small on my Kindle?
Because the reader fits the whole scanned sheet to the screen, and a sheet is mostly margin. A letter or A4 scan with an inch of border on each side gives up a quarter of its width before any text is drawn. Trimming the border before the page is sized to the screen is most of the gain, and the auto-level pass gives back the contrast the scanner lost.
Does this work for archive.org and library scans?
Yes, and they are the typical case: a book photographed on a cradle, with grey paper, a dark gutter and the page numbers at the edge. The preset crops the border and the page numbers, and the auto-level pass brightens the paper. Download the plain PDF from the item page, not the black-and-white one, so the pass has grey levels to work with. Check the item’s licence before you copy it, as you would for any book.
Will the text stay searchable?
No. The output is a book of page images, exactly like a comic, so the reader’s search, dictionary and font settings do not apply to it. If you need reflowable text, you need OCR, which is a different tool. What you get here is every page legible at its real size, which for a scan is usually the thing that was missing.
Which output format should I choose?
EPUB for a Kindle, which is what Send to Kindle accepts. KEPUB for a Kobo, for faster page turns. PDF for a reMarkable, which handles PDFs properly and lets you write on them. EPUB or PDF for a Boox, whichever its reader app prefers. CBZ gives you the cleaned page images on their own if you read in a different app.
Can I convert a two-page spread or a landscape scan?
A scanned spread is split into two pages by the preset, the left page first. A single page scanned in landscape can be rotated instead of split: choose rotate in the page layout options, or switch the reader itself to landscape where it supports that.
Page extraction, cropping, levelling and resizing run on Kindle Comic Converter (KCC), the open-source engine built for putting image-based pages on e-readers. A scanned page is an image-based page, which is why the fit is honest. Hosted here with a live preview, no install.
Free, margins cropped, contrast levelled, built for your panel