# Straighten & Repair PDF — Deskew scanned PDFs and repair damaged PDFs on Mac

Straighten crooked scanned pages, or rebuild a PDF that won't open properly. Part of OneMacTools, 151 private tools in one native Mac app (macOS 26 or later); category: PDF. Runs on your Mac; nothing is uploaded.

Straighten measures the tilt of the text on each scanned page and turns it level, keeping the page searchable. Repair rebuilds a damaged PDF, for example from a broken download, by redrawing every page that can still be read into a fresh file.

Page: https://www.onemactools.com/tools/straighten-repair-pdf · Download: https://www.onemactools.com/download · Pricing: https://www.onemactools.com/pricing

## How to use it
1. **Add the PDF.** Drop one or more PDFs onto Straighten & Repair PDF.
2. **Choose the fix.** In the right-hand panel, choose Straighten scanned pages or Repair a damaged PDF.
3. **Keep it searchable.** When straightening, leave Keep scanned pages searchable on to add a text layer to the straightened pages.
4. **Fix.** Click Fix. When straightening, the app tells you how many pages it turned, or that they were already straight.
5. **Check the result.** The fixed copy, named “straightened” or “repaired”, is saved in a dated folder in Downloads › OneMacTools.

## Options
- **Fix:** Straighten scanned pages (the default) measures the tilt of the text on each page and turns the page level. Repair a damaged PDF redraws every page that can still be read into a fresh, well-formed file.
- **Keep scanned pages searchable:** On by default. Only shown with Straighten scanned pages. Reads the text on each straightened page and adds an invisible text layer so you can search and copy it.

## Tips
- Straightening is meant for scans. Each page becomes an image, so use it on scanned documents rather than PDFs made from Word or a website.
- Pages tilted by more than about 15 degrees, and pages with little text, are left as they are.
- Repair helps with PDFs from interrupted downloads or broken email attachments that Preview won't open or shows as blank.
- Repair keeps what's drawn on each page, but links, form fields, comments and bookmarks don't carry over.
- Repair can't open password-protected PDFs. Remove the password first with Remove PDF Password.

## Questions
**How do I straighten a crooked scanned PDF on a Mac?**
Drop it onto Straighten & Repair PDF, choose Straighten scanned pages and click Fix. Each tilted page is turned level and kept searchable.

**How do I fix a PDF that won't open?**
Choose Repair a damaged PDF and click Fix. Every page that can still be read is redrawn into a new, clean file.

**Why does it say the pages were already straight?**
No tilt was found. Very small tilts are ignored, as are pages with too little text to measure.

**Will repair recover every page?**
Only the pages macOS can still read. If the file is too damaged to read any pages, you'll be told so.

**Is the straightened PDF still searchable?**
Yes, with Keep scanned pages searchable on. The text is read again after straightening and added as a hidden layer.

**What does deskew mean?**
Deskewing is straightening a page that was scanned or photographed at a slight angle, so the lines of text run level.