Image-like PDFs vs selectable text

Some PDFs behave like photographs of paper: you zoom and see texture. Others expose real text objects you can copy. ScannedLook’s export leans toward the first camp on purpose — that is the aesthetic it is for.

Why teams still ask for “scan realism”

• Archives that match how paper files looked on a copier tray.
• Workflows where a “camera or scanner” cue is part of the filing convention.
• Uniformity when originals came from mixed sources.

Trade-offs to name out loud

Heavy image pages can weigh more than lean text PDFs. Accessibility and copy/paste suffer unless you also ship an accessible alternative. If your regulator expects searchable text, a pure scan-style file may be the wrong sole deliverable.

Use the side-by-side preview

ScannedLook shows Original next to Scanned look so you can judge blur, noise, and edge before you commit bytes to disk. Iterate locally until the right column matches your standard.