Question : scan as editable text with graphic into  Ms word looks awful

the scanning of docs into word looks distorted or out of proportion. (it doesn't look exactly as the original). I use my scanner's hp director program to do this. Is it word or the scanner program causing this? and how do i make ms word retain graphics, column formatting including layout features. although the scanned document looks as the original when saved as pdf file, i don't know how i can edit the test with adobe acrobat reader.

Answer : scan as editable text with graphic into  Ms word looks awful

Yes, I can see where the problem lies.  There's no telling what program created the original invoice or statement, and any ocr software may find difficulties trying to recreate the layout in MS Word.

As you seem to get the best output converted to PDF, then your idea of directly editing that file and resaving it seems to be the best workaround.

I did a quick search in google for "freeware pdf editor" and it came up with the following list at http://freedownloadcenter.com/

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/pdf-editor-free.html

The "free" is often a misnomer with programs listed on these sites though.  While the program may be absolutely free to DOWNLOAD, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is free to USE.  In many cases these programs are "shareware", and will either nag you to pay for the software but retain functionality, or will time-out on you after the trial period elapses.

The issue of finding a FREE pdf EDITOR has been asked by others here:
http://forums.winforums.org/showthread.php?t=11308
http://www.freewarearena.com/html/Forums/viewtopic/t=193.html
and you will see by the answers that most seem to be misunderstanding the need for an EDITOR rather than a converter or reader.

About the closest you will get to "editing" functionality in a freeware (or Open Source) PDF conversion program is the additional ability to:
- Merge other pdf's or text-based documents into the one generated
- Add or remove pages, including blanks
- Compress the file
- Add simple annotations and comments
- Tweak the manner in which it is set to open in a pdf reader utility program

Here's another example of what is best described as a "lightweight pdf editor" with the limited editing functions as above:
http://www.aloaha.com/wi-software-en/pdf-editor.php

Full-blown EDITING of a PDF document seems to have remained very much in the retail area, which is surprising given that so many developers dedicate so much of their time creating other types of absolutely free programs with very advanced features.

Some of these shareware pdf EDITORS may be able to do what you need for a MUCH smaller outlay than for something like the full Adobe Acrobat program.  The top one on this page:
http://www.brothersoft.com/downloads/free-pdf-editor.html
http://www.brothersoft.com/file_disk_management/pdf/pdf_editor_19442.html
is by a German company called CAD-KAS.  I've used their very well priced program for creating distributable CD Menu's, and found it pretty well featured.

Another problem is that you may find a pdf EDITOR for a very low price, like this:
http://www.tucows.com/preview/209256
but does it allow you to open, edit, and resave an EXISTING pdf file?
It doesn't appear so, BUT there IS one by that same company that looks as though it WILL:
http://www.visagesoft.com/products/pdfeditor/
http://www.visagesoft.com/products/pdfeditor/price.php

Open Source programs are most usually written for Linux and Unix platforms, but many also offer "Windows" versions as well.  Here's a list of Open Source pdf-related software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_software_packages#PDF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Free_PDF_software

It would be a case of looking at each of the programs and visiting the developers' pages to see if Windows versions were available.

Hopefully you might find what you are looking for.

Regards
Bill