Many scanned documents that I have seen are a compromise between sharp type and whatever images are in the document, and the text ends up with a gray background.

Some documents have line drawings only, and the b/w filter (threshold) works on most of them. Some need a lightening or darkening step before this works. Needless to say, it's a pain, and a slow one. I am retired and don't have money to burn on expensive software or subscriptions.

Looking forward to a better scanned doc or book experience.