15 Hacks To Erase Pen Ink Without Damaging The Paper!

No matter how much time and effort you take when writing on paper, everyone eventually ends up making mistakes with their work and needs a way to remove pen ink from paper without actually causing damage to the paper. We constantly see people reaching out on various social platforms and forums asking for advice on hacks to erase pen ink without causing any damage to the paper.

Due to this, we have decided to publish our ultimate guide to help ensure that you are able to quickly and easily remove any mistakes that you make when writing with ease. These hacks to erase pen ink are cheap, easy, and can often be done with common household items that you may already have available to you removing the need to purchase any additional products.

All of these methods have all been tested over the years by thousands of people all over the world and although some do perform better than others, they all offer great advice on removing ink stains from your paper without damaging it. That said though, using a cheap, high-quality Whiteout product will almost always be the better option over home remedies when it comes to removing ink from paper as Whiteout and other variants of the product have been specifically designed for the task.

Due to this article covering a wide range of tips and tricks for removing ink from paper, we have added a table of contents below to try and help our readers save as much time as possible. You are able to click the relevant section below and be taken directly to it without having to read the rest of the article helping to save you as much time as possible.

Hacks To Erase Pen Ink From Paper

We want to quickly mention that some of our hacks to erase pen ink from paper do perform better with certain types of ink before going any further into our article. Although these home remedies are effective, where required, we will specify if that particular method of removing ink performs better or worse with certain types of ink throughout each section. For the most part, though, the majority of the methods below perform well no matter the pen-type or ink type that you are working with.

How Can I Remove Ink Without Whiteout?

As we touched on above, using a cheap, high-quality Whiteout product will almost always be your best option for removing pen ink from paper without damaging it no matter what type of pen or type of ink you are using. That said though, there are a number of people who prefer not to use whiteout on their documents after making a mistake and we have a number of other methods that you are able to use below.

How To Erase Pen With Tape?

Although a product like Whiteout is our number one recommendation to our readers looking to remove ink mistakes from their paper, the popularity of correction tape is increasing with each passing year. At the time of writing, correction tape is very close to becoming just as popular as Whiteout as it does not have the issue of being applied to your paper in a liquid form.

If you are working with thin paper then tape can be a quick, easy, and cheap way to hide any mistakes that you may make while writing without having to use Whiteout. A high-quality, cheap correction tape is our second most common recommendation right now as it is not perfect for all circumstances but can get the job done a large amount of the time and does have a few advantages over a liquid-based solution.

Are There Erasers That Erase Ink?

Although there are a number of Daiso Sand Eraser(For Ink, and For Pencil) 3pcs (Japan Import) advertised on the market, the vast majority of them are a total waste of time in our opinion. This is why we always recommend our readers avoid them when we see people asking questions similar to “do pen erasers work?”. Not only do they do a poor job of actually removing the ink from the paper, there is also a high chance of actually damaging the paper when using the eraser, especially if you are using a thinner paper to write on.

What Will Dissolve Ink?

Another popular option that we see people asking about is for products that will actually dissolve the ink right of the paper. In theory, this is perfect as you simply dissolve the ink to remove your mistake while leaving the paper unharmed. Unfortunately, in practise this is not as simple as it sounds due to most inks being either pigment or dye based. This means they usually require either hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol to dissolve them.

Due to both hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol being harsh chemicals that will almost always cause issues with your paper, we would only recommend them for options when looking to get pen ink out of your clothes. We would not recommend that you use them to get pen ink mistakes out of paper as they are more likely to cause more harm than good. Although there are some videos on YouTube showing how you are able to make your own diluted solution by mixing water to either option for better results, we still feel that this is too high risk.

How To Remove Gel Pen Ink From Paper Without Damaging The Paper?

With the popularity of gel pens increasing over the last few years, it is not surprising that we have noticed more and more people reaching out to ask for ways to remove gel pen ink from paper. One of the most commonly used methods is to dip a cotton swab into some lemon juice and then gently dab the area of the paper with the cotton swap to dissolve the gel ink.

Although this can definitely remove the ink stain from the paper, the main problem is the high acidity of the lemon juice often causing problems with the paper. Problems can range from discoloring due to the yellow tint of the lemon juice to outright changing the texture of the paper. This is why we recommend something like Whiteout so much to our readers when it comes to removing pen ink from paper.

Again, there are videos on YouTube showing how you are able to dilute the lemon juice with water to minimize the problems with the paper after removing your gel pen ink but not all inks are the same. Unless you have the time to put into trying different ratios of lemon juice to water to reduce the stain, we would just go with Whiteout or correction tape.

How To Remove Pen Ink From Paper Without Acetone?

Another popular question that we see asked is for advice on ways to remove ink from paper without having to use an acetone based product. There is a reason products such as acetone based nail polish remover is such a popular option when it comes to removing ink from ballpoint pens and that is because it works and it does a good job.

Similar to the lemon juice method covered above, many people will place a cotton bud in some acetone-based nail polish removed and then dab the bud on the paper where their ink mistake is to remove it. The issue with using this method is that it also almost always ends up causing problems with your paper due to the harsh chemicals being used and the only real, viable way to remove pen ink from paper without acetone is to cover it up using correction tape.

Does Hairspray Get Out Ink Of Paper?

Although hairspray can remove ink, it is almost always used to get ink out of clothing rather than off paper. This is due to the uncontrollable nature of using the hairspray directly from the bottle meaning that it can end up covering large portions of your paper and causing issues with large chunks of your text. On top of this, it is very rare that using hairspray to get ink our of paper will not also end up having some level of an effect on the paper itself too so we would advice against it.

Can Vinegar Remove Ink Stains From Paper?

Although vinegar can remove ink stains from paper, it will almost always end up leaving its own stain on the paper after removing the ink making it less than ideal. The majority of the time that vinegar is used for ink removal is when the ink is on your clothes rather than on paper due to its harsh acidic compounds. That said, just like many other methods of removing ink on this list, there are ways that you can try to come up with your own diluted solution of vinegar and then apply it to your paper with a cotton bud but we just feel that it is not worth the time.

Can Baking Soda Remove Pen Ink From Paper?

Baking soda is on the other side of the pH table to vinegar and although it can perform very well at removing some types of pen in from paper when gently dapped on the mistake with a cotton bud, its high alkaline properties also cause issues with the paper. Although this is usually at a much lower degree than acidic substances, it is noticeable, especially if you are attempting to remove a large amount of ink from the paper all at once.

As both acidic and alkaline substances can both cause problems with the actual paper when removing the ink, we hope that our readers are starting to see why either Whiteout or correction tape are our usual recommendations. Although neither strictly remove the ink from the paper, they simply cover it up, both methods do tend to leave your paper in a much better state then an acidic or alkaline based substance.

Can Vodka Remove Ink Stains From Paper?

Vodka is hit and miss when it comes to removing ink from paper as some types of vodka can work well for some types of ink but many types of vodka will do little to nothing. This tends to be due to the alcohol percentage of different brands of vodka being so different to each other. This is why rubbing alcohol tends to offer a much more consistent level of performance but does have the drawbacks that we highlighted earlier in the article.

What Vegetable Can Erase Pen Marks?

Although commonly used to remove certain types of ink from cloths and walls, cucumber can also help to remove pen from paper. It is not as effective as some other methods on our list, especially when it comes to gel or oil-based inks but it can help and does usually leave your paper in a better condition than any of the strong chemical compounds we have covered above too.

Conclusion

That brings our article going over the various hacks to erase pen ink from paper that you are able to use to your advantage to a close. We hope that we have been able to offer you a suitable method to remove the unwanted ink from your paper but as we have explained multiple times throughout the article, the best option is almost always going to be to go with either whiteout or correction tape.