How to Edit PDF Files: Ultimate Guide
13 July 2023 Senior Product Manager
Summary
Learn how to edit PDF files easily using professional tools. Discover local editing, online editing, and editing after converting to Word.
Table of contents
The PDF file format was created by Adobe in the early 1990s, and is now mainly used for document exchange and transmission, and is one of the most common file formats. In our daily life, many presentations, CAD drawings, invoices, administrative documents and other legal documents are saved in PDF format. Compared with other document formats, PDF files have significant advantages. It is very easy to view, can be opened directly on any device, and can retain the original format and fixed layout. In document printing, the document in PDF format can maintain good printing effect and quality. However, the content of a PDF file cannot be modified at will, and sometimes it prevents other users from printing or copying the content in the PDF document.
Compared with Word or Excel other files, editing PDF files is more troublesome, you cannot directly edit text and images in PDF. PDF is not designed for editing, so you can only modify the content with some professional PDF editing software. There are many tools and methods for editing PDF, some of the most popular and effective solutions are detailed below.
Four professional PDF editing software are recommended below, all of which can provide a variety of PDF editing tools, through which you can directly modify the text or image content of the PDF, and manage PDF pages, etc.
The following will also introduce you a very simple and easy-to-use PDF editing software——Renee PDF Aide . This software is a multi-functional integrated software that provides functions such as PDF editing, encryption, decryption and format conversion. In the PDF editing function, the software provides segmentation,merge , rotation, watermark and other functions, but you cannot directly edit the text in the PDF. In addition, it also provides advanced functions of OCR text recognition to help you quickly extract content from PDF scans or images. The software has a simple interface and rich functions, and supports conversion of multiple file formats. You can add multiple PDF files with one click, and the software supports batch conversion and editing of PDF files. Its conversion rate is up to 80 pages/minute, which can quickly increase your productivity. Compared with other PDF editing software, its operation will be easier, and a free version is available.
Supported OS : Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP/2000 (32-bit and 64-bit versions).
Hot Topic - ADsRenee PDF Aide - Powerful PDF Editing Tool 
Easy to use Friendly to computer beginners
Multifunctional Encrypt/decrypt/split/merge/add watermark
Safe Protect PDF with AES256 algorithms
Quick Edit/convert dozens of PDF files in batch
Compatible Convert PDF to Excel/PowerPoint/Text, etc.
Easy Use with simple steps
Functional Encrypt/decrypt/split/merge/watermark
Safe Protect PDF with AES256 algorithms
Free TrialFree TrialNow 800 people have obtained the free version! How to edit PDF pages
Renee PDF Aide is designed to achieve smarter and more convenient PDF operations, through which you can quickly edit PDF pages.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① After installing and opening the software, click (PDF Toolset).
② In the upper menu bar, the software provides a variety of page editing options, and you can edit PDF pages according to your needs. You can insert pages, rotate pages, crop pages, delete pages, and more.
How to Add Watermark to PDF
In order to protect the PDF file from being stolen and used by others, and to protect the ownership of the file, you can add a personal watermark to the PDF. In Renee PDF Aide, you can add foreground or background watermarks to PDF files, and you can choose images or PDF files for watermarks.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① After opening the software, click (PDF Toolset) > (Watermark) to import the PDF file.
② Please select (Add watermark (cover surface)) or (Add background); then select the watermark file to be added.
③ Finally, click the (Convert) button in the lower right corner to save the edited PDF file to the specified location.
tipsAnother PDF editing method is to convert PDF to editable word format through Renee PDF Aide, the specific operation steps you canclick here Check.
Adobe Acrobat DC It is an electronic word processing software developed by Adobe that can be used to create, edit, export, organize, share or sign PDFs. This software is a complete PDF solution, which can provide very comprehensive PDF editing functions, and can be said to be the best PDF editor at present. In addition, Adobe Acrobat DC has an OCR function that enables users to extract and edit data from scanned paper documents. Note that it’s not free and costs a lot more than other software. Although this software can provide you with the most complete PDF editing functions, we still need to consider the price when choosing PDF editing software, especially for personal or small business use.
Supported OS : The Standard version is available on Windows-based devices, while the Professional version is compatible with Windows and Mac devices.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Open the Adobe Acrobat DC software, select (Edit PDF) > (Select File).
② After opening the PDF file, click (Edit), double-click the text content, and you can edit the content in the PDF document. You can also correct spelling mistakes, change font and font size, adjust alignment, add superscripts or subscripts, and resize text or paragraphs. Additionally, use the tools in the (Object) list to add, select, move, and replace images.
③ According to your needs, you can click on the (Add Image), (Add Text), (Link), (Crop Page) or (Header and Footer) tools on the top of the document for further editing.
Foxit PhantomPDF It is a full-featured PDF editing software that can meet the various needs of enterprises and individual users. This software can create, edit, annotate, share, secure and sign PDF files and forms. Foxit PhantomPDF not only supports common editing functions such as adding links, attachments, pictures, and inserting video and audio files, but also supports advanced functions such as adding and editing objects, including font settings, paragraph settings, and object splitting, merging, Arrange and crop, etc.
In addition to editing functions, FoxitPDF also provides format conversion functions, you can convert various files to PDF, and of course you can convert PDF to Word, Excel or other popular document formats. The operation interface of this software is simple, and users can easily use it to perform various PDF editing operations. Foxit PhantomPDF Editor is a paid software, and the price is relatively high.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① First, you need to open the PDF document in Foxit PhantomPDF. Click the (Edit) tab in the upper menu bar. In it, you can choose (Edit Text), (Edit Object), (Add Text), (Add Image), etc.
② If you need to edit the page, you can click the (Page Management) tab. It provides editing options like Insert, Delete, Move, Extract, Merge, Split, Watermark, Header/Footer etc.
Every Mac computer has a built-in Preview application that you can use to view and edit photos and PDF files. As a free Mac application, Preview’s PDF editing function is relatively simple and does not provide advanced editing functions. You can only add annotations, highlight text, merge/add/subtract/move pages, rotate, crop, compress files, etc. to PDF files through it. While you can’t edit text in a PDF in Preview, you can use the markup tools to provide feedback, or to write down something you want to remember.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① In “Preview” on Mac, open the PDF document you want to insert.
② If the Markup Toolbar is not displayed, click the (Show Markup Toolbar) button . The toolbar provides text selection, rectangle selection, drawing, text, signature, note and other tools. After editing, click (Finish).
③ In addition, if you want to delete, move or merge pages in the PDF, you can click to enter (Display)>(Thumbnail) or (Display)>(Thumbnail List) for page management.
If your computer cannot download software, you can also try online PDF editing tools, so you can quickly edit PDF files as long as you maintain a good network speed. Compared with professional PDF editing software, online PDF editing tools can only provide limited editing functions. If the PDF file is too large, it is not recommended to use the online editing method.
You can edit PDF files in Google Drive, which is easier. After editing, you can also save it as another document format.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Log in to your Google Drive account, then click (New) > (Upload File), and then select a PDF file.
② After uploading the PDF to Google Drive, right-click it and select (Open With)>(Google Docs). At this point, the file has been converted into an editable document, which you can edit according to your needs.
③ After editing, you can click (File) > (Download) > (PDF document (.pdf)) to save it in PDF format. Alternatively, you can email or share with others using the share link.
Sejda PDF Editor It is a free and easy-to-use PDF editing tool that provides a variety of editing functions and supports direct modification of text and image content, as well as filling out PDF forms. However, Sejda PDF Editor is limited in use and can only edit PDF documents that do not exceed 200 pages or 50MB.
Sejda PDF online editing tool:https://www.sejda.com/pdf-editor
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Visit the Sejda PDF website, and click (Upload PDF file) to upload the PDF file to be edited. You can choose to upload the file from your computer, or click the drop-down menu to select the source of the file and upload it from Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive web address (URL).
② After uploading the PDF file, the document will be converted into an editable format. There will be an editing toolbar above the document, and you can use the editing tools to modify text, add text, add hyperlinks, fill out PDF forms, add images, and add comments.
③ When you finish editing, click (Apply changes) at the bottom of the screen. Finally, you can choose to download it to your computer or share it directly. If you are worried about PDF files being stolen, you can click the (Delete files) button to delete the uploaded files from the website.
PDFzorro online editing tool can help you edit PDF files easily, it provides more comprehensive editing functions, and the editing speed is fast. In addition to editing PDF files, PDFzorro online editing tool also provides the functions of deleting pages, extracting pages, adding blank pages, compressing files, converting, encrypting, and decrypting PDF files.
PDFzorro online editing tool: www.pdfzorro.com
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Visit PDFzorro’s website, click the (Upload) button; select the PDF file to upload, and click (Open).
② In the opened PDF editing page, please select a page to edit. Then, an editing toolbar will appear on the left side of the page, allowing you to add new text, manage pages, etc. in the PDF document.
③ Finally, after finishing all editing operations, click the (Finish / Download) button to download it to your computer.
In addition to directly editing the content and pages of the PDF through the above tools, you can also try to convert the PDF to Word and then edit it. With this editing method, you can modify, add, and delete text or pictures in the PDF at will, and Word also provides a relatively powerful text editing function.
In Renee PDF Aide, the operation of converting PDF files to Word format is very simple, and it only takes a few simple steps to complete.
Hot Topic - ADsRenee PDF Aide - Powerful PDF Editing Tool
Easy to use Friendly to computer beginners
Multifunctional Encrypt/decrypt/split/merge/add watermark
Safe Protect PDF with AES256 algorithms
Quick Edit/convert dozens of PDF files in batch
Compatible Convert PDF to Excel/PowerPoint/Text, etc.
Easy Use with simple steps
Functional Encrypt/decrypt/split/merge/watermark
Safe Protect PDF with AES256 algorithms
Free TrialFree TrialNow 800 people have obtained the free version!The specific operation steps are as follows:
① After installing Renee PDF Aide, open it. Then select (Convert PDF).
② Click (Word), and then select the save location of the target document.
③ Click the (Add File) button to add the PDF file to be converted. After the file is successfully added, the information of the file to be converted will be displayed in the conversion list, and the page for file conversion can be set by clicking the (select page) list.
④ Finally, click the (Convert) button to convert. When the conversion is over, the software will prompt the total number of converted files and the number of successfully converted files. At this time, the PDF file has been successfully converted into a Word file. After successfully converting the PDF to a Word document, you can modify or edit it.
Kind tips If you convert the PDF and find it is a picture, it means the document is a scan. Then you can also recognize and convert to text format through the OCR function of Renee PDF Aide.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① After installing the software, click (PDF conversion) to add the files to be converted.
② Check (Enable OCR) to select an OCR recognition mode.
● A: Recognize text in pictures or PDF scans: This option defaults that the text on the PDF page is on the picture/scanned image, and the program will directly use the OCR function (selecting the corresponding language will have a better effect) to recognize the text on the file and then convert the output.
● B: Identify built-in fonts (avoid garbled characters): This option defaults that the text on the PDF page uses embedded fonts. The program will convert these fonts into pictures, and then use the OCR function (selecting the corresponding language will be better) to recognize the text conversion output of the file.
● A+B (slower): The program automatically recognizes whether the font in the file is a picture or a PDF embedded font, and then converts and outputs it. But the recognition is time-consuming, and the conversion time will be longer.
③ Select the file format to be converted, for example, click (Word); finally, click (Convert).
If you have Microsoft Word (2013 or later) installed on your computer, you can open and edit the PDF document directly in Word, which is the easiest and fastest way to convert. Because the two formats of PDF and Word are different in nature, after conversion, other information such as font effects, spacing, and form filling functions in the original document may be lost. Although this is the fastest conversion method, the conversion effect will be unsatisfactory. If you want the best conversion effect, it is recommended that you use Renee PDF Aide.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① In Word, click (File) > (Open), and then open the PDF file to be edited. If a prompt window appears, click (OK).
② In the opened PDF document, you can edit and modify it arbitrarily.
③ After modification, click (File) > (Save As). In the Save As window, you can select the save type (PDF (*.pdf)) to save it back to PDF format.
Summarize
Although PDF documents are not easy to be edited, it is not impossible. The above content introduces a variety of PDF editing software and editing methods, and you can choose according to your preferences. In terms of professionalism and functionality, local editing software can provide better technical support and editing effects. Among them, the most famous Adobe Acrobat DC and Foxit Advanced PDF Editor can provide a variety of PDF creation, editing, form and other tools, with more comprehensive functions, but at the same time the price is relatively high. If your budget is insufficient, or you only use it occasionally and do not need advanced editing functions, then it is recommended that you install and use Renee PDF Aide. The editing and conversion functions provided in the software can meet most of the needs in daily life and work.
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