How to Edit PDF Files

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  • PDF files are an accurate representation of a document and hence cannot be edited like a text file or Word file. However, due to the advent of several PDF Editors and PDF converters, edting the PDF has now become an easy task. This page how to edit PDF files explores the different ways to edit PDF files.

  • Introduction

    PDF(Portable Document Format), a file format developed by Adobe Systems in early 90s, has now become the standard format to transmit any kind of documents. The identity of a PDF document is that it cannot be modified easily. Though this is helpful in maintaining the integrity of the document, it could be a problem if the PDF file contains mistakes or needs to be edited. Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to edit a PDF file. The first way is to edit the PDF file directly using a PDF Editor and the second way is to convert the PDF file into an editable format like Word or Excel.

  • 1. Editing the PDF directly

    This method requires a software to edit the PDF file directly. Adobe Acrobat offers some advanced editing tools such as text touch-up tool. But, its price of $299 is quite expensive. Nitro PDF and PDFill PDF Editor are other similar tools which are more affordable than Adobe Acrobat.

    • Let's see how to edit PDF files using NitroPDF and PDFill PDF Edtor.

  • Editing the PDF using PDFill PDF Editor

    PDFill PDF Editor is a PDF editing software which can be used to insert text, image, hyperlink, form-fill etc. to the PDF. But unlike Nitro PDF, it cannot be used to actually edit the text in a PDF file. Below is a simple tutorial of how to use PDFill PDF Editor.


    Inserting Single line of Text:

    • Step-1: Select the tool "Insert SingleLine Text".
    • Step-2: Click the area on the document where you want to insert text.
    • Step-3: Enter text.
    • Step-4: Press "F4" or double click the border of the object to change properties like Font, Font size, Hyperlink, Whiteout, etc.
    • Step-5: Use arrow keys to align.


    Inserting Multiple lines of Text:

    • Step-1: Select the tool "Insert MultipleLine Text".
    • Step-2: Draw the rectangular area on the document where you want to insert text.
    • Step-3: Enter text.
    • Step-4: Press "F4" or double click the border of the object to change propoerties like Font, Font size, Hyperlink, Whiteout, etc.
    • Step-5: Use arrow keys to align.


    Inserting Image:

    • Step-1: Select the tool "Insert Image".
    • Step-2: Draw the rectangular area on the document where you want to insert the image.
    • Step-3: Select the image from your computer.
    • Step-4: Press "F4" or double click the border of the object to change properties like Height & Width, Hyperlink, etc.
    • Step-5: Use arrow keys to align.


    Inserting Highlight:

    • Step-1: Select the tool "Insert Highlight".
    • Step-2: Draw the rectangular area on the document where you want to insert Whiteout.
    • Step-3: Choose a highlight color and click OK.


    Inserting Whiteout:

    • Step-1: Select the tool "Insert Whiteout".
    • Step-2: Draw the rectangular area on the document where you want to insert Whiteout.
    • Step-3: Click OK.


    Inserting Hyperlink:

    • Step-1: Select the tool "Add a Link".
    • Step-2: Draw the rectangular area on the document where you want to insert Hyperlink.
    • Step-3: Enter the link and click OK.


    Saving the document:

    After editing the document, click "PDF" on the toolbar to save the file as new PDF. You can add general information like Title, Author, etc. You can also Encript the document using password. If you want to edit the document later, save a copy of the file as "PDFill file".

  • PDFill PDF Tools

    PDFill PDF Editor also provides free PDFill PDF Tools which can be used to Merge, Split or Reorder PDF files, Encript and Decrypt PDF, Adding Header, Footer and Watermark to the PDF, etc. To access this feature Open "PDF Tools" from your desktop or Click "Free PDF Tools" from the PDFill PDF Editor toolbar.

  • 2. Editing the PDF by converting it to an editable format

    This method involves three steps:

    • Step-1: Convert the PDF file to an editable format.
    • Step-2: Edit the content.
    • Step-3: Convert it back to PDF.

  • Step-1: Convert the PDF to editable format

    You can convert PDF to an editable format either by using a PDF converter (PDF to word/excel/doc/txt converter) or by using an Optical Character Recognition(OCR) software. PDF converter will be efficient if the PDF file was created from Word or Excel. If the PDF file is a scanned document or if the document is not clear, OCR software will be efficient. There are several PDF converters and OCR softwares available on the internet. The following are some of the popular among them.


    1. Able2Extract
    2. Office Convert PDF to Word for doc(free)
    3. ABBYY Fine Reader


    There are also a number of online tools available. The following are some of the popular online tools.

    1. PDFtoWord
    2. PDFtoExcelOnline
    3. OCR Terminal


    Converting the PDF using Able2Extract:


    Able2Extract is one of the best PDF converters that can be used to convert PDF to various formats like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. It is available as seven day free trial and costs $99.95 to purchase. The following are the steps to convert PDF using Able2Extract.

    • Step-1: Download, install and run Able2Extract.
    • Step-2: Go to file menu and open the PDF file.
    • Step-3: Select the text which you want to convert. If you want to convert complete document, press ctrl+A to select all.
    • Step-4: Select the output format (Word, Excel, PPT, etc.).
    • Step-5: Select additional options for formatting when prompted.
    • Step-6: Convert and Save.



    Converting the PDF using Office Convert PDF to Word for doc:


    It is a free software and can be used to convert PDF to word. The following are the steps to convert PDF using “Office Convert PDF to Word for doc(free)”:

    • Step-1: Download, install and run Office Convert PDF to Word for doc.
    • Step-2: Click "Add File" to add a PDF file.
    • Step-2: Select output format (doc, txt or rtf).
    • Step-3: Click "Convert" and Save.



    Converting the PDF using ABBYY Fine Reader:


    ABBYY Fine Reader is one of the best OCR softwares in the market which can be used to extract text from scanned PDF and images. It is available as 15 days trial version and costs $199 to purchase. The following are the steps to extract text from PDF using ABBYY Fine Reader.

    • Step-1: Download, Install and run ABBYY Fine Reader.
    • Step-2: Click “New Task” and a pop up will appear.
    • Step-3: Select the task. To convert PDF to word, select "Convert PDF/Image to Microsoft Word".
    • Step-4: Open the PDF file when prompted and save the converted Word file.



    Converting the PDF using PDFtoWord and PDFtoExcelOnline:


    ‘PDFtoWord' and ‘PDFtoExcelOnline' are free online PDF converters that can be used to convert PDF to Word and Excel respectively. The following are the steps to convert PDF using these tools.

    • Step-1: Go to respective websites.
    • Step-2: Click "Choose file" and choose a PDF file.
    • Step-3: Select output format.
    • Step-4: Enter "e-mail ID" and click convert. The converted file will be sent to your e-mail.



    Converting the PDF using OCR Terminal:

  • Step-2: Edit the content

    You can edit the content after you have converted it to an editable format like Word or Excel. Since no PDF converter can guarantee 100% accurate conversion, there may be mistakes in spelling or format. Check the complete document for errors before converting it back to PDF.

  • Step-3: Convert the document back to PDF

    After you edit the document, convert it back to PDF by using a PDF writer like Cute PDF. The following are the steps to create the PDF using CutePDF:

    1. Open the file.
    2. Click print from file menu.
    3. Select CutePDF when prompted to select the printer.
    4. Save the file.

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