Editing PDF files involves changing text, images, arranging content, deleting and extracting pages, converting to Word, Excel or another format. The latest versions of the PDF format allow the creation of data collection forms in the form of forms or forms. Electronic signing of documents, protection of certain functionalities with a password, monitoring of the history of changes, etc.
PDF (Portable Document Format) is an open standard for electronic documents, created by Adobe in 1990. It differs from other electronic document formats because it does not change its appearance depending on the operating system and viewing software. The formatting, font, and everything else about this type of document remains the same.
A mistaken belief in the immutability of a PDF file
Keeping the exact same appearance of the document is a great advantage, especially if we have experience with Word, which even on the same computer and software version can change the position of an element on the page due to a new calculation of its position, setting the page for printing, choosing a new printer, etc. Because of this stability of once designed content, many people believe that PDF is not changeable, and in fact they do not have the program or knowledge to change its content.
PDF is an open source format and the most famous PDF reader is Adobe Acrobat reader , but it is not the only one. There are many programs for viewing PDF documents, and when we talk about editing or changing the content of a PDF file, it is definitely Adobe Acrobat Standard or Pro version.
When we have a PDF file, the content of which we want to use in our document, the first thing is certainly the question of the copyright of the content we want to download, stating the source, author, etc. There is a lot of content that is free to download or you have already obtained the consent of the author, when converting from PDF to Word format becomes a problem. If the PDF document was created in Word, then many elements such as: PDF bookmarks; PDF tags; PDF content; PDF comments; Tables with cell spacing; Page color and document borders; Audio, Video and PDF active elements; be without defects.
Documents that have been scanned from paper and converted to PDF or PDF documents created from photos, have a much higher tendency to have errors and deviations in the appearance of the content when converting from PDF to Word. Since the test for such a document is actually an image, an OCR program is needed that will read the content by optical character recognition. The best and most famous program is certainly ABBYY FineReader .
If you need a quick and easy way to edit a PDF document, and you are already familiar with the pitfalls that can occur when converting from PDF to Word, you can quickly and easily convert documents from PDF to Word using the completely free online PDF converter online2pdf. com.
Free PDF editors
It is not easy to find a really free PDF tool that allows you not only to edit the text in the PDF, but also to add your own text, change images or add your own graphics, etc. Some of them are online PDF editors that work in your web browser, so all you have to do is upload your PDF file to a website, make the changes you want, and then save them to your computer. It’s a quick way, but often the online editor is not as fully featured as its desktop counterpart, which usually has a much wider range of capabilities.
Sejda PDF Editor
Sejda PDF Editor is one of the few PDF editors that does not add a protection watermark. As an online version without the need to download and install.
Features:
- Editing existing and adding new text;
- Download PDF from hyperlinks;
- Adding hyperlinks;
- Electronic signing;
- Adding blank pages;
- Deleting pages;
- Adding images etc.
Limitations:
- Edits up to three PDF documents for 60 min for free;
- Edits a PDF document of up to 200 pages;
- Edits a PDF document smaller than 50 MB.
Inkscape
Inkscape is an extremely popular free PDF editor with the following features:
- Deleting and editing existing text and images;
- Moving images and editing.
Limitations:
- The number of graphical editing tools can be overwhelming.
Inscape is similar to GIMP, Adobe Photoshop, and other image and PDF editors, however, when used in the context of PDF editing, Inkscape should only be considered if you want to delete or edit images or text in a PDF. Our suggestion would be to use another tool in this list to edit PDF forms or add shapes, then plug that PDF into Inkscape if you want to actually edit the previous text.
PDFescape Online PDF Editor
Options:
- It works online through your web browser;
- Possibility of additional tools;
- It allows you to add your own text and images;
- Can delete and add PDF pages.
Limitations:
- I need text;
- Edits a PDF document up to 100 pages;
- Edits a PDF document smaller than 10 MB.
The way you can edit PDFs on this website is not in the sense that you can actually change the text or edit the images, but you can add your own text, images, links, form fields, etc.
The text tool is highly customizable so you can choose your own size, font type, color, alignment and make the text bold, underlined or italic.
You can also draw on the PDF, add annotations, punch through text, put white space around anything you want to disappear, and insert lines, bookmarks, arrows, ovals, circles, rectangles, and comments.
PDFescape allows you to delete individual pages from a PDF, rotate pages, crop parts of a page, reorder page order, and add multiple pages from other PDF files.
You can upload your own PDF file, paste the URL into an online PDF, and create your own PDF from scratch. When you’re done editing, you can download the PDF to your computer without having to create an account. You only need it if you want to save your progress online without downloading the PDF.
PDF-XChange Editor
There are some really good PDF editing features in PDF-XChange Editor, but not all of them are free to use. If you use the free feature, it will save the PDF with a watermark on each page.
Options:
- Uses OCR to identify text in PDF format;
- It can import various shapes and images;
- Supports adding QR codes to PDF;
- There is a portable version.
Limitations:
- The free version adds a watermark;
- Many features require a license.
PDFs can be uploaded from your computer, a URL, SharePoint, Google, or Dropbox. The edited PDF can be saved to your computer or any of those file storage services.
PDF-XChange Editor has a lot of features, so it may seem overwhelming at first. However, all options and tools are easy to understand and use.
One of the nice features is the ability to highlight all the form fields so it’s easier to know where information needs to be filled. This is really useful if you are editing a PDF with many shapes, such as some kind of application.
Although they result in a watermark in the free version, this program allows you to edit existing text, add your own text to a PDF, and add or delete pages from a document.
You can download this program in portable mode used on a flash drive or as a regular installer.
Many features are free, but some are not. If you use a feature that is not covered by the free version (you are told which features are not free when you use them), the saved PDF file will have a watermark located in the corners of each page.
