PDFs are one of the most widely-used document formats among businesses and students. Its popularity is well-deserved because its content can remain in the same place whether youre viewing it on a computer or mobile device, regardless of which operating system you use. Moreover, it is also more compact than most document formats. Thus, theyve become more reliable for sharing important information within organizations.
The main problem anyone has with PDF files is editing them. By default, PDF documents are read-only, meaning you might have to put in more effort to apply changes to the document. Luckily, there are several services and pieces of software you can rely on to add text, images, or even convert files to and from PDF. Here are the best ways to edit PDF documents!
Adobe Acrobat
As the original creator of the PDF format, its no surprise that Adobe Acrobat is the go-to program to create and modify PDF documents. If you have an unlocked PDF document, you can edit it by opening it, selecting Tools, Content Editing, then selecting the Edit Text & Images option. However, if you have a locked PDF document, it might require more tweaking. Copy it to a new document and paste the contents. Then, head to Edit, click Select All, then right-click the text and choose Copy. After that, you can head to File then New, right-click on the blank page, and choose Paste.
Adobe Acrobat is also the only PDF editor tool that can help you create electronic signatures. Its worth mentioning that its PDF editor with the most features, Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, is a paid software. While its features allow you to work with total freedom with your PDF documents, there is a cost behind it. If you are only looking for simple editing functions, you can look into free online PDF editors or PDF converters instead.
Online PDF editors
For basic editing functions or even comparing documents side by side, online PDF editors are a more convenient option. As the name suggests, you dont need to download large software onto your computer. Simply open up your computer or mobile devices browser, navigate to a PDF editors site, and youre ready to edit PDF files in no time.
Here are some of the best PDF editors wed recommend.
1. DocFly
DocFly offers free and paid plan options. With this online PDF editor, you can create, convert, and edit PDF documents. The editing features include adding, erasing, and highlighting texts, adding images, merging, as well as splitting, and rotating PDF pages. It is also a converter for Word, Excel, PowerPoint files, and numerous image formats. Keep in mind that DocFly limits users to editing 3 PDF documents a month on the free plan.
2. PDFescape
Like PDFChef, PDFescape offers both online and downloadable, offline editing tools. The online version is free and lets you edit documents up to 10 MB in size, whereas youll have to pay for additional features in the desktop version. However, theres a generous 7-day trial period you should take advantage of if youre unsure whether its the right fit for you. With PDFescape, you also get a handful of editing functions such as making freehand notes, adding URLs, as well as adding, rotating, and annotating pages. The online version lets you edit documents up to 10 MB in size.
3. PDFChef
PDFChef is a free, all-in-one online PDF editor available for Windows and Mac. With PDFChef, you can merge, rotate, as well as reorder, delete, and split pages and extract images from a PDF file. You can also convert and create PDF files from any other formats, including DOC, XLS, PPT., EPUB, HTML., and many, many more. This is great if you want to preserve the formatting of your work when sending it to other people. PDFChefs user interface is easy to understand, even for the least tech-savvy people out there. This online PDF editor even has a desktop version that offers even more functions.
4. Sejda
Sejda is another free online PDF editor, but it has the added benefit of security because the documents that users upload online will be deleted from its servers after five hours. It has a user-friendly interface that newbies can get the hang of immediately with a single menu bar that shows all the available editing functions. Sejda allows you to add text, links, and images to PDF files. After editing, simply click Apply Changes and save the PDF document on your Google Drive, Dropbox, or hard drive. As it is a free service, it only allows editing three documents with a maximum size of 50 MB every hour.
So, which way of editing PDF documents suits you most? If you are looking for professional tools and a bigger budget, you might want to go for Adobe Acrobat. However, for simpler text and image editing, online PDF editors such as PDFChef are definitely the more convenient option.
