About Edit PDF
Most things called PDF editors put a new text box on top of the page. That is fine for filling in a blank, and it is no use when you need to change a word in a sentence that is already there: the old word is still underneath, the new one does not match, and the layout looks patched.
This editor changes the words on the page themselves, in the document’s own typeface. You click into a line or paragraph, type, and the page is rewritten with the new text in the font that was already embedded in the file. Editing is free: there is no account and there is no limit on how many documents you open. Opening a document sends a copy to our server so that its text and layout can be read, and that copy is deleted within 24 hours.
How to edit a PDF
- Choose the PDF, or drop it onto the page. A loading screen shows while the text and layout are read.
- Pick the Text tool and click the word, line or paragraph you want to change. It opens for editing in the same font. Type your change.
- Move around the page with the zoom controls. You can add a page, rotate a page or delete one using the controls above each page, and see every page in the thumbnails on the right.
- Add what is not already there with the other tools: pictures, form fields, and signatures if you have Plus.
- Press Export to save the edited PDF. Your recent documents are listed under Projects, so you can come back to one.
When you would use it
- Correcting a typo, a date or a figure in a document whose source has been lost.
- Updating a name or an address on a letter or an invoice.
- Reordering, deleting or adding pages in a document before sending it.
- Adding an image, a logo or a note to a page.
- Preparing a form for others to fill in, by drawing fields on it.
What it will not do
- A scanned document is a picture of text, and there is nothing to edit in it. Run OCR PDF first, or use an overlay.
- Very unusual fonts, heavily stylised lettering and text that is part of an image resist editing, and some characters may not exist in the embedded font.
- A PDF page is a fixed layout. Editing a line does not reflow the rest of the page as a word processor would.
- A document with an open password has to be unlocked first with Unlock PDF.
- The upload is limited to about 50 megabytes.
- Signing and the Logos panel are part of Plus, and asking questions about a document is too.
How it compares
Overlay editors, which are most of what you find online, cover the old text with a white box and type over it. It is quick, and the original is still underneath, which anyone can discover by selecting the text. Real editing replaces the text and leaves one version.
Converting to Word and back changes the layout and loses fonts. Editing in place keeps the page as it was, apart from the words you changed.
We wrote about the difference in how to actually edit the text in a PDF.
Tips
- Zoom in on a small change. It is easier to place the cursor exactly.
- Edit before you sign. A signed page that is then edited is a document nobody should trust.
- Keep your original. Export saves a new file and leaves it alone.