Skip to Content

Solved: What are the easiest and most effective way to edit PDF document

By: Author Alex Lim

Posted on  - Last updated:

Categories Adobe

Question

PDF is the most commonly used document format across the globe for various types of documentations. There are times when we want to edit a PDF for some changes. This action would need a PDF editor software program.

There are many easy ways to edit PDF documents. What I’ve realized is that some apps will be really good in one area but lacking in another. Some apps might be great for collaboration but not so good for editing. Some only work on Windows while some are designed exclusively for Mac and iOS. Some are just limited in their features. Editing a PDF is easy when you’re using the right tools.

You can make use of a free to use PDF editor app on your mobile for editing all kinds of PDF files. I personally use software that are dedicated to handling PDF documents.

Adobe Acrobat will let you edit the PDF. If you don’t want to purchase Acrobat, you’ll find a lot of free apps and services which will allow you to edit files in a limited manner. Photo editing suites such as Photoshop will also let you edit PDFs though if its multiple pages, but this method gets very cumbersome.

The easiest way is to use an online-based tool to edit the pdf document. You may notice inconsistency, conversion fail, bugs, errors, and lack of quality output that make it tough to complete the task among hundreds of tools. Still, there are some effective online pdf editors instead go for downloading editing software.

Below is the list of recommended application software or online platform for PDF editing.

Content Summary

Adobe Acrobat Pro
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Microsoft Paint
Photoshop
LibreOffice
Wondershare PDFelement
Xodo PDF Reader
SwifDoo PDF
Cocdoc Online PDF Editor
Expert PDF
PDFescape
AmindPDF
Sejda
PDF Editor Online
PDF-XChange Editor
Smallpdf Edit PDF tool
Kdan PDF Reader
DeftPDF
Export to Microsoft Word DOC/DOCX format for editing
PDF Expert
AltoPDF platform
Pdflayer
HiPDF
Kofax Power PDF
More Tools and Software for PDF Editing

Adobe Acrobat Pro

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, you can create PDFs, convert PDFs to different file formats, edit and sign them, and easily share them with others. It is one of the best PDF editors overall, but that comes at a price. However, if you just need help with one quick project, you could try to use their free trial to get your project done without having to pay for a subscription. Plus, students get 60% off.

Step 1: Open that PDF file first.

Step 2: Press the Tools icon on the right.

Press the Tools icon on the right.

Step 3: Four options will display:

  • Edit Text & Images: Edit test is how u can correct the mistakes and insert new words. Image can be also corrected where the old image can be removed and new image can be inserted
  • Add Text: This helps to add new text or new sentence whichever space you needed to insert in between.
  • Add Images: This helps to add / insert new image from your files in to the documents at the designated space.
  • Export File to…: These helps to export in to various formats to save later.

Four options will display.

How to edit text using Adobe Acrobat Pro:

How to edit text using Adobe Acrobat Pro

How to Insert new text as a word or sentence using Adobe Acrobat Pro:

How to Insert new text as a word or sentence using Adobe Acrobat Pro.

How to insert new picture / image from file using Adobe Acrobat Pro:

How to insert new picture / image from file using Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Note: Any scanned or JPEG converted PDF files cannot be edited. The below PDF is a scanned document which is converted to PDF from JPEG source file. So, it cannot be edited. If you are a business firm and if you like to send important business quote with signature, it is always better to scan the document and convert it to PDF, where the document remains safe and it can never be altered.

This PDF is a scanned document which is converted to PDF from JPEG source file.

Note: Adobe Acrobat Pro with Adobe Illustrator installed to edit any object and then replace it back into the PDF; Adobe Acrobat Pro with Adobe Photoshop installed to edit any image and replace it back in the PDF.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

The newer versions of the free Acrobat Acrobat Reader have some editing capabilities, but mostly for adding. They are used to fill out forms using the typewriter and other enhancements.

Microsoft Paint

Adobe Standard does support the Microsoft Paint format for external editing, follow below easy steps to edit images in a PDF document using Microsoft Paint.

Step 1: Open the PDF and select (click on) the page you want to edit.

Step 2: Click on Tools located at the right side on the ribbon

Step 3: In the Format section click on the Edit Using… option.

Step 4: Select the Microsoft Paint option.

Click on Tools located at the right side on the ribbon. In the Format section click on the Edit Using… option. Select the Microsoft Paint option.

Step 5: Make your edits to the temp file and when you are done, close the temp Paint file.

Step 6: You will be asked if you want to save changes. Click on the Save button. The Microsoft Paint app will close and the PDF will be updated with your changes.

Photoshop

Before you can edit PDF document using Photoshop, follow below steps to import a PDF file into Photoshop:

Step 1: Press the CTRL + O key on your keyboard, or go to File > Open.

Step 2: Choose the name of the PDF file, and then click the Open button.

Step 3: Under the Select section here, choose either Pages or Images, depending on which aspects of the PDF you like to import.

Steo 4: Click the thumbnails in order to select the images or pages you wish to import. Shift-click if you want to select more than one image or page.

Step 5: To give a new document name, simply type it into the Name box. In case you are importing several pages or images, keep in mind that the documents will open with the same base name, followed by numbers.

Step 6: If you are uploading pages, you can choose options from the Crop To menu under Page options to specify which parts you wish to include. The options are as follows:

  • Bounding Box: Crops the file to the smallest rectangular region, which includes all the text and graphics from the page. Keep in mind that this option also eliminates any additional white space and document elements that are outside the Trim Box.
  • Media Box: This option crops the file to the original size of the page.
  • Crop Box: This option crops the file to the clipping region (crop margins) of the original PDF file.
  • Bleed Box: Crops to the region that is specified in the PDF file for accommodating limitations, such as folding, cutting and trimming.
  • Trim Box: This option crops the file to the region that is specified for the intended final size of the page.
  • Art Box: This option crops the file to the region that is specified in the PDF file for putting the PDF data into another application.

Step 7: If necessary, you can enter the values for Height and Width under Image Size.

Step 8: In case you are uploading images, you can specify the following options under Image Size:

  • Resolution: This option will set the resolution for the new file.
  • Mode: This option will set the color mode for the new file.
  • Bit Depth: This option will set the bit depth for the new file

Step 9: You can also select Suppress Warning, in order to suppress the color profile warnings.

Step 10: Click on the OK button and your PDF is now imported into Photoshop.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice to edit the text in Searchable PDF. LibreOffice Draw can edit PDF files. Draw is part of the LibreOffice suite which also includes Writer, Calc and Impress. It’s free and open source.

Open the pdf in LibreOffice, it will open in LibreOffice Draw as a series of drawings(images), one per page of the original document.

Anything that has been “pdf-ed” from any text processor (such as Word document saved as pdf) becomes editable text. Scanned parts or embedded images can be edited with graphical tools, e.g. masking text with solid rectangles, adding lines, …

Once finished, select the images you’d like to export to pdf again and Export as PDF. Select the appropriate options, whenever you think, you may need to edit the file in the future, use Hybrid PDF, which embeds the original .odg into the pdf for easy editing….

Wondershare PDFelement

PDFelement is the powerful and easy to use PDF editor that you can use on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices. It offers you a number of options to create, edit, annotate, sign, convert, OCR and even share PDF files in a quick and easy manner.

With Wondershare’s PDFelement, you can easily convert PDF into many other file formats, edit the document, batch process over 500 PDFs at once, annotate, merge and split and a myriad of different functions and options. Below simple steps outline for how to edit PDF files with PDFelement. You can use PDFelement app on your Android Smartphone as well as Tablet for all kinds of PDF related operations.

Step 1: Import your PDF file.

Step 2: Go to the Edit tab then click Edit button.

Step 3: Now you can edit the text or image you wish to edit.

Simple steps outline for how to edit PDF files with PDFelement.

Note: You can also change the font and its color, size, and style.

To edit PDF Page

Click on the Page menu and edit your PDF pages as required. You can insert pages, rotate pages, crop pages, extract pages, delete pages, and more.

Click on the Page menu and edit your PDF pages as required. You can insert pages, rotate pages, crop pages, extract pages, delete pages, and more.

To save PDF Page

Make the necessary edits on your PDF pages and save them by clicking on File > Save As from the submenu.

Wondershare’s PDFelement android app enables you to perform basic and advanced PDF operations on the go. You can easily manage PDF files, edit, annotate and sign them on your Android devices using PDFelement app. The process is very simple and you need to follow the below steps to start editing any PDF file for free on an Android Smartphone/Tablet. You can also access it on the go with the help of your mobile. It is available for Android and iOS devices. On your Android Smartphone or Tablet, you can use PDFelement for quickly editing all kinds of PDF files. You can add text, images, markup, comments and shapes to your PDF using PDFelement android app.

Step 1: Install and open PDFelement app on the android device.

Step 2: To open the PDF file to be edited in the PDFelement app, select Open Document option from the side menu and select the PDF file to be edited.

Step 3: Tap on the Edit or Pen icon available at the bottom to display all the available PDF editing tools. You can use appropriate tool to add, edit, remove text from the PDF file, highlight, underline, strikethrough any text, add comments and sign to the PDF document.

Step 4: Tap on the Save icon to save the modified PDF document.

To learn the PDF editing using PDFelement editor app on Android devices in practical way, check the below video tutorial.

Xodo PDF Reader

Xodo PDF Reader is a free tool available cross-platform to lets you read, edit, and create PDFs. The app also enables you to open Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files and save them as PDFs. Plus, you can write on PDFs or use their highlight and underline features. I also love that any edits can be auto-synced with the cloud.

SwifDoo PDF

SwifDoo PDF is an all-in-one, free to use, easy to use, powerful and popular PDF editor program. It is a Windows based PDF editor which enables you to quickly create, edit, convert, modify, merge, annotate, compress, sign, and share PDF documents in a quick and easy manner. You can very easily edit the text content of a PDF file in order to add or edit its text.

Below are the simple steps to edit a PDF using SwifDoo PDF Editor:

Step 1: Install and launch SwifDoo PDF on your Windows PC.

Step 2: Select Edit PDF tool which will prompt you to select and upload the PDF file to be edited.

Select Edit PDF tool which will prompt you to select and upload the PDF file to be edited.

The previous action will ask you to select and upload the PDF file to be edited. Simply do the same.

Step 3: Once the PDF file is open in the editing window, you can use the available tools to:

  • Edit and add text to the PDF.
  • Add image and link to the PDF.
  • Crop the PDF document.
  • White-out any text on the PDF.

Click on Edit button to edit or add text to the PDF file.

Click on Edit button to edit or add text to the PDF file.

Once the PDF file is open in the editing window, you can use the available tools to edit and add text to the PDF, add image and link to the PDF, crop the PDF documentm and white-out any text on the PDF.

Step 4: To add an image or link, use Image or Link tool respectively.

Step 5: After making all the necessary editing to the PDF file, save the PDF file by clicking on the Save icon.

To combine two or more PDF files on Windows PC using SwifDoo PDF

Get the latest version of SwifDoo PDF and then install it on your Windows PC.
After that launch the program and click to open “PDF Merge” tool.

Step 1: Download and install the latest version of SwifDoo PDF.

Step 2: Launch SwifDoo PDF on your Windows PC.

Step 3: Select the PDF Merge tool.

Select Edit PDF tool which will prompt you to select and upload the PDF file to be edited.

Step 4: Add the PDF files to be merged using drag and drop method or Add Files button.

Step 5: Click on the Start button and wait for a few seconds. Thereafter the PDF files will be processed and then merged together to form a single PDF file.

Click on the Start button and wait for a few seconds. Thereafter the PDF files will be processed and then merged together to form a single PDF file.

Step 6: You can find the output PDF file using the Open Directory button.

You can find the output PDF file using the Open Directory button.

Cocdoc Online PDF Editor

Cocodoc can be trusted to get useful results in return. Just a few minutes will take it to download the software and use it offline whenever needed. It has got many features and can do any editing or converting files.

Expert PDF

On their site they provide instructions on how to edit a PDF with their software and it’s super simple and all you need if you are looking for basic editing functionality. You can edit text, images, watermarks, and more with this platform, the basics shouldn’t cost you a cent. There are also annotation options and eSign features available.

PDFescape

Free PDF editor and form filler and works with most browsers. It does have upgrades available should you ever purchase one, but most of the features are free to use. You can edit your PDFs, create new PDFs, annotate and fill out forms with this platform. It is easy to use and navigate. This is a nice tool if you are on the go and need to get your editing done quickly.

PDFescape is an excellent option for online PDF editing. Simple to use and available to anyone with a web browser, PDFescape may be all you need to edit and annotate PDF files. That 10MB file-size limit remains in place, but you can now edit files of up to 100 pages for free. PDFescape offers ample annotation tools.

AmindPDF

A multifunctional free trial mobile PDF tool-AmindPDF, you can easily edit, read, convert, scan, merge, split, create, print, share, page management and file management, annotations, etc., with complete functions, come and try it for Android phones and IOS.

AmindPDF

AmindPDF is a PDF reader and an all-in-one PDF editor, providing users with smooth reading functions and convenient PDF editing functions. AmindPDF is fully compatible with Adobe Acrobat! You can read, edit, annotate, scan, create, convert, merge, split, print PDFs.

AmindPDF

Sejda

I use Sejda. Its web-based app allows you to edit PDFs. In addition, it also has a desktop version. It’s versatile and easy to use.

Sejda Online PDF editor

PDF Editor Online

It’s a simple but effective PDF editing tool and this platform specializes in editing on the go. If you’re in a hurry and need to add some quick changes, this is another good go to.

PDF-XChange Editor

Free from the official site. Most of its features are free, and you can try also paid features. It is free too, but be careful with your work documents – after using paid features and saving the document, you will get Demo labels.

Smallpdf Edit PDF tool

With online Smallpdf Edit PDF tool, you can add text, images, shapes and write on your PDFs. It’s super-fast and extremely easy to use for anyone without prior experience. But there’s a number of other things you could do with Smallpdf PDF tools:

  • Compress PDF
  • Convert PDF to word, excel, ppt or image
  • Convert word, excel, ppt or image files to PDF
  • Edit PDF (add text, images, shapes and write on it)
  • Merge PDFs
  • Extract pages from PDF
  • Rotate pages
  • eSign PDF with an electronic signature
  • Unlock PDF protected by a password using the Smallpdf Unlock PDF tool

Kdan PDF Reader

Kdan PDF Reader is free and works on Android, iOS, MAC, and Windows which makes switching between mobile, PC, and MAC easy. It really has the most editing features I’ve seen in a PDF editor. There are also other great features that make it an enjoyable experience for me like working with audio and video files. It automatically syncs with your Kdan Cloud which helps with organization and accessibility.

Fairly multifunctional app that has several useful features for when you’re working with PDF documents. I personally like how easy it is to use, how little time it takes to edit whatever document I’m working with, highlight or annotate it, sign and send it out quickly. You can also change the reading mode – switch from day to night or to sepia, so if you are working at night, it’s a bit easier on the eyes.

Kdan PDF Reader also easy to switch between devices to work from phone or pad, then moving on to PC, accessing PDF files is quick, so you don’t have to interrupt your workflow. You can also work with different file formats, not just PDF such as Word documents, audio and video files, images. I find that this app increases my productivity and I like all the features and updates this app has.

Overall, it’s a good app to work with PDFs and other formats, lots of convenient features and easy to use.

DeftPDF

DeftPDF is the online web-based PDF editor that has an easy drop and drag interface. Here’s how to edit PDF with the tool:

Step 1: Go to the DeftPDF Online PDF editor website and select EDIT from the menu.

Step 2: Upload your PDF file to the editor. A preview of the file will appear along with a toolbar on top that allows you to edit text, remove, erase, add forms, annotate, and more.

Step 3: To edit the content, select any text from the PDF then start editing like how you would on a Word processor.

Step 4: Once done, click apply changes and download the file.

To edit the content, select any text from the PDF then start editing like how you would on a Word processor.

Export to Microsoft Word DOC/DOCX format for editing

If you want to completely edit a PDF file you should have the source file. Then you can edit the source file to your convenience and convert it back to a PDF file.

Convert the PDF file into Microsoft word using online tools and edit the document with Microsoft Word and then convert back to PDF File again.

Normally people get the PDF file from internet or by way of email from someone without having the source file. In such situations it is difficult to edit the PDF file. If the PDF file is not a locked or a scanned file, you may open the PDF in Acrobat and save as DOC/DOCX file for further editing in Microsoft Word.

PDF Expert

If you work on macOS, install PDF Expert (it has a free 7-day trial). Open your PDF file and select Edit on the top sidebar. Choose the Text tool and place your cursor on the text you want to edit. Now you can work with the text like Microsoft Word.

If you work on macOS, install PDF Expert (it has a free 7-day trial).

AltoPDF platform

It is offers a host of functionalities for manipulating PDF files and it supports multiple formats that help to meet your requirement. You can:

  • Manage PDF
  • Convert PDF
  • Split PDF
  • Merge PDF
  • Edit PDF
  • Sign PDF documents

All you need is just to drag and drop a necessary PDF into a box or to browse a device for a file.

Pdflayer

Pdflayer’s API creates customizable PDFs from a URL or raw HTML. Integration is fast and easy allowing you to add PDF conversion to your application within minutes.

HiPDF

Wondershare HiPDF will be the best choice for you as this online PDF solution is browser-based and free. You can easily edit, convert, merge, split, encrypt PDF documents with just a few clicks. They also have a desktop version for you to work offline. For every new user, HiPDF provides multiple ways to teach you how to use the useful online tool, which is tech-friendly and easy to use!

Wondershare HiPDF

Kofax Power PDF

Kofax power PDF is very helpful to convert, create and e-sign PDF files. This is an award-winning PDF editor which is very convenient to use for a user. It is considered one of the best and most secure power PDF. With this solution, you can work efficiently, seamlessly, and securely across any device and operating system. It allows you to collaborate with team members by using excellent commenting and markup tools.

You can convert, create and compile your pdfs in minutes with Kofax office-style interface. It is built according to individuals as well as businesses of all sizes and offers advanced functionalities like redaction capabilities and powerful security.

it also offers you a free trial period and the cost or Price of Kofax power PDF is also not very high.

In my personal experience of using this Power PDF, I would recommend you to use it once as it offers amazing features which you can’t get in a free pdf editor

More Tools and Software for PDF Editing

  • GIMP (or, in a pinch Paintbrush.) is effective in filling out forms and edit image PDF one page at a time.
  • PDF Merger & Splitter (free download from Microsoft Store) to manipulate PDF files at the page level.
  • Use OCR Manager to convert image PDF or images with text.
  • PDF Impress Tools
  • PDFEditor.it
  • Zonepdf
  • Jack for PDF:
  • All PDF editing tools: changing, modifying, adding your text. Adding notes, hyperlinks, text boxes, rectangles, arrows, lines, ovals, squares etc.
  • PDFMate PDF Converter Free to convert it to an editable doc format and then re-generate it as a pdf file.
  • Movavi PDFChef to convert it to an editable doc format and then re-generate it as a pdf file.
  • PDF Editor by Desygner
  • iLovePDF
  • Small PDF
  • SodaPDF
  • PDF2go