How to Edit a PDF – Online and Offline Solutions

PDF format requires the use of special programs that can open and edit PDF files. Editing PDF files is actually a pretty wide definition of what you can do when altering such a document. The most popular type of edit is changing the text of a PDF file, as well as adding various graphic elements, changing the style and the formatting of the file, commenting on the PDF document, using password protection, adding signatures and forms, organizing pages, and many other features. All in all, making corrections to a PDF document is not a difficult task — the key to success is having the right program at your disposal. If you don’t know how to edit a PDF, we can show you three ways of how it can be done: by means of a freeware, shareware (using PRO version of software), and online.

Freeware: LibreOffice Draw
To add a PDF file to work with, click the “Open File” button or drag and drop it to the program’s window. Click the “Text Box” button or click anywhere within the document to open the program’s editing toolbar to proceed to edit the PDF file. Right after it’s added you can edit a PDF in one of the following ways:

• To edit text: Simply enter new text or delete the current text.



• To see all the editing options: Click the double arrow button on the program’s edit toolbar in the left lower-hand corner to open the list of all the supported tools to edit a PDF file.



• To edit formatting and style of the document: Click the “Styles and Formatting” option to apply different text styles to your document.



• To insert elements to PDF: Click the “Insert” button on the program’s menu to insert various elements to a document.

PRO Software: Foxit PhantomPDF
To add a document to work with, click the folder icon in the upper left-hand corner. This will open Windows Explorer to browse the files on your computer. Alternatively, drag and drop the file into the program’s window. As soon as the file is added you can edit a PDF in the following ways:

• To edit text: Click the EDIT button on the menu and select the “Edit Text” option to edit a PDF just like a text file.



• To organize pages of a PDF: Click the ORGANIZE menu to work with pages (insert, delete, duplicate, replace, swap, crop, rotate, etc.).



• To protect a PDF: Click the PROTECT button to protect the file with a password or certificate (sign it, etc.).



• To add forms to a PDF: Click the FORM button to open the form-adding panel by means of which you can add various buttons, boxes, signature fields, etc.

How to edit a PDF file online: Google Docs
Before you are able to edit a PDF with Google Docs, you need to proceed with the following sequence of actions to open a document in editing mode:

• Sign in to your Google account and open the Google Docs main page. Click the folder icon in the upper right-hand corner to select how to add a PDF file for further editing.
• Click the “Upload” button on the right to select the file from your computer. You can use both Windows Explorer and the drag and drop mechanism.
• As soon as the file is uploaded, it’ll be automatically opened for a preview. Click the information button of the file in the upper right-hand corner to open the tab with the file’s properties. Press the “My Drive” path next to the “Location” option to open the document in the My Drive section of your Google account.
• Right-click the file’s icon to open its menu. Select the “Open with” option and in the newly available section select the “Google Docs” option.

Here is what you can do in Google Docs to edit a PDF file:

• To edit text: Edit the text of the file similar to any other word processing software as soon as it’s opened in Google Docs.



• To insert elements to PDF: Click the “Insert” button to see the full list of elements available to insert into your document.



• To add comments to PDF: Click the “Comment” button to add a comment to a specific part of the document. To do that, simply highlight the commented area and type in the text of the comment in the newly-opened comment-adding window.



• To share a PDF: Click the “Share” button to select how you want to share the document. Click the “Get shareable link” option to send it to people. Another option is to type in the email addresses or the names of the people from your Google Account address book whom you want to invite by email to edit, comment or view the document.

There’s nothing difficult about editing PDF documents, the only trick is to know the right tools that can do it. If you are looking for more ways of how to edit a PDF file, you can take a look at the results of our research on how to find the best PDF editor for Windows in 2016.