Some of these are online editors that work right in your web browser, so all you have to do is upload your PDF file to the website, make the changes you want, and then save it back to your computer. That’s the quick way—but do bear in mind that, typically, a web-based editor isn’t as fully featured as its desktop counterpart, plus the file is exposed to the internet (which might be of concern if it contains sensitive content). Because not all of these editors support the same features, and some are restricted in what you can do, remember that you can process the same PDF in more than one tool. For example, use one to edit the PDF text (if that’s supported), and then put the same PDF through a different editor to do something supported in that program (for example, to edit a form, update an image, or remove a page).
A Free Option You Might Already Have: Microsoft Word
If you already own a modern version of Microsoft Word (2021, 2019, 2016, etc.), then skip all the suggested programs below: you have a great PDF editor at your disposal right now. Just open the PDF as you would any Word document, give the program a few minutes to convert the PDF, and then edit away. This also works in WPS Office and Google Docs. Don’t want to work in Word? Then check out our list of favorites to find an option that better suits you. Plus, this tool can run entirely in your web browser, so it’s easy to get going without having to download any programs. You can get the desktop version if you’d rather use it that way. There are some differences between the online and desktop versions that you should know about. For example, the desktop edition supports more font types and doesn’t let you add PDFs by URL or from online storage services as the online editor does (which supports Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive). Another neat feature is the web integration tool that lets PDF publishers provide a link for their users that they can simply click to automatically open the file in this editor. All uploaded files are automatically deleted from Sejda after two hours. This tool works no matter which operating system you use. Sejda PDF Desktop runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Unlike most free tools, Canva lets you fully edit text. Click into any text area to change what the text says and to adjust the font type, size, and color. You can also add hyperlinks to text and other objects, and special fonts are available to easily type out your signature. Of course, because this is a full graphic design platform, it has a wealth of other tools so you can also edit images, add shapes, edit and build PDF pages, include charts, etc. If you have most of your media on another site like Google Photos or Dropbox, you can connect to those services to easily copy files into your PDF. PDFs with up to 300 pages are supported, as long as they don’t exceed 70 MB. When you’re done, you can save back to PDF or choose from various image and video formats. If you stick to just the free features, however, you can still do some editing to the file and save it back to your computer. You can load PDFs from your computer, a URL, SharePoint, Google Drive, and Dropbox. You can save the edited PDF back to your computer or to any of those cloud storage services. There are lots of features, so it might seem overwhelming at first. All the options and tools are simple to understand, however, and they’re categorized into their own sections for easier management. One nice feature is the ability to highlight all the form fields so that you can easily spot where you need to fill in. This is really helpful if you’re editing a PDF with lots of forms, such as an application. Many of the features are free (like editing the text), but some are not. If you use a feature that’s not covered by the free version (you’re told which ones aren’t free when you use them), the saved PDF file will have a watermark attached to the corner of every page. There’s a comprehensive list of all the free features on the download page. Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 users can install PDF-XChange Editor. You can download it in portable mode to use on a flash drive or as a regular installer. This is a very capable image editing program. If you’re not already familiar with programs like GIMP, Adobe Photoshop, and other image editors, however, it’s probably a bit advanced for you. In the context of PDF editing, though, you should consider this software only if you want to delete or edit the images or text in the PDF. We suggest you use a different tool in this list to edit PDF forms or add shapes, and then plug that PDF into Inkscape if you need to actually edit the preexisting text. You can install it on Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can’t truly change text or edit images for free using this editor, but you can add your own text, images, links, form fields, etc. The text tool is very customizable so that you can pick your own size, font type, color, alignment, and apply effects such as bolding, underlining, and italics. You also can draw on the PDF, add sticky notes, strikethrough text, put white space over anything you want to disappear, and insert lines, checkmarks, arrows, ovals, circles, rectangles, and comments. PDFescape lets you delete individual pages from the PDF, rotate pages, crop out parts of a page, reorganize the order of the pages, and add more pages from other PDFs. You can upload your own PDF file, paste the URL to an online PDF, and make your own PDF from scratch. When finished editing, you can download the PDF to your computer without ever having to make a user account. You need one only if you want to save your progress online without downloading the PDF. The online version works in all operating systems. There’s also an offline editor that runs on Windows, but it isn’t free. One of the neat things about editing PDFs with this program is that it’s made for creating and manipulating objects, so you can just as easily edit non-text things, too, like images, headings, colors, etc. When you’re ready to save, don’t use the typical save option; go instead to File > Export As to find the PDF option. It works with Windows, macOS, and Linux. This website allows you to upload a PDF, make changes to it, and then save it back to your computer, all without needing to make a user account or pay for any anti-watermarking features. You can open files from your computer or your Dropbox or Google Drive account. Importing shapes is possible if you want a rectangle, square, circle, arrow, or line. You can change the object’s main color and line color, as well as the thickness of its edge. Text size can be small, regular, medium, large, or extra large, but you can’t change the font type, just the color. When finished editing the PDF, you can decide where you want it saved; to your device or your Dropbox account. You can also generate a share link that anyone can use to download the PDF. Something else you can do is run the document through Smallpdf’s PDF splitter tool if you want to extract the pages. After editing one document, you’ll have to wait several hours to keep using the site, or upgrade/pay. This site works with all operating systems that support a modern web browser. There are several tools here to edit your PDF, like a text tool that lets you select a custom color and font type, an image picker, an underliner, a colored pencil/marker, and a few shape tools. You can also use this website to delete pages from the PDF and add new ones to it. When you save, there’s even a password option to secure the document. When you’re done editing, export to the PDF format or, if you log in, JPG and PNG. Files can be saved back to your computer or imported directly into Google Drive or Dropbox. This program would be a truly free PDF editor if it weren’t for the fact that the free edition will not save without first putting a watermark on every single page of the PDF. Depending on what you’ll use the PDF for, however, the features it supports might be enough for you to consider living with the watermarks. When you’re done editing, you can save back to PDF or any of the several other supported formats, including Word and other MS Office formats. To export or save, you have to have a Wondershare account. Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS are supported. Download For:
