Change text, fix a date or add text boxes in a PDF in your browser. What you can edit, what you cannot, and how to avoid common problems.
You get a PDF with the wrong date, a misspelled name or an old address. You do not want to rebuild the whole document, and you probably do not have Adobe Acrobat. A browser-based PDF editor can fix small mistakes in a couple of minutes. Here is how to do it cleanly.
A PDF is a finished layout, not a flowing document like Word. That means big changes, such as rewriting several paragraphs or reorganising pages, are painful. In those cases, get the text out with PDF to Text, rewrite it in a word processor, and create a fresh PDF with Text to PDF.
Scanned PDFs are another limit. If the page is a photograph, there is nothing to click and edit. Use OCR first, or add text boxes on top.
Only edit documents that you own or have permission to change. Altering a document that belongs to someone else, or changing figures in an official record, can be a serious problem in many places. If you are fixing your own CV, invoice or form, that is exactly what the tool is for.
If the document needs your signature, add it as the final step with the Add Signature tool. To mark a draft version, apply a text watermark. Because the editor runs inside your browser, your document is not uploaded to a server for editing; see Are Online PDF Tools Safe? for the details.
A scan is just a picture, so there is no text to click on. Run OCR first with the PDF to Text tool, or add new text boxes on top of the page.
If the original font is not available in the editor, a close match is used. Use the font, size and bold or italic options to line it up with the surrounding text.
Only the parts you edit change. Always keep an unedited copy of the original in case you need to compare.
Related tools: Add Signature · Text Watermark