Editing a PDF file is unnecessarily complex, as many programs expect you to pay a small fee for this privilege. If you can’t afford to pay for software like Adobe Acrobat, you may feel like you’re out of luck. Fortunately, there are plenty of easy and inexpensive ways to edit PDF files.
How To Successfully Edit A PDF File (For A Low Price)
You spent all this time saving enough money to start your business, so don’t throw it away on expensive PDF editors if you don’t have to. The following PDF editing options are cost-effective.
1. Use a Free Trial For Paid Software
Every PC comes with Adobe Acrobat, which you’ve likely used at some point. This means you’re locked out of the free trial for your main email address, but there’s nothing stopping you from getting another one. Just sign up for another email address using Gmail or Hotmail.
With that said, you should abuse this privilege, and we don’t recommend making hundreds of emails to keep using their free trial. Only do this once, maybe twice, and only if necessary.
Adobe Acrobat’s free trial gives you access to all its premium features for 7 days. These include giving you the ability to edit, convert, review, and sign PDF documents. You can also use Adobe Acrobat to work across devices, as it’s available on desktop, tablet, smartphone, and the web.
2. Utilize Free Online PDF Converters
Instead of using free or paid programs to edit PDFs, you can convert your file to an editable format. PDFSimpli is a free PDF converter that converts PDF files into DOCX, JPG, or PNG. However, you’ll want to choose a DOCX document, as it’ll allow you to edit using Word.
If you need to keep your document as a PDF file, know that you can convert your files back into PDFs once you’re done. On the other hand, you can use PDFSimpli to sign, watermark, rotate, compress, merge, or edit PDFs with a full suite of features without converting the document.
3. Find A Safe And Free Online Editor
The whole reason why users are willing to pay for a PDF editor is increased security. A free editor may download viruses or malware to your computer, and who wants to take that chance? Fortunately, there are free editors that are safe, feature-filled, and transparent from the get-go.
Keep in mind that some free editors will put up a paywall when you try to download the file. You should check if your file does this by saving the file before taking the time to edit the document.
Free editors like Sejda are powerful and don’t force you to pay for their features, both while you’re using the software and when downloading your file. It also includes a security feature that deletes all your documents in two hours, or you can choose to delete everything right away.
4. Upload PDFs To Google Docs And Drive
Converting a PDF to Google Docs, so you can edit it, is easy. Simply go to Google Drive and click New > Upload Files. Then, click the PDF you want to edit and open it. Once it appears in Google Drive, click Open With > Google Docs, and Google Drive will open a new Docs file.
While Google Docs can edit text-only PDFs just fine (as long as you’re using Times New Roman or Arial font), it trips up when editing files that contain images or specific formatting. You’ll need to fix the formatting and image resolution in the document before you can edit the rest of the file.
5. Open PDFs On Microsoft Word In DOCX
While it’s true that Microsoft Word is a paid software, most people purchase Microsoft 365 when they buy a computer. Your business or workplace likely uses Microsoft Word on a daily basis, so there’s a chance you have free access to it. If you don’t, Microsoft 365 has a 30-day free trial.
Another problem with Microsoft Word is formatting. When you change a PDF file to a DOCX file using Word, it loses its formatting, but you can preserve it if you convert the file correctly.
After opening Microsoft Word, click File > Export > Word Document > Settings > Layout Settings > Retain Flowing Text OR Retain Page Layout. If your PDF file includes more than text, select “Retain Page Layout.” Text-only documents can convert using “Retain Flowing Text.”
Ella Marcotte
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