When it comes to documents being used in the office, the acronym PDF is surely mentioned. You cannot go through working or even studying without coming across a PDF file. Even if you’re not a professional in your field and are just a casual web surfer you will still eventually have some sort of experience with a portable document format (PDF) file. This file format is quite popular because sharers of PDF files are assured that the file will retain its original format no matter how many people have access to it. Thus, it is a popular format for documents that need to retain their original formats and should not easily be altered, like contracts, resumes, and other official documents. So, as much as the file format is great for streamlining communication, for us working on these documents, we encounter difficulties when we edit them.
Obviously, PDFs are specifically chosen as the format for most of these files precisely because they shouldn’t be edited. But if you absolutely need to edit a PDF file, like a contract that needs to be edited because of a typo while not affecting the important elements like the signatories? Then, here are some ways on how you can deal with editing PDF files
Option 1: Using Adobe Acrobat
Most of us regard Adobe Acrobat as more like a reader for PDF files, a program you can use to open and read PDF files. Actually, it does more than just open those files. You can actually use the program to add comments and actually edit some text in a PDF document. For you to successfully use Acrobat to edit a file, you would need access to Adobe Document Cloud. Adobe DC has a free trial version that you can use for a limited time. But if you have to do a lot of edits for different PDF files, you may ask your company to provide you with an Adobe subscription. Take note that the cost of Adobe access usually depends on how many members of the team will be given access, so your company might only give this access to a select group of employees.
If thereās a particular font you want to use, and itās neither installed nor embedded in your system, you canāt edit any text in your PDF document. For embedded fonts, you can only change the font size and color.
(Via: https://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/4-ways-to-edit-a-pdf-file/)
Option 2: Use other apps
There are apps that you can download into your laptop or you can use directly online to edit your PDF files. These third-party apps have free versions, but like Adobe DC, will ask you to pay for more features or if you want to continue using the app after the limited free trial period.
Some of these apps include PDFsam, PDF Xchange, and Sejda Online PDF Editor, among others. Take note that these apps have also different features with some providing better ways for you to edit your document, so do some research first before choosing the app you’ll work on.
Also, with the age of mobile phones, most of us depend upon our mobile phones even more than we do on our computers and would rather handle our daily stuff on our phone itself. There are many apps available on Play Store that make it possible to edit PDF files on your Android device, without having to touch your computer at all.
(Via: https://techcult.com/4-best-apps-to-edit-pdf-on-android/)
Option 3: Convert your file into a more edit-able format
As we have repeatedly mentioned in this article, the PDF file format is really not friendly for people who want to edit documents, since its un-edit-able properties are exactly one of its strengths. So, if you want to edit a PDF file, why not convert the file to a more edit-friendly format, edit the file in that format, and after doing all your edits, revert it to a PDF file? Apps and programs such as Google Docs and Microsoft Word can try and have your file saved as an MS Word doc. Of course, some factors like fonts, formatting, and markups may differ, so if you’re a perfectionist, you may not find a lot of satisfaction with these “edits.” There are also third-party apps that can also convert your PDF files to more edit-friendly formats. Alas, Adobe Acrobat also allows you to “export” your PDF file into a different format, which means you can convert your PDF to a Word, PowerPoint, or Excel document.
With the help of a free online PDF to Excel converter, you can quickly upload the files you want to convert and let the providerās servers handle all of the heavy lifting, before downloading the freshly converted files back to your device.
(Via: https://innotechtoday.com/how-to-convert-pdf-files-to-other-formats/)
Now, what if you have a number of important PDF files that you have stored in your laptop but do not have access to it since your hard drive crashed?