Remote cloud-based businesses and in-house office workers alike dread the thought of an uneditable document. PDF files are often the source of employee woes, especially when they have to tackle a one-time edit. But there’s no need to panic; you can still edit your user guide.
How to Edit a User Guide Made Exclusively as a PDF
PDFs are still one of the most popular file formats on the internet despite how difficult it is to edit them without the proper program.
Here are 5 ways to easily modify any PDF document.
Try Out a Free Online PDF Editor
Finding a PDF editor that lets you edit or add text, images, and sign your name isn’t easy, and many of them aren’t secure. There’s often a hidden paywall that only activates after you try to save the document. The ones that do let you save often come with limited or locked features.
With that said, Sejda is capable of editing directly in a PDF file and runs entirely on your web browser. Similar to Acrobat, Sejda has a suite of editing tools that are pretty advanced for a free tool. When you’re done, you can delete the file yourself or wait for Sejda to do it in two hours.
Convert the PDF to an Editable Format
If you don’t have a program that edits PDFs, you’ll feel like you’re out of luck. It also makes sense why you wouldn’t want to press your luck with free online editors. If the document doesn’t have to stay as a PDF, we recommend converting it into an editable format, like a Word File.
Online PDF converters like PDFSimpli can convert PDF files for free. Just upload the file to the tool and select your format of choice, such as Word or JPG. You can even convert other files to PDF documents, add an eSignature, merge multiple files together, or compress documents.
Use Adobe Acrobat’s 7-Day Free Trial
Adobe Acrobat is the most obvious editing tool, as it comes with all Microsoft computers. If you don’t have it, you can download Acrobat for free or by purchasing the Standard or Pro version. But if you don’t want to pay for Acrobat, select the 7-day free trial to access all of its features.
To start editing your PDF, open Acrobat and select File > Open > Edit PDF. After enabling the editing feature, you can add images, links, headers and footers, new text, watermarks, and more. If a font used isn’t enabled on your computer, you can only change its size and color.
Open the PDF File on Microsoft Word
Opening a PDF file on Microsoft Word isn’t ideal, and it isn’t because Microsoft 365 costs money. PDF files are used because they keep their formatting, regardless of what program you use to open them. However, once a PDF is converted on Microsoft Word, it loses its formatting.
Fortunately, you can preserve a PDFs format before converting it to Word by selecting File > Export > Microsoft Word Document > Settings > Layout Settings. Select “Retain Flowing Text” if you want to preserve text flow, or choose “Retain Page Layout” to keep the same layout.
Edit PDFs Using Google Docs and Drive
Google Docs has a similar problem to Microsoft Word: it changes the formatting of PDFs. Unlike Word, Google Docs doesn’t have an easy way to preserve the original PDF file’s look. With that said, Google Docs is free and can convert text-only PDFs in Arial or Time New Roman font.
To convert a PDF, go to Google Drive and select New > Upload Files. Select the PDF and open it. Once the PDF file is finished uploading, select it and choose Open With > Google Docs. Drive will open a new text-based file for you, which you can edit like it’s a Google Docs document.