To change words or pictures, open the PDF in an editor and use its text or image editing controls. To change the document’s page order or contents, use its page-organization controls. First check whether the words are selectable: if the PDF is a scan, run OCR before editing, then proofread the recognized text. Keep an untouched copy and review the saved PDF for layout changes.
Check what kind of PDF you have
Try selecting a word on the page. If you can select individual words, the PDF contains text you may be able to edit directly. If you can select only the page as a whole—or nothing at all—the page may be a scan: essentially an image of a paper document rather than editable text.
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| PDF type | What you’ll find | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Selectable-text PDF | Words can be selected individually. | Use the editor’s text controls to correct or replace the text. |
| Scanned or image-only PDF | The page behaves like an image; its words cannot be selected as text. | Run OCR to recognize the words, then proofread them against the page or original document before editing. |
OCR makes scanned text available for editing, but recognition is not guaranteed to be perfect. Check names, numbers, punctuation, and any words that are difficult to read in the scan.
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Edit text in a PDF
In Adobe Acrobat, open the PDF’s Edit mode and select the text you want to correct or replace. The text controls let you adjust attributes such as font, size, and alignment. Other PDF editors may label their editing controls differently.
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PDF text is not always laid out like text in a word processor. A page may contain several independent text boxes. Changing or adding text in one box does not automatically push content into another box or onto the next page; resizing a box reflows text only within that box.
- After a short correction, check for an unexpected line break or a gap where the old text was.
- After adding or substantially changing text, inspect nearby boxes and the next page as well as the edited area.
- If the original font is unavailable, the editor may substitute another font, changing the appearance. Whether a font can be edited—and how closely it can retain its look—depends on whether it is installed or embedded and on the editing situation.
Edit or replace images in a PDF
Use the editor’s image controls to add, replace, crop, rotate, resize, or align an image. These controls change image content; they are separate from text-editing controls.
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After changing an image, check its position against captions, borders, and nearby text. A replacement with different dimensions or proportions may need adjustment to fit the page cleanly.
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Use the application’s page-organization controls when the change is to the document’s page structure rather than the words or pictures on a page. Look in the editor for its page-organization feature, then review the resulting document to confirm the pages and their sequence are right. The exact controls and labels vary between applications.
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Edit a scanned PDF with OCR
- Open the scan in a PDF editor that supports OCR. In Acrobat, opening a scanned PDF for editing automatically runs OCR.
- Review the recognized text against the scan or the source document. Correct recognition errors before making other text changes.
- Edit the recognized words using the editor’s text controls, then inspect the edited page for line breaks, spacing, and overlaps.
- Save the edited document as a separate file and review the saved version.
OCR changes whether the scan’s words can be treated as text; it does not remove the need to check that the recognized text matches the original.
What to do if you can’t edit a PDF
- You can’t select words: The page may be a scan. Use OCR, then proofread the recognized text.
- The font or formatting changes: The original font may not be available for editing. Check whether the editor is substituting a font and inspect the result before saving or sharing it.
- Text overlaps or leaves gaps: Check the boundaries of the edited text box. Text does not necessarily flow into other boxes or pages.
- The PDF is secured or signed: Restrictions may prevent edits, and Adobe says signed PDFs are locked against changes. Do not try to defeat restrictions; ask for an editable original or an authorized change.
- The file is an interactive form: Editing a LiveCycle Designer XFA form can remove its interactivity. If keeping the form functional matters, seek an authorized editable source or the form owner’s guidance before changing it.
Save and check the edited file
Keep the original PDF unchanged and save your edits to a separate copy. Open the saved copy and review each changed page at normal viewing size and, where useful, in print preview. Check for missing or substituted fonts, awkward line breaks, image misalignment, unexpected page changes, and any form behavior that needs to remain interactive.
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