One of the most common questions patrons ask when using our computers is, “How do I edit this PDF?” Most often, it involves a digital copy of a resume that needs editing, but there are plenty of reasons people would want to edit a PDF.
- The original, editable version of a document is no longer available
- Your business logo on your informational materials needs updating
- The contact person for the information on the PDF has changed
I’m sure you can think of more. It’s widely known that Adobe Acrobat Pro is the gold standard for editing PDFs, but that quality comes at a subscription cost we can’t afford for all our public computers. The good news is that several free and affordable tools are available to perform some of those tasks.
Disclaimer: I have used these tools to edit publicly available documents and handouts, so I haven’t fully reviewed their privacy practices. If your PDFs contain sensitive information, you may want to review their policies to ensure your information remains private.
Smallpdf – The PDF Multi-Tool
Beyond just converting documents and spreadsheets to PDF, Smallpdf offers an impressive range of tools that offer functions you may not even know you needed:
- Compress PDF – because sometimes file size limits for storage and email attachments can be obstacles
- Split PDF – for breaking a large document into smaller documents or removing pages
- Merge PDF – to make multiple documents into a single PDF
- PDF OCR – to convert a scanned PDF from a static image to a searchable document
- Rotate, translate, crop, sign, lock, unlock…
- And, of course, AI features
There is a free plan that provides access to all tools but imposes daily limits. It also restricts certain features of the tools. To lift those limits, you’ll need a paid plan, currently priced at $15/month. They also offer team and business pricing.
iLovePDF – Another PDF Multi-Tool
If you liked Smallpdf, iLovePDF is another service you might enjoy. It offers many of the same functions as Smallpdf, though it appears to have fewer AI features. One thing that stands out about iLovePDF’s paid product is its ability to create workflows. That is, you can connect to other platforms, like Zapier, to automate processes.
Similar to Smallpdf, iLove PDF offers a limited free version with ads, with reasonable subscription pricing to remove those limits and add tools. The premium plan is $5 per month, and they offer custom business pricing.
PDFescape
PDFescape is another free tool for editing PDFs. They offer an online version and a desktop version. While the online version only allows PDF edits, the desktop version adds options for merging, compression, and conversion. Both are free.
At this point, I should mention that the “editing” features in the free version do not include text or image editing. However, a workaround I have used in the past is to add a white shape over an existing image or text, then layer a new image or text on top.
If you want to level up to full editing features and lift limits, you’ll need a paid plan. I had not previously tried the online
The “PDF to Word” online tool is available in the top menu, so I took it for a test drive.
I tried uploading three single-page PDFs, but they all got stuck during conversion. I’m not sure what happened there. I expected a notification that it was a paid feature or an error message, but the tool just remained stuck in the conversion phase.
The PDF editor still worked as expected, though. Here is a quick look at the editing options available after uploading a PDF:
By default, the PDF loads in view mode. To edit, click the toggle in the top toolbar. When you’re finished, you can download the edited PDF.
Foxit PDF Editor
The final tool we’ll explore today is Foxit PDF Editor. There is a free version of Foxit, but it does little more than Adobe Reader. I’m including it here because the paid version is very robust and more affordable than Adobe Acrobat.
Soon, government websites (including those of public universities) will be required to comply with strict accessibility standards. This includes the website itself and all documents available on it. PDFs are not inherently accessible, and my research indicated that Adobe Acrobat was the only way to achieve full PDF/UA compliance without engaging a third-party service. So I dug deeper.
I used Foxit at my previous job, and it was a very full-featured editor that was more affordable (and to me, user-friendly) than Acrobat. When I checked their website, I saw that they offered the accessibility remediation features we were looking for. They even include links to training at the bottom of the page.
If you need a full-featured PDF creator, editor, and conversion tool at a reasonable price, consider Foxit PDF Editor.
Summary
Editing a PDF doesn’t necessarily require an expensive subscription. There are many free and affordable tools that can help you accomplish the same tasks.
