Today, the PDF format developed at one time by Adobe Systems is almost universal, since it is in this electronic form that almost all instructions, technical documentation and other information are saved. But sometimes users have questions about how to change the text in PDF format. This can be done in several ways, which are applied depending on what kind of actions need to be performed.
How to change text in PDF format: action directions
To begin with, a few words about possible situations, since the choice in favor of one or the other of the proposed method will depend on this. A PDF document can combine both textual and graphical information, but the format itself is more relevant to graphics, and not to text format.
Nevertheless, the very question of how to change the text in PDF format can have several solutions:
- editing the text part directly in the document;
- recognition of graphic objects with text;
- opening a document in a variety of office applications;
- translation into another readable format.
Now about each technique a little more in detail. After considering each of them, any user will be able to decide which method is most suitable and simple for him.
How to change text in a pdf file?
Let's start with the simplest. Previously, when the popularity of the newly created format was only gaining momentum, PDF documents could only be viewed. There was no talk about any editing. However, over time, the situation changed radically, as special programs began to appear that allowed changing the text part, as is done in any text editor. To date, the most popular applications can be called Foxit Reader, PDFXEdit, PDF-XChange Editor and many others, not counting Adobe's own development, which can be used to carry out such actions.
In almost any such application, the problem (how to change the text in a PDF document) is solved quite simply. In most cases, for this you need to click the content editing button and select the desired text range, after which text recognition will begin. Upon completion of the process, it will be possible to perform the same actions that are provided for in conventional text editors.
Recognition of text for translation into another format
But it also happens that the text in a document can be inserted as a graphic object (for example, a scanned sheet). What to do in such a situation, because such a fragment, just like text, is not recognized by editing utilities?
How to translate PDF to text? This can be done using special programs like ABBYY Fine Reader, in which you need to specify a scan and specify the desired output text format. By the way, the same software package is useful in the case when it is required to perform text recognition in PDF format, and the original PDF file is protected from editing.
Convert PDF to other formats and open directly in office programs
If you don’t have any editing programs at hand, you can convert the original format using special converters, which are currently developed and have a lot of public access on the Internet.
Here the format change for every taste. You can convert a document to a regular graphic image (for example, JPG), convert PDF text to Word or Excel, etc.
But if earlier the applications that are part of Microsoft office suites did not know how to work with such documents, now there are no problems with this. For example, in Word you need to open a PDF file.
Indicate in the type of the opened document the desired format, and then the path to the document. Another thing is that a document can open in the mode of a set of graphic images, and the text will not be editable. This also occurs. However, in recent versions of Word, before opening, the source document is converted to a readable format, after which you need to click the edit permission button located in the upper right. Then the source text can be changed at your discretion.
Using browsers
The longest and most inconvenient way is to open the PDF file in any web browser, then save the page in HTML format (or use the source code view), then open it in the same Word editor or in the usual Notepad and produce editing. True, in this case, you will have to spend a lot of time, since you will need to delete the corresponding programming language commands. As already understood, the method is not the best, but if there are absolutely no other tools at hand, you can use it (although it is extremely doubtful that the user does not have the same “Office” on the computer).
Brief Summary
That's all that can be offered in solving the above question (how to change the text in PDF format). Which of these would you prefer? Using specialized editors is far from the best solution, not to mention editing attempts after translation into HTML format. It is best to turn to Word tools, but the version of the editor itself should be at least 2010. And if it is a change in the whole document that is required in a completely different format, then converters can not do without it. Most of them are distributed absolutely free of charge and after installation they do not take up much space on the hard drive, and for some of them you can even find portable versions that do not require installation at all. So here the choice is up to the user. What will become the most convenient tool for him is difficult to judge. But at least one of the proposed solutions can be used.