how to make changes to PDF files

[Sports Workout]

Hello everyone on webmasterworld.

I would like to know how to make changes/corrections to files that have already been converted to PDFs. I have several PDFs that were created for me by other people.

Can someone please let me know what I need to do/buy so that I can make changes to these PDFs on my own. Be specific if you mention some type of software I would need to buy. I use a PC, not a Mac.

Thanks a lot,

SportsWorkout

[KeithDouglas]

In my experience it's difficult, maybe impossible.

There are lots of ways to create PDF files (i.e., depending how Adobe Acrobat is installed you might be able to use MS Word to make a doc file, then push a buttom to convert it to PDF, you can do the same thing with MS Excel, or you might make a PDF file with Adobe PageMaker, etc.) So the easiest way is to use whatever application was used to create the original file and then re-create the PDF file.

Also note: PDF files have security settings that can make it impossible to edit them.

That said, Adobe Acrobat does have some ability to edit and make changes in existing PDF files.

[crashomon]

Hi Sports workout, you need adobe acrobat and possibly acrobat distiller software in order to make changes. And thats only if the original pdf is not locked against future changes.

Keith is correct that some files may not be modifiable once you get your hands on them.

Good luck.

Patrick Elward

[edited by: crashomon at 4:16 pm (utc) on June 29, 2004]

[digitalv]

In my experience it's difficult, maybe impossible.

heh what are you talking about? All you have to do to edit unlocked PDF's is install ACROBAT, open the file, and start typing. Why do so many people think PDF's are some type of uneditable file?

[Old_Honky]

There is another possibility - Scansoft have a product called pdf converter professional 2 which (they claim) not ony allows you to make pdf files from any windows application but also converts any pdf file into a MS word file for editing. They keep mailing me about it, last price was $59.95.

You don't have to have adobe acrobat to make pdf files. For over a year now I have been using 602pro Print Pack software which only cost about$20 but enables me to make quality pdf files from any windows application.

[crashomon]

>>>>heh what are you talking about? All you have to do to edit unlocked PDF's is install ACROBAT, open the file, and start typing. Why do so many people think PDF's are some type of uneditable file?

because everyone confuses acrobat READER (which can't modify files) with acrobat itself which few people are willing to own/install/use (which can modify files).

As far as most people (web users) are concerned, a pdf is a locked file.

Hope that clarifies things.

Patrick Elward

[curlykarl]

This tutorial may be of some use, it certainly helped me :)

[library.mcgill.ca...]

Karl :)

[KeithDouglas]

All you have to do to edit unlocked PDF's is install ACROBAT, open the file, and start typing.

True. First, the security settings on the PDF file has to be set to allow modifications, and then you can use Acrobat to make changes -- but, in my opinion, this is easy only for minor edits jobs. Acrobat doesn't have anywhere near the editing capability of a run-of-the-mill word-processing program. Hence, the best approach is to create and edit in a word-processing program and then convert finished documents to PDF as needed.

[grelmar]

The "More Time Than Money" solution:

Download OpenOffice.

Use your PDF viewer to view the document, and cut and past the text into a blank OpenOffice document.

Use the PDF viewer capure tool to cut and paste images into the open office document.

Edit accordingly.

Use the highly non-intuitive OpenOffice help screens to figure out how to create the PDF sidebar navs, and other functions (if its a layered PDF).

Export as PDF.

It'll cost you a lot of time to do it this way, but you won't have to buy any software. OpenOffice is pretty durned handy for dealing with all kinds of weird and wacky file formats, and like any software, gets easier to figure out the more you use it. I wish it had a direct "pdf import" function, but it doesn't. It exports to PDF very well though, and quite easily.

[digitalv]

You guys certainly handle PDF's the hard way ... just download and install freaking acrobat (NOT acrobat READER). Not all PDF's easily import to MS Word, I have come across several manuals that I wanted in word format that didn't lay out properly when imported and I even tried a variety of conversion tools and components.

The advantage to using PDF is print - plain and simple. That was why it was created in the first place, it was never designed to be the primary way to distribute documents online it was meant to make FOR-PRINT documents that would always come out the same way. When you convert to another format, you are breaking the sole reason PDF was created.

If you have to convert to Word to edit it, KEEP IT AS WORD - there is a a Microsoft Word viewer for people who don't have MS Office just like there is an Acrobat reader for people who don't have Acrobat.

[hayseed]

We use .pdf workflow for re-purposing documents for Press and the Web. Download the trial version of Illustrator CS and use that to edit. .pdf files are PostScript (vector), so using the "Adobe native" vector application to edit allows you to make whatever changes you like. I just finished a project where we received the project files in a .pdf that was converted from an AutoCAD .dwg, and opening the file in Illustrator exposed every path from the original .dwg. I was then able to edit it with Illustrator, save it as a .dwg, open and edit it with AutoCAD (in order to make use of the dimensioning tools) and convert to multi-layered .pdf with Illustrator for distribution.

Piece of cake.