Nowadays, there is a lot of information about the PDF extension. The format is convenient, is recognized all over the world, and allows the creation of color documents. But without a quality program it is nothing. To date, there is an excellent application designed to fully create and process PDF documents. This program is called SwifDoo PDF. The intuitive interface allows anyone to use the application.
How to change PDF text: Tips
First, a few words about possible situations, because the choice in favor of this or that method proposed below will depend on this. A PDF document can combine both text and graphic information, but the format itself is more related to graphics than text format.
However, the question itself, how to change text in PDF, may have several solutions:
- parts directly in the document;
- recognizing graphic objects with text;
- opening a document in various office applications;
- conversion to another readable format.
Now about each technique in more detail. After considering each of them, each 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 one. Previously, when the popularity of the newly created format was only gaining momentum, PDF documents could only be viewed. There was no mention of any editing. However, over time, the situation has changed radically since special programs began to appear that allowed you to change the text part, as is done in any text editor. The most popular applications so far include SwifDoo PDF, Foxit Reader, PDF-XChange Editor and many others, not counting Adobe’s own developments that can be used for such activities.
In almost every such application, the problem (how to change text in a PDF document) is solved quite elementary. In most cases, this is done by clicking the edit content button and highlighting the required range of text, after which text recognition will begin. Once the process is complete, you will be able to perform the same actions that are available in conventional text editors.
Recognize text for transfer into another format
But it also happens that 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 is not recognized as text by editing tools?
How to convert PDF to text?
This can be done using special programs such as ABBYY Fine Reader or the mentioned SwifDoo PDF Online Converter, where you need to set the scanning and specify the desired format of the output text.
By the way, the same software package is also useful when you need to perform text recognition in PDF format and the original PDF file is protected from editing.
Convert PDF to other formats
If you do not have editing programs at hand, you can convert the original format using special converters that are currently being developed and are widely available on the Internet.
It is possible to change the format to suit every taste. You can convert a document to a regular graphic image (for example, JPG), translate PDF text to Word or Excel, and so on.
But if previously the applications included in Microsoft office suites were not able to work with such documents, now there are no problems with this. For example, in Word you need to open a PDF file.
Specify the desired format in the document type to be opened and then the path to the document. Another thing is that the document can be opened in bulk graphic images mode and the text will not be editable. This is what happens. However, in recent versions of Word, the original document is converted to a readable format before opening, after which you must click the edit permissions button located in the upper right corner. The source text can then be changed as desired.
Using the browser
The longest and most inconvenient way is to open the PDF file in any web browser, then save the page as HTML (or use the source code view), then open it in the same Word editor or regular Notepad and edit it. It is true that in this case you will have to spend a lot of time because you will have to remove the corresponding commands of the programming language. As you already know, the method is not the best, but if there are absolutely no other tools at hand, you can use it (although it is very doubtful that the user does not have the same “Office” on the computer).
A short summary
This is all that can be suggested in solving the above question (how to change text in PDF). Which one do you prefer? Using specialized editors is far from most the best solution, not to mention trying to edit after converting to HTML. It is best to use Word’s tools, but the version of the editor itself must be at least 2010.
And if you want to change the entire document to a completely different format, you cannot do without a dedicate program such as SwifDoo PDF. Most of them are distributed completely free of charge and after installation they do not take up much space on your hard drive, and for some you can even find portable versions that do not require installation at all. The choice is therefore up to you.
What will be the most handy tool for him, it’s hard to judge. But at least one of the proposed solutions can be used.