Since its invention in 1991, by Adobe, people, organizations and government institutions have increasingly used this format when sharing information. The increased use of PDF formats has revolutionized the technology revolving around PDF files. As a result, software development companies have created different software, as they seek to outdo each other in the feature variety, easy to use online pdf editors and ease accessibility. Closely all editing software allows the user to work on files directly on the browser with the more advanced properties available on subscription.
The popularity of PDF is owed to the benefits it offers its users as compared to other document formats such as word. PDF files are very rigid and you are assured of the information remaining unchanged as it moves from one person to the next. This file format is also loved due to its unlimited properties whereby you can use a pdf editor to share files, collaborate with your team in real-time when making adjustments to projects and do all kinds of edits to your work as we are about to discover in the next section. All in all, you need to keep in mind that the features provided by different software differ.
Main Features of online PDF editors
Editing text
As we saw earlier, PDF files are difficult to change and to edit pdf files you would need the assistance of a PDF editor. Most PDF editors will make it easier to edit pdf file online allowing the user to include text, fill files, images and signatures by simply uploading files on the browser.
Converting pdf
One of the major reasons why people seek online PDF editors is to convert their PDF documents to word doc to make it easier to make the necessary adjustments. Some PDF editors also provide additional options whereby the user can easily change PDF to other formats such as excel and JPG where images are involved. At the same time, this software has the capacity to change word and other file formats to PDF through simple procedures where you upload the files directly on the browser and automatically download them in the desired format for free.
Annotations
Online PDF editors also help users make comments to documents where necessary. This feature is essential when sharing documents with a team in an organization or for learning purposes. The user can use this feature to offer guidance and give explanations where necessary.
Collaboration features
Where more than one person is working on the same document or project, it becomes challenging to work and communicate. Some pdf editors offer users the advantage of making simultaneous changes to their work. To avoid contradiction, this software also enables the users to communicate by chatting on the same document. This property provided by some of the best pdf editors make it easier to work in teams and include the input of everyone involved. For some editors, the changes made by each team member sync automatically as they are also visible to the whole team.
Security features
A major advantage of using PDF editors is that it offers security and safety to documents. With some free PDF editors, you can include passwords to documents to limit their access by unauthorized persons, and unlock password locked documents. Also, the use of PDF editors safeguards your documents against loss as you can automatically choose to save your work using the application, on the Cloud or Google drive and easily access it when needed.
Merging, deleting and numbering pages
You can use online PDF editors to bring together individual pages in independent documents and create a file containing the desired information. This feature is quite useful in organizations and learning institutions as it saves on time and other resources, since by getting rid of unnecessary information the users don’t need to peruse through a huge document to locate the information they want to share. Also, by deleting the unwanted pages in a document, the file size is reduced making it easier to share and print. Once you put these pages in order, you can use specific PDF editors to number them.
Compressing
When a document size is too large, it takes up a lot of space and makes it challenging to attach and send the document to others. Receivers of these documents also find it difficult to download them due to their large sizes. When sharing such PDF files, it is best to reduce their size by compressing them before sharing them or for easier storage.
Cropping, splitting, and including watermarks
Some PDF editors will help you get rid of some sections of a document by cropping the margins by inches. Others will also help you, whenever you want to divide the document in sections as per text and by pages or bookmarks. Additionally, you can use certain software to obtain specific pages from a document, flatten pages and
Best PDF Editor Tools
The PDF editor tool you use depends on the solutions you seek for your document. Most PDF editing software offers most of these basic features for free. However, you will not always get what you bargained for as some applications alter the format of the document. It thus becomes challenging for new users to pick a suitable editor. A high quality pdf editor will provide the user with excellent editing output regardless of whether you are accessing the service for free or on subscription. For ease of use, you can download a pdf editor app on your device with most of these applications available across all platforms.
As you choose the best application, you need to factor in the versatility of the software in catering for your long-term PDF needs. Below are some of the top rated PDF editor tools:
· Lumin pdf – for the best quality output with collaboration features
· Pdf escape- the best free online PDF text editor
· Smallpdf- has a wide range of free features
· Sejda- easy PDF editor with a wide range of features
· Word- readily available for MS Office users
· Foxit phantom: the best paid for PDF editor with a comprehensive set of pdf features
· Adobe acrobat pro- the most widely used editor with trusted features
Summary
Opening and editing PDF can be quite challenging especially if you get your hands on the wrong application. With so many applications in the market, users are spoilt for choice and it might take ages before you land on the most appropriate software for your prolonged use. You can use a PDF editing tool to do a wide range of purposes including opening PDF documents, creating documents, including text, adding signatures to documents, extracting certain pages from a document and numbering them, whiting out sections of a document and compressing files. Additionally, you edit PDF online free of charge, change PDF to word, excel and jpeg among other uses.
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Finally, the type and quality of features a given software provides differs from the others and above we have listed some of the best applications you can always count on for high quality output. The different software is available across all operating systems with pdf editor for pc and pdf editor mac.